Billerica 250th Committee votes to extend its life into August

250th Committee · Meeting of July 28, 2026

Billerica's 250th Committee votes to extend past its July 31 expiration, still unable to close the books on roughly $115,000 in event funds. Town Accountant Amit Chiani told members they cannot legally donate leftover money to vendors or nonprofits without an invoice for services rendered, stalling a proposed $1,000 gift to the Billerica Playground Project and converting a planned $400 "donation" to drone videographer Dwight Doan into a vendor invoice instead. As of July 17 the committee had spent $64,188.45 of $115,076.07 raised and appropriated, leaving roughly $32,000 to $33,000 once pending invoices and an estimated $9,000 owed back to the town are subtracted.

"I don't think the committee has the authority to donate money to another organization if they haven't provided services," Chiani said. Members also finalized time-capsule submission rules, setting an October 1 deadline, and scheduled their next meeting for August 19.

In the full story:

• Open Comment: A Thank-You and a Question About Leftover Money
• Time Capsule: Letter, Contents and a Deadline
• Drone Videographer Donation Becomes a Disputed Invoice
• Billerica Playground Project Donation Blocked by Town Accountant
• Financial Accounting: What's Left of $115,000
• Committee's Sunset and the Vote to Extend Into August
• Next Meeting: August 19
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,816 words

Source: the 250th Committee meeting of July 28, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.