North Andover Presents $143 Million FY27 Budget With No New Programs

NORTH ANDOVER -- February 25, 2026, North Andover Finance Committee hears FY27 budgets built on Amazon growth and override expectations. Town Manager Melissa presented a $143 million municipal budget, up 4.5 percent, with health insurance rising approximately $1.5 million against a total municipal operating increase of only $1.1 million, forcing roughly $800,000 in cuts including a $35,000 school composting program, a fire captain position cut for the second consecutive year, and $125,000 from police overtime and small capital. The town's $3.7 million in levy capacity, attributable to Amazon's personal property and real estate taxes, is reserved for Kittredge School renovation debt and a proposed Fire Station 3, both heading to May Town Meeting. Superintendent Leif presented a school budget of $73,705,289, $1.5 million above the town-funded $72.2 million that will appear in the warrant, bridged by drawing on circuit breaker reimbursement reserves built up for the first time this year. School Committee Chair Joe Hicks stated the school committee has taken a formal stance in favor of pursuing a Proposition 2.5 override in 2027, saying class sizes would rise dramatically without one; Finance Committee members pressed on whether the circuit breaker strategy replicates past spending patterns that had no durable funding source, with Hicks acknowledging: "We did have some bad things happen, we had to come to you for money from the Finance Committee reserve two years in a row."