(March 19, 2026) – The Ayer Police Department presented its FY2027 budget to the Finance Committee, which represents a 2.57 percent increase over 2026 (or about $81,000).
More important than the numbers, we think it’s a good opportunity for residents to watch as the public safety departments present to the Finance Committee. You can learn about our community in a way that becomes part of your general reference, or personal toolkit, as you navigate living here in Ayer.
Here are a few points from the presentation:
Incident Trends
According to the presentation, the Ayer Police Department made 1,724 motor vehicle stops in 2025, up from 1,631 in 2024. Meanwhile, the department recorded 114 reports of motor vehicle collisions last year, down 123 from the previous year.
On this point, the police chief noted safety improvements since the four-way stop was implemented at Groton-Harvard Road and Central Avenue.
Department Structure
The Ayer Police Department’s organization structure includes a police chief, a deputy police chief and a communications manager (for the regional dispatch with Shirley, which is based in Ayer). Among the ranks: a school resource officer, two detectives and patrol officers. The department has sergeants, but no lieutenants or captains listed on its organizational chart. The department has approximately 10-15 civilian traffic patrol workers.
COIN
The Ayer Police Department’s structure now includes COIN, the Community Outreach Initiative Network. The Ayer Police Department is the host agency for the program which is funded by the state Department of Mental Health and serves regional communities.
This grant funds a jail diversion manager, a community resource navigator and two co-response clinicians. The grant was $400,000 for the current year and covered the clinician salaries and benefits (Source: Select Board meeting minutes, July 23, 2025).
This program’s operation in FY2027 is contingent on state funding coming through again, according to the meeting discussion.
Police Dog
You may have heard the Ayer Police Department introduced a comfort dog officer this year. The police chief said the school resource officer introduced the idea. While the dog is assigned to the school resource officer, it does make appearances at other events, the chief said.
One Finance Committee member asked about the costs. There is a half-hour of overtime each shift to feed, walk and care for the dog, which meet requirements of state law, the police chief said. This works out to about $12,700 in wages, he said.
Salaries and Wages
For the police department budget, the salaries will rise 3.57 percent in FY2027. This is for the police chief and deputy police chief. Wages will increase 2.1 percent. These figures don’t include the dispatch, which was reported in another chart.
Overtime
As for overtime, the department has budgeted about $297,000 in next year’s budget, which is level-funded – the same as this year. For the current year, the department has used 47 percent of its overtime budget. This pays for training, much of which comes over the next few months. It also helps the department fund attendance at community events and non-patrol work, such as its citizen police academy.
Educational Incentives
The police department contracts include educational incentives and some position incentives (for instance, an officer may receive a certain percent incentive on wages for holding a bachelor’s degree or for holding a certain position).
However, if you look at the Finance Committee budget presentation, the incentives are not specifically listed; they are included in the other lines, such as wages.
While this isn’t a new approach among Ayer town departments (and maybe other towns), this is the first year of our community news project. We want to acknowledge aspects of how the budgets are built.
Police-Worn Cameras
During last year’s Finance Committee process, the Ayer Police Department shared that it had received a grant for police officers to wear body-worn cameras, according to March 20, 2025 meeting minutes. This has been reported a few times. Still, we want to cover it as part of our Finance Committee coverage as we didn’t have a community news project last year.
Meeting Materials:
Ayer Police Department’s written presentation for the March 19, 2026 Finance Committee meeting.
Here is the meeting video. The presentation starts at about 18 min.