Auburn Finance Committee recommends most Special Town Meeting articles, rejects Water Street borrowing

AUBURN -- September 24, 2025, Auburn's Finance Committee voted to recommend approval of nine articles and reject a $1.5 million Water Street culvert borrowing at its September 24 meeting, ahead of the October 28 Special Fall Town Meeting. The three-member quorum, Vice Chair Michael Marshall, Patrick Jones, and Andrew Sharr, approved a $522,954 supplemental FY26 budget amendment bringing the town's total budget to $82.8 million, including new firefighter salary costs offset partly by ambulance receipts following a settled union contract. Fire Chief Coleman told the committee the deal had already produced "almost a 50 percent reduction in overtime" in the first quarter of the fiscal year. The committee recommended approval of $4.7 million in sewer rehabilitation borrowing for Goddard Drive and Sword Street and $2.5 million in golf course drainage and irrigation work, but split on Water Street: it backed a $150,000 engineering design appropriation (2-0-1) while unanimously voting not to recommend the $1.5 million construction borrowing, citing a failed grant application and a minimal detour impact. The committee also voted against recommending acceptance of Whitman Bailey Drive as a public way, citing road construction below town standards.