Frequently Asked Questions

Quick answer:

Inflation, health insurance, special education, and other costs have led to a significant budget deficit for the school and town budgets. Acton voters need to vote twice to approve an increase in taxes, or our schools and our town will have to make lots of harmful budget cuts.

Longer answer:

Last fall, town and school district leaders began planning the finances for the 2025 (beginning July '24) fiscal year. At that time, leaders became aware that there were very large increases to health insurance costs (affecting both Acton and the school district), special education costs, and other cost increases above inflation. Tax increases are limited by the Massachusetts Proposition 2 1/2 law, unless a town votes to increase its tax levy limit. Acton is at that limit. Boxborough is not at that limit this year. To raise the tax levy limit, an override ballot vote is required. Many Acton leaders expected an override would be required next year for FY 2026, but with the large unexpected cost increases, an override is needed this year. 

To plan how to resolve the situation, both the Town of Acton and the Acton-Boxborough Regional School District have each produced several budgets; a "level-services" budget, an "A" (with an override) budget, and a "B" (without an override) budget. Both entities (the town and the schools) produced initial level-services budgets, where school and town services are kept at the same level as last year. With the cost increases, it became apparent that the level-services budgets were too expensive, so both entities went through a painful round of cuts to produce their "A" budgets.

Both entities' "A" budgets are the recommended budgets. The details of the "A" budgets are still being negotiated, but Acton's share of the school's "A" budget is expected to be about $2 million less than its level-services budget. In addition, the town's "A" budget is about $1.5 million less than its level-services budget. To be able to fund the "A" budgets, Acton will have an override ballot vote on April 30 to authorize a $6.6M increase to the tax levy limit. Most of that amount ($5.4 million) would be used next year to fund the schools and town services. The remaining amount ($1.2 million) will be held in reserve as unused tax capacity for future years. 

The "B" budgets are the fall-back budgets, which assume no extra funds to cover the extraordinary expenses this year. That means that there must be extreme cuts in other areas. Leaders must have the "B" budgets ready, in case the override ballot vote fails. The schools' "B" budget would cause the loss of many teachers, other education staff, as well as cuts to other services. Acton will not have sufficient funds for upkeep of town buildings, road safety improvements, stormwater bridge/culvert infrastructure, and other programs. There are serious effects to both the school district and the town, but the effects on the schools are more acute. The "B" budget causes permanent long-term harm.

Finally, the budgets will need to be voted on at both Acton and Boxborough Town Meetings. Boxborough does not need an override ballot vote, but it will still see significant cost increases from the "A" budgets. Many more details can be found in other answers in this FAQ section.

Proposition 2 ½ is a state law passed in 1980 that governs how local property taxes are raised. Under the law, towns may raise their total property taxes by up to 2.5 percent per year plus new growth, which usually works out to about 3 percent. Any increase beyond 3 percent must be approved directly by a majority of town voters. Because the cost of providing the same services often increases faster than 3 percent annually – especially when inflation is high – towns in Massachusetts regularly hold override votes to increase revenues to match expenses.

An operating override is a townwide vote that allows the town to increase the annual tax levy by more than 3 percent. When the Acton Select Board asks voters to consider an operating override, the local ballot measure must specify exactly how much additional revenue is being sought.

If the override is passed, the additional amount approved is added to the the tax levy to create a new baseline. In subsequent years, rate increases are once again limited to 3 percent.

Quick answer: 

Acton is long overdue for an override and we need additional funding to cover the cost of inflation, health insurance increases, and required special education services.

