May 2026

Article 1: Choose Town Officers, passed on a near unanimous voice vote. The nominators and newly elected officers are: The moderator then proceeded to the Consent Agenda for the Town Meeting, which included articles 2, 3 and 21-40. Consent Agenda articles are typically recurring and are not expected…

The deliberative mood continued with consideration of Article 4: Appropriations for the Municipal Operating Budget presented by Select Board member Alissa Nicol who moved that the Town appropriate $42,322,565 to be expended by the Town Manager to fund the fiscal year 2027 municipal budget. Speaking to her motion,…

Article 6: Authorize Borrowing for Town Hall HVAC and Emergency Power Replacement Project (two-thirds majority vote). Replacement of the Town Hall heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) had provided one of the more dramatic discussions — and multiple votes — at last year’s (2025) Town Meeting, where it…

Article 8: Acton-Boxborough Regional School District Assessment By a vote of 364 to 41, Town Meeting attendees approved Acton’s portion of the $122.6 million Regional School District budget for the fiscal year 2026-27. Acton’s assessment of $82,830,682, a 3.75% increase over the fiscal year 2025-26, consists of an…

The second night of Town Meeting (Meeting) opened with arguably everyone’s favorite article: The Appropriation of Community Preservation Funds. Select Board Chair Dean Charter moved the article as printed in the warrant and CPC chair Jim Colman marched through his presentation, explaining first how the funding accumulates from…

As previously reported by the Acton Exchange, overuse, misuse/abuse and overdose deaths due to opioid use have led to significant medical, social, psychological, demographic and economic consequences across Massachusetts and the nation. According to data from the Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, the Town of Acton…

This Article transfers funds into several defined purpose accounts, each briefly described in the Town Meeting Warrant. Those defined purpose accounts are as follows. The Finance Committee recommended Article 12. Residents’ questions were answered by Select Board clerk David Martin. One resident asked about the Town’s free cash…

“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot” Quoting Joni Mitchell and Thoreau, Town Meeting voters overwhelming clicked “yes” to authorize the Select Board to acquire 5.8 acres of open space on Taylor Road, adjacent to the 65 acre Arboretum. The $1,445,000 cost of purchasing 46 Taylor…

Changes to Acton’s Zoning By-Laws require a 2/3rds majority by Town Meeting voters. The moderator called for votes by clicker and the following Zoning By-Law changes were approved: Article 17: Establish Nagog Park Innovation Overlay District Acton adopted a Strategic Economic Development Action Plan in 2025 to encourage…