Article 2 Authorization of the Town Manager or Superintendent of Schools Regarding Contracts in Excess of Three Years
Massachusetts Law only allows municipalities to enter into a contract of up to three years without permission of Town Meeting. This article allows the Town Manager and Superintendent to sign contracts of longer than three years with the Select Board’s or School Committee’s approvals. Towns will sometimes opt for longer contracts in order to lock in attractive pricing or for a lease. For instance, the Select Board voted to allow a five year contract to rent the town’s postage machine in order to take advantage of the best pricing.
Article 3 Authorization to Accept Grants of Easements and
Article 4 Authorization to Grant Easements
These articles allow the Town to accept and grant easements for any public purpose. An easement is a right to use someone else’s land for a particular purpose. The Town often has to accept easements for purposes like extensions of sidewalks or for utility purposes. The Town may grant an easement to a utility company or the Commonwealth.
Article 5 Approve Payment of Prior Years Unpaid Bills
This article allows the town to pay bills from a previous year that may have arrived late or were unpaid for other reasons. This year we have not identified any unpaid bills.
Article 6 Set Salaries and Compensation of Elected Officials
This article sets out what various elected officials salaries should be in FY27. This article is voted on annually.
Article 7 Appropriation – Capital Improvement Plan for Fiscal Year 2027
This article funds the Town’s Capital Improvement Plan for FY27. The Town has a five year capital improvement and capital budgeting plan, which it updates annually. The Town’s Capital Improvement plan can be found in the Town’s FY27 budget book, which is available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hb1S_k6upo8pSpvFEcdfk_JbVppO2X97/view?usp=sharing
This year’s capital improvement plan continues to implement Facilities Master Plan II and more information on that plan can be found here: https://sites.google.com/northandoverma.gov/fmp-2-0/home. The capital budget is funded using mostly one time revenue sources like free cash and the capital stabilization account.
Article 8 Capital Improvements-Kittredge School
This article seeks to authorize debt for the building of a new Kittredge Elementary School. As part of Facilities Master Plan II, funding was approved for a feasibility study to determine the long-term plan for the Kittredge Elementary School. Both renovation to the existing building and new construction were studied. The feasibility study revealed that due to the age of the building, the needs of the district and the costs associated with renovating the building, the best course of action is to demolish the current building and construct a new building on a clean site. On March 6, 2026, the schematic design and project budget was approved by the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The MSBA will reimburse the Town approximately $29.2 million dollars (36.6%) of eligible project costs. A debt exclusion vote is not required because the Town is using levy capacity created by Amazon’s personal property to fund the debt payments for the project. The full amount of the project is authorized at Town Meeting, but the Town is reimbursed by the state for their portion. For more information please visit the Kittredge Elementary School project website at: https://sites.google.com/northandoverma.gov/kittredge 
