Chelmsford Town Manager Unwraps A $128 Million Proposed FY 2018 Budget

CHELMSFORD - Town Manager Paul Cohen took the wraps off a proposed $128 million fiscal year 2018 town budget, which represents a 4 percent increase from this year and gives the Chelmsford Public Schools a $57 million slice of the budget pie.

Cohen told the Board of Selectmen that the town government portion is a proposed $27.4 million, a $1.1 million or 4.1 percent increase over this fiscal year. The proposed schools budget is a $2.4 million or 4.5 percent increase over this year, according to The Lowell Sun.

The budget busters of benefits and insurance eat up $22.8 million of the budget, a $1.54 million or 7.2 percent increase. Health insurance and retirement benefit costs are a big chunk of the budget, as well as the added costs of hiring more kindergarten teachers.

Still up in the air are the contracts with clerical ,dispatch, firefighters, police officers and police superior officers unions. The proposed budget doesn't reflect increases in those contracts because the town can't pre-fund contract settlements.

The proposed school funding was less than the additional $3.3 million School Superintendent Jay Lang sought, in part, due to the implementation of full-day kindergarten and special-education costs.

The Chelmsford School Committee will hold a budget hearing on March 14.

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