MONDAY, APRIL 28 @ 7:15 PM

The Annual Budget Public Hearing is scheduled for Monday, April 28 at 7:15 PM.

You can attend the meeting in person at the TOWN HALL CRANE MEETING ROOM or you can attend virtually on Zoom https://zoom.us/j/6389291060. 

You can find line item budget information on the Norton town website

At their April 14 meeting, the Norton Finance Committee began a review of the proposed FY26 budget as recommended by the Town Manager.   It is $1.8M short of the requested budgets, $ 843k below the General Government department requested budgets and $ 697k below the level services School Committee approved NPS budget.

There will be a Budget Public Hearing in a few weeks ahead of Town Meeting, but if you want to voice your opinion now about the priorities before the budget is further finalized, please attend the next meeting on WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23rd at 7pm.    

You can attend the meeting in person at the TOWN HALL CRANE MEETING ROOM or you can also attend virtually on Zoom https://zoom.us/j/6389291060.     

For some background on the budget discussion, listen to the last 20 minutes of the Finance Committee April 14 meeting (timecode: 1:21:47).   

• Many departments will be underfunded from their requests, but there was a particular conversation about the Senior Center (timecode 1:28:12) about support of the Senior Center needs which they had heard expressed from folks who spoke at an earlier meeting on March 17th (timecode 58:36).

• You can review further detailed info here on the Norton Public School FY26 budget.   In addition to the proposed budget being short $697k (difference between the 4.96% request and the target 3%), the NPS budget does not include an additional $761k of unfunded requests outlined in the budget book.

The Superintendent has shared the School Committee Approved level service budget for Fiscal Year 2026.  It is a $37.3M budget which is a $1.762M (4.96%) increase over last year's budget. 

The budget will be presented to the Finance Committee meeting on Monday, March 24th at 7PM in the Crane Room of the Town Hall.   Here is the agenda.  

The budget book includes a Superintendent's Message; a District Profile; Student Enrollment data; a Financial Overview; a summary of the Mandated Education and General Education; an itemization of other Revenue Sources, including Revolving Accounts which offset costs of certain programs, Grant Funds, and School Choice funds; Unfunded Requests; and Schools at a Glance; followed by line item level budget information.

As noted in the Unfunded Requests section, "There are legitimate and justifiable needs that have yet to be included in the recommended budget due to limited resources and a duty to present a reasonable budget to Norton residents. While some needs may go unfunded, it is crucial to emphasize that these needs remain. The total of these unfunded requests is $761,205."