Merrimack Valley Roundup: No Full-Day Kindergarten for Chelmsford

Every Saturday, we round up the top stories from the past week from Merrimack Valley Patches. 

Tewksbury

Tewksbury Board of Selectmen received an update on two fire engines that were taken off the road after failing to pass inspection. Town Manager Richard Montuori said the most cost effective option for replacing the two engines is the purchase of two trucks previously leased by other communities, one a 2008 model and the other a 2009 model, each costing $330,000. Read the full story here. 

Chelmsford

With kindergarten registration looming in mid-January, a rising property tax bill heading to residents and unanswered questions, the Chelmsford School Committee decided on Tuesday to not pursue public full-day kindergarten in the upcoming school year. The move will keep Chelmsford as one of the 20 towns in the Commonwealth without any full-day public kindergarten. However, additional discussions are expected in the next few weeks as the Committee aims to craft a proposal for upcoming school years. Read the full story here. 

Westford

The only place where Westford's town government can engage in deficit spending is their snow and ice removal budget and they've hit that threshold for this winter already. Town budget director Dan O'Donnell reports that the town is currently about $20,000 over the initially appropriated budget, and about halfway toward its expected budget.

The process has become tradition in Westford, with the budget going over since at least 2003, using a portion of state law that allows deficit spending on snow removal with Finance Committee and Town Manager approval. Read the full story here.