Longer answer:

Acton reached its levy limit in 2020. To make ends meet for the past few years, the town delayed filling positions and funding necessary projects. The school district has cut over 40 positions and dipped into reserve funding to continue providing services. While these austerity measures had raised some concerns that an override was on the horizon in the next few years, the budget situation only became dire early this fall. Two large and unforeseen shocks to the overall budgets are the causes:

• First, the cost of our Health Insurance Trust for both employees and retirees exploded. We had to pay for a number of extraordinary claims totalling in the millions. As a result, both town and school district had to divert around $2 million in this year's funding to this effort. The associated increases in insurance premiums will carry forward into 2025 and beyond. Health insurance and retirement costs have increased 19.4 percent or a $20 million total cost for the district and 23.51 percent for the town. 
• Second, the district’s special education costs increased dramatically. An additional $700,000 in staff was added after the FY 2024 budget was finalized. These services were necessary to meet the minimum legal requirements for providing services to students who moved into the district or whose Individualized Education Programs (IEP) changed after the FY 2024 budget was finalized. At the beginning of October, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) published its intent to continue to pass on higher costs for existing High Needs students to districts. To meet the needs of our students, in addition to hiring additional staff, the district paid increased transportation costs and higher out-of-district tuition (out-of-district programs were allowed by the state to increase in cost by 14.5 percent). This required dipping further into our special education reserves to the extent that we must limit subsequent use until we build them back up. While a percentage of these costs will be reimbursed in future years, an increased share of these expenses are now the district’s responsibility. Out-of-district special education costs represent about a $6 million increase in total costs for FY 2025. 

Town and district budgets usually balance without an override when costs (and consumer price index) increase by 3 percent or less. The increases we see above are not discretionary, far outpace 3 percent, and represent large portions of the overall budgets. Moreover, after three years of extraordinary consumer price index increases, costs in every category are up this year. 

If the override passes, the average Acton tax bill will go up by about $1,200 next year. If the override fails, the average Acton tax bill will still go up by about $460. Thus, the potential impact of the override vote on the average Acton tax bill is about $740 per year.

For more specific information based on your home's assessed value, click here for an updated chart from the town website. 

Quick answer: 

Student enrollment has indeed gone down in recent years, but student needs have also increased significantly. Our district is serving more multilingual learners and more low-income students than ever before, while also addressing increasing student mental health needs and delivering more complex special education services. Providing appropriate supports for our students and families means that even as enrollment has ticked down, demands on the school district have gone up.

Longer answer:

While it's true that enrollment has gone down in the past decade, it's also true that student needs have increased significantly in Acton-Boxborough. Our population of multilingual learners (MLLs) has grown from 4.1 percent of the student population in 2016 to 7.7 percent in 2024, requiring additional MLL educators to support classroom teachers, students, and families. Our population of low-income students has grown from 5.4 percent percent of the student population in 2016 to 11.5 percent in 2024, necessitating further efforts to make sure socioeconomic disadvantage is not an educational barrier. Furthermore, students in Acton and Boxborough are struggling with more prevalent and complicated mental health needs, which means hiring more professional staff and creating more programming to help students and families.

Finally, the scale and scope of special education services has increased, putting more demand on our special education staff. It’s important to remind voters that special education services are mandated by federal law; local school districts must provide services on a student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP). It’s also important to remind voters that one of the benefits of increased special education staffing is the ability to provide more special education services in-district, rather than paying for costly out-of-district placements. Keeping students in-district is good for kids and families and represents significant savings for the taxpayers, but it still means hiring more staff.

Our public schools serve all children who walk through our doors, and we have a responsibility to meet them where they are and provide the programming and supports our current students and families need.

No. Boxborough has enough tax capacity for now to fund its share of the school district’s budget without an override vote. However, funding the district's override budget will raise property taxes in Boxborough by more than 6 percent, and this will require a strong showing of support at Boxborough Town Meeting on May 13 in order to ensure that our schools have the funding they need. It’s incredibly important that Boxborough voters attend their Town Meeting and support the school budget. Click here for more information about Boxborough Town Meeting.

Our last operating override was almost 20 years ago in 2005. Some communities have overrides every few years, and a few have never had overrides. Of the 301 municipalities in Massachusetts that have had overrides since 1989, 208 have had overrides more recently than Acton. In FY 2025, a 9.65 percent increase is necessary for Acton to cover the increased cost of doing business in recent years. That increase does not mean doing tomorrow what we do today (“level services”), but instead represents continued budget cuts by both town and district. This override will allow Acton to recalibrate the baseline funding required to operate the town and the schools. Although there are unknowns in resolving health care and special education costs, the goal is to achieve a level that allows Acton to operate within 3 percent annual growth in future years.

