Auburn Select Board Transmits FY27 Budget to Finance Committee Unanimously

AUBURN — February 26, 2026 — Auburn Select Board unanimously transmits proposed FY27 budget to the Finance Committee, with a 2.18 percent tax levy increase. The board voted 5-0 Thursday to forward Town Manager Joanna Donahue's revised budget, which sets free cash directed to the capital improvement plan at $2,839,883 and holds borrowing at $895,000, consistent with the prior year. Vice Chair Todd M. Kirrane pushed for a separate Select Board recommendation that would add $500,000 to road reconstruction, reduce fire overtime funding from $600,000 to $500,000, and restore roughly $60,000 to the school department budget, but the board declined to act on those changes at the meeting's close, with Member Daniel S. Carpenter calling it "a very big conversation that shouldn't be mentioned at the end of a meeting." The animal control budget drew extended discussion after staff acknowledged the veterinary line is routinely exhausted in a single visit and that the animal control officer has supplied materials out of pocket; Donahue agreed to revisit the account before fall town meeting.