Littleton Community Center Board Concerned Over Proposed $10,000 Cut in Town Funding

LITTLETON — A proposed reduction in the town’s annual contribution to the Littleton Community Center has prompted the center’s board of directors to voice concerns about tighter finances and its ability to meet expenses during a transitional period. For more than a decade, the town has donated $35,000 to the nonprofit center, which sets aside several days each month to make a room available to host Select Board meetings and planning and zoning board meetings at no cost to the town. Proposed in the draft 2027 town budget is a $10,000 reduction in the annual contribution. “The community center returns a lot more to the town and residents of the town than the town’s investment of $35,000,” Kathleen Smith, president of the center’s all-volunteer board of directors, said during the Oct. 26 Select Board meeting. The center, which rents out space for private functions and for other nonprofits, provides affordable meeting space for families and organizations while preserving a historic landmark on Main Street and targeting programming to areas of need based on community area need surveys, she said.