Click here to see more information about Acton's override history.

The Acton Assessor’s Office has information available on the town’s website that details several tax relief programs. There are exemptions for seniors, veterans, those experiencing financial hardship, surviving spouses of persons over 70, police officers, and firefighters, as well as blind persons. Additionally, Acton has a tax deferral program and a senior worker program that offers property tax reductions in exchange for volunteer hours in a variety of positions. Acton is a leader in the state in making abatement dollars available to those who apply. In FY 2023, $629,250 was awarded.

Without passing an override this spring, our schools will have to make more than $9 million in cuts. The district will be forced to lay off more than 85 staff members, including close to 70 certified teachers. Class sizes will increase well above state averages, fees for families will dramatically increase, elementary students will be forced to transfer to other buildings, and our educators will see their workloads increase well beyond what is sustainable. We’ll do permanent damage to our renowned public school system at a time when the post-pandemic needs of our children have never been greater.

The school district's budget without an override, called the "B" budget, is already published and available to the public here. If voters do not approve an override April 30 and support the school budget at Town Meeting on May 6, the "B" budget WILL be the school budget in FY 2025.

Proportionally larger cuts were made for the town's "A" budget (with an override) than for the town's "B" budget (without an override). However, without an override (the "B" budget), the town will need to make even more reductions to some services. The cuts will include reducing or eliminating many services that make Acton a great place to live, including:

• Flu vaccine clinics
• Reduction of nursing services
• Acton Memorial Library Sunday hours (along with Sunday programs)
• Hazardous waste days
• Future July 4th and other town celebrations
• Outreach and news for the Council on Aging
• Road safety improvements
• Maintenance of the Arboretum, the rail trails, and the town parks
• Small road repairs (potholes!) and small engineering studies
• Reduction of police and safety staff, including a half clinician position and an additional fire/paramedic for the busiest hours
• Supplies for emergency management services

In addition, the town will need to put off repairs on town facilities (which may mean that the costs will be higher next year).

No. During the School Committee's early budget discussions closing Conant was considered, but the current plan for a "B" budget (the non-override budget) does not include closing any of our school buildings. However, the "B" budget requires so many cuts to elementary classroom teaching positions that the district will be forced to move more than 180 students from one elementary school to another to balance the increase in class sizes. You can read more about these consequences on page 49 of the district's "B" budget presentation.

Quick answer:

The town's budget situation is not as urgent, and the town has made a lot of decisions to save money, but we've put off a lot of projects and maintenance that will need to be addressed in the coming years.

Longer answer:

The largest portion of Acton’s annual budget goes to the schools, so the budget gap for the district is greater than the town’s. Like the district, the town has implemented significant cost saving measures in the past few years. Critical capital projects and hiring have been deferred. Staff have aggressively pursued, and been awarded, significant grant funding, $17.5 million in competitive grants over the last five years. Departmental reorganizations implemented on the occasion of senior staff retirements have allowed the town to also do more with less. Shifting responsibilities and increasing interdepartmental collaboration have meant that services are maintained, and efficiencies improved, without increasing personnel.

The town needs $1.2 million in additional funding in FY 2025 for health insurance and pensions. This alone is a 3.1 percent increase in total municipal spending over FY 2024 (remember, Proposition 2 ½ limits regular tax increases to about 3 percent when accounting for new growth). In addition to this significant increase in health insurance costs, other costs have gone up. Road paving costs have increased 40 percent since the beginning of COVID. There has been a 20 percent increase in the cost of dump trucks since 2021. A recent stormwater asset management report identified a need to infuse between $800,000 and $1 million per year for the next 10 years to address Acton’s aging stormwater infrastructure. This winter’s storms made the very real impacts of severe weather known to many. Residents saw basement flooding, the road to Camp Acton was washed out, and several brooks were flowing at the highest levels seen or recorded in recent history. Many town facilities require significant expenditures. Maintenance cannot be deferred indefinitely.

