Auburn Finance Committee Elects Marshall Chair, Approves $312,750 Health Insurance Transfer

AUBURN — July 15, 2026 — Auburn Finance Committee reorganizes and approves more than $312,000 in year-end transfers at packed July session. Michael Marshall was elected chair in a 6-0-1 vote, succeeding Kevin W. Kennedy, while Trevor Sansoucy was unanimously elected vice chair at the July 15 meeting. The committee approved an omnibus transfer of $312,750 — $290,000 to a group insurance account carrying a deficit of $287,648.67, and $22,750 to Medicare — drawn from more than 40 departmental line items, with the town manager citing a sharp rise in health-insurance claims including GLP-1 medications the town has since decided to stop covering. "Hopefully we don't have to do this again," said the town manager, who imposed a strict spending freeze in the final month of the fiscal year to help make up the shortfall and said she may seek an amended insurance appropriation at a future special town meeting. The committee also voted 5-1-1 to authorize the town manager to respond to an open meeting law complaint filed by Alan Rafferty, stemming from a prior meeting at which a member recused himself without leaving the room; members discussed the matter as procedurally manageable, with one calling it "literally a parking ticket."