We have started keeping this “unofficial” budget timeline page.
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Dates in reverse chronological order; goes back to the Oct. 27, 2025 Special Town Meeting, when voters approved the Senior Center.
Jan. 20, 2026
Select Board Receives Presentation on Draft 1 of the Town Budget. The town management filed the first draft of the Town’s FY2027 budget on Jan. 16th and shared a presentation with the Select Board on Tuesday, Jan. 20th. In the presentation, it’s explained that the goal is to keep the town budget at a 5 percent increase. Still to come: the Select Boad still has to consider a COLA increase for non-union employees, call firefighters and elected officials who earn a stipend. There are contract negotiations including three non-union employees and the town’s clerical union. The town is also still waiting for its assessment for employee health insurance and the school assessments. Read our meeting coverage. This includes links to the APAC video of the Finance Committee meeting on Jan. 15th and Ayer-Shirley Regional School Committee meeting minutes from December.
Jan. 8, 2026
The DPW presents its FY2027 requests to the Capital Planning Committee. Here is the DPW slide presentation on the Town of Ayer’s website. You can also read our meeting coverage.
Dec. 10, 2025
Capital Planning Committee. The town management reported the town departments initially requested up to $5.53 million in capital requests (vehicles, equipment, building repairs and related items). After reviewing these requests, the town manager and finance manager reduced the ask to about $5.26 million. Among the requests: $1.2 million for a Sandy Pond Beach House project. If this goes to Town Meeting, this would go as a debt exclusion under the town’s financial policies. The committee also asked the town management to compile an inventory of vehicles used by different town departments.
Nov. 20, 2025
Finance Committee Receives Budget Presentation, Showing Potential $1 Million Shortfall for FY2027. Here is the presentation on the town’s website.
Nov. 5, 2025
FY2027 Budget Presentations Start. The Select Board received a short presentation on the town’s budget challenges in FY2027.
Nov. 4, 2025
Ayer Voters Approve Debt Exclusion at Ballot Election. Ayer voters took the final step and approved the debt exclusion to fund the new senior center.
Oct. 27, 2025
Special Town Meeting Approves Financing to Help Build a New Senior Center. Voters approved Article 10, which appropriated $13.55 million to help finance the $15.1 million senior center. This article had two parts: it authorized borrowing up to $11.55 million through a debt exclusion and transferred $2 million from the capital stabilization fund to help finance the project.
The town had discussed a $10 million project, but ultimately proposed this amount as a precaution in case a federal grant didn’t come through. If the town borrows $11.55 million, the average homeowner will pay approximately $165 each year over 25 years. If the town receives the federal grants, the amount would be about $143 for a $10 million borrow. There were other parts of the financing plan. See the budget slide shared at the meeting at 1:32 min or so of this video.
Oct. 27, 2025 – Warrant Articles and Explanations
From the town website: This page contains information on the warrant articles for the Oct. 27, 2025 Special Town Meeting, including the senior center financing article.