Quick answer:

In order to control costs and provide value for the taxpayers, the town's proposed budget already includes lots of cuts. However, our community has to balance the need to save money with the need to provide important services to our residents.

Longer answer:

Department staffing requests that were not included in the original Recommended FY 2025 Budget include a Fire Prevention Officer and more ambulance staffing for the Fire Department, an Administrative Lieutenant for the Police Department, an Assistant Recreation Director, and an Office Manager for the Operations Department.

At the direction of the Select Board, the Town Manager and Department Heads further reduced the Recommended FY 2025 Budget presented in December by more than $1 million. The Revised Recommended FY 2025 Budget presented in January reduced or eliminated several existing and requested staff positions: Finance Director, DPW Project Manager, part-time Nursing, Accounting, and Operations staff, and Teen Librarian. Additionally, the Town Manager, IT, DPW, Sustainability, Building, and Health Department budgets were reduced, new budget offsets were proposed, and several new potential revenue sources were proposed. Several capital projects were proposed to be funded through borrowing rather than through free cash. These reductions and funding reallocations resulted in a budget increase over the FY 2024 budget that dropped from 10.3 percent to 6.4 percent.

Several projects have been deferred to FY 2026 or alternate funding sources (for example, solar credits) are being sought. These include improvements to the Hayward/Main intersection, parking lot paving and improvements at Town Hall and 19/21 Maple Street, and NARA Park roof replacements.

Additional cuts would result in a discernible decrease in the level and quality of services Acton residents have come to expect, as well as an unwise risk to safety if critical capital needs such as infrastructure and emergency vehicle replacements are further deferred.

Both the town and the schools are very efficiently run organizations. Our school system arguably produces the second-best educational outcomes in the state, but we spend a little LESS than the average cost across the state to educate each student. In the case of the town, many departments spend less than towns that are smaller than Acton. 

For many years, town and district employees have been part of the Acton Health Insurance Trust (HIT), a self-insured risk pool that provided strong value to taxpayers and employees. In fact, the HIT was so responsibly managed that by 2018 it had accumulated $8 million in reserves, and the decision was made to rebate some of that money back to the taxpayers and employees by lowering premiums. Although the HIT again started raising premium rates during COVID, no one in the industry predicted the healthcare landscape would change so quickly after the pandemic, and despite continuing to raise rates to keep pace with expenses, in 2023 the HIT experienced unexpected and unanticipated claims of more than $3 million. To make matters worse, Harvard Pilgrim’s data breach in April 2023 delayed the reporting of these claims, limiting the trust’s ability to react to the sudden increase. When the HIT recently ran through its reserves, the town and the district had to bear those expenses in their operating budgets, which accounts for a significant portion of the budget deficit Acton is now facing.

Despite the long track record of providing affordable healthcare with the Acton Health Insurance Trust (HIT) model, it’s clear now that a self-insured trust is not a viable option for the future. The town and district have signed an agreement with all of our local unions to dissolve the HIT and join the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association (MIIA) starting on July 1, 2024. MIIA is one of the largest municipal insurance pools in the United States, and offers Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance plans at a competitive price that will save Acton taxpayers, Acton town employees, and district employees money next year and beyond. MIIA's size ensures enough buying power to keep costs down and keep risk low. For more information about MIIA, watch the February 15 School Committee meeting starting here.

The Boardwalk Campus and the North Acton Fire Station were paid for with a debt exclusion, which is different from an override. When the town votes to approve a new school or public safety building, we are agreeing to have the town borrow money for the project, and add the payments to that new debt to our tax bill. Once we’ve paid off the debt, those payments are no longer added to our tax bill. When we vote for an operational override, it is a reset needed to meet the costs of regular operations, and is a permanent increase to our taxes.

It's also important to note that almost half of the Boardwalk Campus project was paid for by the state through the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).

No. The town budget is decided first and then the tax rates the town needs to meet the budget are decided afterwards. If property values go up more than the budget, your tax rate goes down. You only pay more taxes if your property values go up more than your neighbors. If all the property values in Acton go up together, it has no impact on your tax bill.

