Dunstable Finance Committee Approves Four Reserve Transfers, Tackles $40,700 Budget Gap

DUNSTABLE — February 11, 2026 — Dunstable Finance Committee approves four reserve fund transfers and narrows FY27 budget deficit to roughly $40,700. The committee voted unanimously on all four transfers at its February 11 meeting, covering a shared treasurer-collector salary shortfall of $10,100 resulting from a 25 percent cost charge against a 20 percent budget assumption, a $1,818 dog officer stipend for a staffing transition, $5,000 for higher-than-expected IT services, and $10,000 for town counsel costs driven largely by a nuisance dog court case the town won at both levels of appeal — leaving approximately $2,000 in the reserve fund through fiscal year end. On the FY27 budget, financial staff presented a draft that reduced a $804,000 baseline deficit through departmental cuts including lowering the highway paving line from $200,000 to $30,000 on the strength of a jump in Chapter 90 state funding to $413,000, reducing police part-time and overtime by $63,000 to fund a ninth full-time officer, and eliminating a $50,000 ambulance partnership line after the county declined to proceed. Local receipts were estimated at $850,000 — described by staff as "more aggressive than I would like" but confirmed as the ceiling the town accountant would support.