Millbury Select Board closes most of $1.6 million budget gap

Select Board · Meeting of March 10, 2026

Millbury narrows a $1.6 million budget gap, sidesteps mass layoffs. Town Manager Karen Clark told the Select Board Tuesday that after $815,000 in earlier cuts and an 11 percent drop in Blackstone Valley Tech's draft assessment, the fiscal 2027 deficit stood at $237,000, split roughly $142,000 for schools and $95,000 for the town, and will likely still require one layoff or a part-time reduction. Clark, who built the budget with CFO Katie McKenna after losing her finance director in October, said she is forgoing her own raise starting July 1: "This is not done in a vacuum." Health insurance costs, once projected to rise 20 percent, will instead climb 4.9 percent.

Separately, the board heard new state clean energy siting rules from Town Planner Victor, adopted a motorcycle safety proclamation, accepted $275 in fire department memorial gifts, and surprised Chair Mary Krumczyk with a handmade quilt for her years of town service.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of March 10, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.