Manchester Finance Committee Unanimously Backs $31.9 Million Fiscal Year 2027 Capital Budget

MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA, March 5, 2026, Manchester-by-the-Sea Finance Committee unanimously recommends $31.9 million capital budget dominated by PFAS remediation and culvert replacement. The committee voted 5-0 Thursday to recommend Article 5 at $31,902,492 for the April Town Meeting, a package that could push the town's outstanding debt from roughly $5.5 million today to a peak of approximately $35 million around fiscal year 2028 before amortizing down. The largest line item is a $16.5 million PFAS water treatment project, with bids due April 8; Finance Director Andrea Miller projected the full borrowing package would raise the fiscal year 2027 tax rate to approximately $9.05, a roughly 2.2 percent increase over the prior year. The committee also approved a $960,039 sanitation budget, up sharply from prior years, as trash collection costs rose from $520,000 to $633,000 and disposal from $200,000 to $252,000, with Town Administrator Tony Barletta warning that a planned shift to automated barrel collection will eventually eliminate the town's $300,000 annual bag-fee revenue stream. A separate 6-0 vote approved $594,200 in Community Preservation Committee projects, including $350,000 for a rotunda restoration funded in part by reducing the Affordable Housing Trust allocation from $200,000 to $100,000.