CHELMSFORD — Town Meeting convened at the Chelmsford Senior Center Monday evening, where representatives voted to approve the town and school district’s fiscal 2026 budgets, while they rejected a “fast casual” restaurant zoning article.
Spring Town Meeting typically carries more budgetary articles than Chelmsford’s fall Town Meeting, and the first major article to be considered was Article 3, which was for $4 million to be appropriated for the town’s assessment to the Nashoba Valley Technical School District, to which Chelmsford has the highest contribution of students and funding of all the member towns. In a rarity, this article passed unanimously, 141-0.
This was followed immediately by Article 4, which was the operating budget for Chelmsford Public Schools for the next fiscal year at $75.65 million. A level-service budget would have carried an increase of $3.5 million from the current budget. Superintendent of Schools Jay Lang described some cuts and reallocations of funding to help bring that figure down somewhat. This included the cutting of 12 part-time tutoring positions, reallocating the salary of the school nutrition director to the School Nutrition Revolving Fund, a $300,000 salary offset from the Valley Collaborative, another $1 million of Circuit Breaker revenue and a local budget increase of $1.77 million.
“Several of those positions are currently vacant. We’ve still had a difficult time post-COVID filling some of those specialty part-time positions,” said Lang, referring to the tutor cuts. “So it is actually not impacting individuals but we are making that adjustment to really balance the budget.”
The school budget passed 135-2. Immediately the body considered Article 5, the town’s general operating budget for fiscal 2026, which totals $168 million, including the school budget and the Nashoba Tech assessment. This is an increase from the $162.2 million budget for fiscal 2025. When giving his breakdown of the budget, Town Manager Paul Cohen said the departmental budgets total $38.4 million, a rise of $222,000 from the current budget, while the biggest increases are coming from employee benefits and insurance. Insurance and benefits for town employees makes up $36 million, a dramatic increase of $4 million, or 12.47% from the current budget.
“The biggest driver, almost $3 million, is health insurance premiums,” said Cohen.
Chelmsford had been hit with layoffs earlier this year due to some of these same budgetary challenges. The proposed budget included the elimination of full-time positions like the business development director, a highway division laborer, community services coordinator, assistant health director and a health inspector. Some part-time positions were also cut, including veterans services assistant, accounting clerk, town clerk clerical assistant and facilities project coordinator.
Funding was also cut for Sunday hours at the Chelmsford Public Library, lifeguards at the town beaches, one of two hazardous waste collection days and printed copies of the annual town report. Cohen noted the library trustees will be utilizing grant money to keep the library open on Sundays, but not with money from the town. The budget also had to exclude additional positions requested by the Chelmsford Police, Fire and Public Works departments, including more officers and firefighters, the creation of fire lieutenants, DPW highway laborers and a safety specialist.
The town budget was passed 137-1.
Separately voted on from the budget was Article 6: the funding of multiple collective bargaining agreements for three police unions, totaling $502,264, including funding for the recently formed Chelmsford Police Commanding Officers Association, which covers the police lieutenants. That union was formed a year ago, so Town Meeting was asked to provide $80,767 for their agreement for fiscal 2026, and $37,931 for the current fiscal year. The Police Superior Officers Association and Patrol Officers Association were given $45,786 and $337,780 for their respective bargaining agreements. All three agreements expire June 30, 2028.
With no discussion, the funding for the police bargaining agreements passed 134-3 with two abstentions.
Article 20 was a vote on whether to appropriate $50,000 for a study on municipal operations and efficiencies, the need for which Cohen said is drawn from the same challenges constraining the budget.
“As you’ve been hearing throughout the night, we are concerned with what is in front of us, and we know we can’t maintain services that are currently provided,” said Cohen.
The increases in budgetary pressures like health insurance, Cohen said, are projected to continue into future budgets, on top of the uncertainty coming from the federal government.
“There is so much uncertainty, particularly with the federal government. We are in this bizarre time right now in the first 100 days of the new administration in Washington, but we know there is going to be a new federal budget in October,” said Cohen. “What is that going to look like? It is not going to be more.”
The study would look at other ways to raise revenue for the town without raising the residential tax burden, like regional dispatch or consolidation of the town’s three water districts. The article passed 112-25.
Article 26 was a vote on whether to use $2 million in Community Preservation Act funds to extend the underground utility project through the town center. The money would be used to suppress the telephone lines in the Verizon portion of the infrastructure running through that area, and remove the utility poles in that area once the infrastructure is underground. After some questions from representatives, Article 26 passed 107-17 with one abstention.
Article 28 was the final consideration of the night and the one that drew the most discussion. The article was to amend the town’s zoning to allow for standalone drive-thru fast casual restaurants on Billerica Road from Alpha Road to the Billerica town line and the end of Mill Road near Route 129. A maximum of three would be allowed in this area, and one already exists in the form of Pressed Cafe, which is one unit in a larger building. Cohen said Pressed has been a successful business in that area, but town leadership was hoping to see more businesses join them there.
The town has received interest in a vacant parcel on Mill Road in between the I-495 ramps, where Cohen said two fast casual drive-thrus could be built.
“If this is approved … an applicant would still have to go to the Planning Board for site plan approval, which means the Planning Board would still have the say for the exterior look of the building,” said Cohen.
A number of representatives spoke against the article, with some expressing concern over the potential impact to traffic if more drive-thru restaurants are built in that area.
“When the school was there, you couldn’t even go past there with all the buses parked on that Mill Road section. If you throw a McDonalds in there, which was specifically discussed at Town Meeting, that we would not have any drive-thrus, and certainly not McDonalds in this overlay district, and now you are going to put two of them there,” said Town Meeting member Brian Latina.
Town Meeting member Ginger Skoog said the development of Route 129 is “a great vision” but that the proposed zoning change is not the solution.
“I have been a huge supporter of a lot of the things we have done and a lot of the things the Planning Board has done and a lot of things that are moving Chelmsford forward … I do think there are still other ways to work within what we’ve got to adjust what we are doing with 129 without going this far,” said Skoog.
Town Meeting member Walker Horton spoke in favor of the change, saying that the issues opponents of the change are having would not be unique to fast casual or drive-thru establishments.
“If we are worried about the traffic that is going to happen regardless of any business that is there,” said Horton.
After a lengthy discussion and a motion to move the question, Article 28 failed 55-63 with three abstentions.
Town Meeting will continue in Chelmsford Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m., with Articles 27, 29, 30, 31 and 32 still to be deliberated.
