Berlin Finance Committee Recommends $280,000 Cut to School District Budget

BERLIN — March 18, 2026 — Berlin Finance Committee votes to cut school district assessment by $280,000. The four-member panel voted 4-0 Wednesday to recommend the Berlin-Boylston Regional School District assessment at $9,749,226 for fiscal year 2027, trimming $280,000 from the district's request and reducing the proposed increase from roughly 9 percent to approximately 5.56 percent. Town Administrator Jeff Ambrozaitis, who presented an updated budget spreadsheet, noted the non-school portions of the town budget are rising at about 4.33 percent in the aggregate, a figure members used as a benchmark for the school discussion. A member flagged what she described as a math error in the district's official assessment letter and said she would contact district business administrator Aaron Osborne the following morning for a corrected figure. An amendment to deepen the cut to $350,000 failed 2-2 before the committee settled on the $280,000 reduction, which members estimated would produce a levy increase of approximately 4 percent. The committee also approved a regionalization of building inspectional services with Boylston, Sterling, and West Boylston at a cost of $73,750, down from $102,000, and recommended 4-0 a series of free cash transfers including $115,000 to the town's OPEB fund and $9,000 for three defibrillators.