While the Acton Select Board plays an important role in guiding town functions, many important decisions in Acton are made at Town Meeting, an annual gathering open to all registered voters. Two of the most important votes that happen at Town Meeting are the vote to approve the town budget, and the vote to approve Acton's share of the regional school district budget. Because taxes can only legally go up by about 3 percent each year, in order for the Select Board to bring a larger tax increase to Town Meeting for approval, the voters have to first give their consent for an operating override. That consent will happen in the form of a question on the ballot in Acton's municipal election on Tuesday, April 30. So, you first need to go to the polls to vote "yes" on a tax increase greater than 3 percent, and then you need to go to Town Meeting to vote "yes" for the increased town and school budgets.

Town Meeting will happen Monday, May 6 starting at 7:00 pm in the auditorium at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School.

Quick answer: 

The state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) does provide reimbursement money for these two expenses, but DESE doesn't cover 100 percent.

Longer answer:

Regarding transportation, ABRSD currently provides bus transportation for all students, but only costs for students who live more than 1.5 miles from school are eligible for reimbursement.  When we moved to a single tier of start times for elementary school students, we expected 80-90% of our costs to be reimbursed as a regional school district. In practice, reimbursement rates have been closer to 60 to 70 percent depending on how many students were eligible each year. You can read more about school transportation in Massachusetts here, and you can read more about state reimbursement here. 

Regarding special education, up to 75 percent of special education costs above a certain threshold are reimbursed in the next fiscal year. Special education transportation costs are also reimbursable if included in a student's Individual Education Plan (IEP). In FY 2023, 75 percent of out-of-district tuition and 57 percent of transportation costs above $49,484 per student were reimbursed through the state's Circuit Breaker Program. The magnitude of these costs has also ballooned, as DESE authorized out-of-district providers to increase their program costs by 14% in FY 2024 and an additional 4.69% in FY 2025. Districts are responsible for the full cost of increases in the first year, and 25% of costs are passed onto districts after this first year. These costs must be absorbed into local operating budgets. You can historical data about special education reimbursements here, and more information about out-of-district cost increases here.

No. Currently, as part of the regionalization agreement, Acton and Boxborough families have a "hometown guarantee,"​ for elementary school, meaning Acton families are guaranteed ​a spot for all of their children at an Acton elementary school​, and Boxborough families are guaranteed a spot​ for all of their children at Blanchard. Because a failed override will require moving at least 180 students to different elementary schools in order to balance class sizes, the district would no longer be able to honor the hometown guarantee.

We think it's important that you hear directly from teachers about how student needs have changed and evolved over the years, especially as a result of the pandemic. Please watch the two video clips below to hear from some of our incredible educators in Acton and Boxborough about the needs of today's students:

• Educator panel from Budget Saturday 2/10/24
• Public comment from the Boxborough Finance Committee meeting 2/13/24 (start video at the 1:28:45 mark)

We think it's important that you hear directly from district administrators about the work and effort required to meet the needs of today's students and families. Please watch the presentation from Budget Saturday (2/10/24), starting here, to learn more about the roles and functions of our principals and assistant principals.

Yes. Here's an article from the March 12 edition of the Boston Globe detailing the struggles of many communities in our region to fund their school and town budgets. Westford, Belmont, Groton-Dunstable, Lunenburg, Harvard, and other communities are trying to pass an override this spring to avoid devastating cuts to school staff and town services.

Because an operating override is a permanent increase in the tax rate, passing an override this year after going almost 20 years without one will help the town and school district catch up on rising costs in the near term. In addition, the town and district moving employees to MIIA as part of a much larger insurance risk pool will stabilize health insurance premium increases going forward and prevent the unexpected cost spikes that made FY 2024 and FY 2025 so challenging. The structure of the override, if it passes, will also create some flexibility in future years, with $5.4 million committed to FY 2025 and $1.2 million of additional tax levy capacity in reserve for the future if and when needed. Finally, the School Committee is preparing to reevaluate the district's elementary school enrollment policies and transportation structure in order to to find long-term cost savings and create more flexibility in the school budget.