Warrant Committee backs $1M Atherton fire station design request ahead of May town meeting

Finance Committee · Meeting of February 26, 2026

Milton Warrant Committee reviews $1M fire station design request and narrowing school budget gap. The committee heard from Brian Walsh, longtime chair of the Fire Station Building Committee, who asked for authorization to seek approximately $1 million at May town meeting to complete bidding-ready design plans for the Atherton Street station, the last of three stations in a rebuilding program that began with a $32.25 million town meeting appropriation in 2021. Town Administrator Nick Milano reported a revised general fund revenue figure of $151,824,000 for fiscal year 2027 and said a deficit that stood at $2.4 million in January has been reduced to roughly $1 million through debt-service shifts, a drop in the health insurance premium increase from 10 percent to 8 percent, and upward revisions to state aid and local receipts.

The school budget subcommittee reported that Acting Superintendent Phelan's revised cut list stands at approximately $831,000 after the district restored a special education teacher and a behavior analyst position following community pushback, and agreed to draw an additional $400,000 from circuit breaker funds on a four-year timeline. A Blue Hills Regional assessment announced the same day came in roughly level with the prior year, saving an additional $71,000 the town had held in reserve.

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Source: the Finance Committee meeting of February 26, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.