Sudbury town manager rules out FY26 override, lays out long-term budget plan

SUDBURY -- September 30, 2024, Sudbury town manager tells Finance Committee no override is planned for fiscal 2026. In a two-hour September 30 working session, Town Manager Andy Sheehan walked the Finance Committee through a multi-year framework built on regionalization, non-property-tax revenue and tighter capital discipline, noting Sudbury's average single-family property tax bill exceeds $15,000, among the highest in the state. Sheehan said he will request a Division of Local Services financial management review, is exploring a pension stabilization fund ahead of the Middlesex Retirement System's 2036 full-funding deadline, and will continue $650,000 OPEB contributions. Member Henry Sorett pushed for a funded feasibility study of ambulance privatization, citing Gardner, Quincy and Framingham. Member John Baranowsky raised the 2012 Combined Facilities MOU now under working-group review, which Sheehan said would cost the town side roughly $140,000 if dissolved. "We don't have to panic, but we can't ignore what we're dealing with," Sheehan said. The committee approved the September 16 minutes 8-0; Co-Chair Michael Joachim was absent.