Southborough Select Board approves school building committee charge, sets warrant positions

SOUTHBOROUGH -- March 17, 2026, Southborough's Select Board approved the charge for a new Elementary School Building Committee and took positions on a dozen Annual Town Meeting warrant articles Tuesday, while confronting a stark actuarial report showing the town's retiree health benefits liability jumped 40.6 percent in a single year, from $38,680,158 to $54,372,092. Actuaries Amanda Makarevich and Michael Bubolo of KMS Actuaries told the board the surge was driven largely by an 88 percent two-year increase in premiums for the town's Aetna Medicare Advantage plan; the town's OPEB trust holds just $4,645,204 against a total liability of $59 million, and the actuarially determined annual contribution is more than $6 million, 24 times the town's current $250,000 trust deposit. The board voted 4-0-1 to approve the building committee charge with three members appointed by the Select Board and two by the School Committee, over the School Committee's preference for joint appointments, with Marguerite Landry abstaining. The board voted 3-2 to support the operating budget article at Town Meeting, voted unanimously to support the $5,387,628 Trottier Middle School roof replacement backed by a 41.32 percent MSBA reimbursement, and rejected a citizen's petition to create a separate Finance Committee on a 1-3-1 vote.