Auburn Finance Committee Approves Over $140,000 in Year-End Budget Transfers

AUBURN — June 17, 2026 — Auburn Finance Committee approves more than $140,000 in year-end transfers as reserve fund dips to roughly $42,590. The committee, meeting June 17 with Chair Kevin W. Kennedy, members Patrick Jones, Michael Marshall, and Trevor Sansusi participating remotely, voted unanimously on all transfer requests from eight departments, including a $30,000 reserve fund draw to cover a legal services shortfall driven by a mid-year change from prior counsel to the firm Mead, Tallerman, and Costa, which brought a rate roughly doubling the previous contract. Sansusi called the committee "more of a rubber stamp than actually doing our job" after learning the rate change had been known since April. Kennedy proposed adding a standing staff-communication item to each agenda and called for a fall town meeting warrant article if the fiscal 2027 legal budget proves inadequate. Other notable transfers included $25,000 for fuel costs, $18,333 for fire overtime, $28,400 for police overtime, and $732.40 for postcard stamps to mail state-mandated census notices to 3,594 residents who had not returned their annual census forms.