Milford Finance Committee Recommends Favorable on Eight Warrant Articles, Defers School Budget

MILFORD -- April 15, 2026, Milford Finance Committee advances eight town meeting warrant articles and defers school budget vote to April 29. The committee voted unanimous favorable recommendations Wednesday on a 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment for non-union employees under Article 2, a matching salary increase for elected and appointed officials under Article 3, and several recurring municipal authorization and cemetery funding articles, while deferring the school department's revised $81.4 million budget proposal, a 2.4 percent increase over the current year, to its final meeting of the season. Superintendent Craig Consigli told the committee the district reached that figure through an enrollment decline of roughly 250 students, position eliminations expected to reach double digits, program cuts, and cost shifts to grant and article funding, while noting that combined school choice and charter school out-placement costs have grown from roughly $1.5 million to $5.2 million in recent years. A $150,000 labor counsel appropriation and a snow-and-ice deficit transfer covering costs projected at $860,000, against a $600,000 base, were also pushed to April 29, when the committee will hear from the water department on a roughly $4 million capital article, outside counsel on a pending litigation article, and Police Chief on a departmental request, in what the chair described as a likely two-hour session.