A new report released by the Massachusetts Municipal Association paints a stark picture of the budgetary challenges facing communities — but not necessarily one that surprises most municipal officials.
“There was no shocking news in that report,” said Town Administrator Patrice Garvin. “We’ve been living it and experiencing it for a while. We’re not the only town dealing with the constraints and the fiscal issues.”
According to “A Perfect Storm: Cities and Towns Faces Historical Fiscal Pressures,” while average state government spending has increased by 2.8% since 2010 to meet “critical needs,” constraints on local revenue resources — such as Proposition 2 ½, a state law limiting a city’s or town’s ability to raise property taxes to about 2.5% — have kept Massachusetts’ communities spending growth to 0.6%, despite inflation. This lags far behind the national average of 1%, according to the report.
“I think [the report] is the state’s way of verbalizing in a collective way all the issues towns are facing,” Garvin said.
According to Garvin, town officials, including department heads, try each year to “trim [expenses], even at bare bones.” She is also trying to leverage technology, too, and doing a review of overtime to find places those dollars can be managed.
“I can speak for the municipal and the shared services side,” she said. “We trim as best we can.”
Still, certain budgetary considerations are out of the town’s control, she said. For example, Unrestricted General Government Aid, the state’s primary source of aid to municipalities, “is barely a blip” in the town’s total budget of roughly $166 million.
In fact, according to the association’s report, when adjusted for inflation, funding for Unrestricted General Government Aid is 25% lower than in 2002.
“Our capital needs are tremendous,” Garvin added. “We just put online new buildings that we have to operate and staff. That all puts pressure on the operating budget.”
On the school side, Chapter 70 aid, which helps to support public school budgets, “hasn’t met the needs.”
Health insurance, salaries and contracts are also budgetary drivers that are out of the town’s control.
“You have to get as creative as you can,” Garvin said. “I’m looking to do some restructuring to add a little bit of money here and a little bit of money there … but it’s still the bare bones.”
Belmont is relatively unusual, however, in that it is willing to at least pursue overrides as a means to make up the difference. According to the report, a majority of cities and towns — nearly 200 of 351 — have pursued zero overrides over the last 15 years. Belmont, meanwhile, has brought a handful of overrides to voters, two of which have passed in the last 10 years.
Since 1980, Belmont voters have faced 10 override votes. Five passed, totaling $20.4 million. Five, totaling $15 million, have failed. Most recently, voters approved an $8.4 million override in spring 2024.
“We’re fortunate to receive the override,” said Garvin. “We’ve been fortunate to have good fiscal management and an engaged finance board.”
The most recent override was expected to last three fiscal years, funding fiscal years 2025, 2026, and 2027, according to Warrant Committee Chair Paul Rickter, and it looks to be possible for that override to stretch into a fourth year.
“That’s still a decision that needs to be made for all committees involved,” he said.
Fiscal year 2029, however, will potentially require the town to go to voters once again for an override. That would be April 2028.
Whereas the budget process has gotten better thanks to a more “regularized” budget process, the budget itself, he said, has gotten tighter over the years.
Rickter said he’s not sure how Belmont would have made up for shortfalls in recent years if voters hadn’t passed the last two overrides.
“I was surprised to see how few municipalities have even asked for an override, let alone had one approved,” he said. “I know there are some communities that have a large amount of commercial base that don’t generally ask for an operating override, and many don’t even tax up to the levy limit.”
Still, he acknowledged that overrides come at a price to property owners and was curious to know what potential policy recommendations the association plans to release later this fall.
“I think people feel the property taxes are very high already,” he said. “It’s kind of a double bind, where people feel their property taxes are very high and people feel like there are gaps in the services we’re providing.”