Mary Byrne
If history is a guide, Belmont faces about a 45% chance of passing the proposed $8.4 million Proposition 2½ override in the spring.
Since 1980, Belmont voters have faced nine override votes: four have passed, totaling $12 million. Five, totaling $15 million, have failed.
The $8.4 million Proposition 2 ½ override on the ballot this spring will be the largest Belmont voters have considered in the 43 years since the law, which limits property tax increases to 2 ½% annually, initially passed. The financial impact on the average homeowners’ tax bill will be addressed at a future Select Board meeting, according to Town Administrator Patrice Garvin.
“It wouldn’t have been $8.4 [million] if the one in ‘21 had passed,” said longtime Select Board member Mark Paolillo. “Costs have gone up since 2021 and the infrastructure needs have been the same.”
Leading up to the failed $6.4 million override in 2021, local officials warned voters the town had reached a structural deficit resulting from recurring expenses increasing faster than recurring revenues.
In recent years, the town has relied heavily on one-time sources of money, including the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. Both were a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a presentation town officials shared in September, roughly $9 million of the town’s current fiscal year budget relies on such one-time funds.
“The fiscal cliff talked about in 2021 temporarily went into abeyance, but now it has reemerged,” Select Board Chair Roy Epstein said at the Special Town Meeting in January.
In 2021, town officials attributed the structural deficit primarily to increased student enrollment.
“The school’s budget has certainly continued to grow over time,” said School Committee Chair Meghan Moriarty.
Even with recent increases in enrollment, there are still 5% fewer students than before the pandemic, according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. However, at the same time, some budget increases are tied to an upward trend in special populations, including students with disabilities and English language learners, as well as increased enrollment at the high school.
According to budget documents, even with efforts to chip away at rising costs, a level-services budget would require an increase of $3.9 million over fiscal year 2024. The town and school face a combined $6.5 million budget gap in the next fiscal year.
“It’s not a bluff,” said Garvin. “Services are going to be reduced. I would hate to see the town in that position.”
History of Overrides
Following a series of failed overrides between 2006 and 2010, the town passed a $4.5 million override in 2015 to fund schools, roads, and sidewalks, and pay debt for capital projects.
In 2002, voters passed a $2.4 million override to address a late cut in state aid. In 2001, voters passed a $3 million override to fund roads, schools, and town services. And in 1990, they passed a nearly $2.1 million override to fund solid waste collection and disposal.
“I felt what we did successfully in 2001, and 2002 was show how hard both the town side and the school side had worked to decrease the costs and still do the essential services,” said resident Pat Brusch, who has served on various building committees and campaigned on some of the town’s earliest override votes. “You have a lot more credibility if you show you’ve done what you can do.”
The Before Times
Before Proposition 2½ became law, Belmont made cuts where it could when money was tight, according to Paolillo. Back then, the only way to raise money for a particular need was by Town Meeting vote.
“You knew there was going to come a time when you couldn’t do that and for us, that was the end of the ‘80s,” Paolillo said. “We did look at how to deal with the problem of a 2½% increase in property taxes in a town that was [largely residential]. The homeowner in Belmont is supporting all of the services.”
Looking for ways to cut costs in the 1990s, Belmont restructured its public works services under one department head rather than multiple — an action that didn’t necessarily change the headcount but affected salaries. The town also restructured how it offered health insurance.
In more recent years, Garvin said she has also looked at ways of restructuring Belmont’s services to reduce costs.
“Most of the budget is salaries,” she noted.
The challenge each year is Belmont’s lack of a commercial/industrial base, putting the burden for generating revenue almost entirely on residential taxpayers.
“We get all of our revenue from our tax base,” Garvin said. “The only way to get additional revenue is through an override.”
Belmont has also passed 11 debt exclusions, which, unlike overrides, are temporary increases designed to fund capital projects. Four others failed.
Most recently, voters passed
- $28.7 million in 2023 to fund a new skating rink and sports facility
- $35.5 million in 2022 to fund a new library
- $293.4 million in 2018 to fund the Belmont Middle and High School
Brusch said the 2006 and 2010 overrides failed amid pushback from voters who felt the town wasn’t spending wisely.
“I don’t care what it is in the budget; there are always things that one person is going to say is essential and another person is going to say is fluff,” said Brusch. “The key is to not have a lot of fluff if you need to get most people agreeing with you.”
She said while things like salary increases may not be a choice, the size of a salary increase is — as is the number of employees.
“There are some things that are not discretionary and there are some that have discretionary pieces in them,” she said. “Sometimes that gets lost. I think that was some of what got lost in 2021.”
The town will always need more money, Paolillo said, but ideally it will get to a point where residents aren’t asked for big-ticket overrides in the future.
Instead, the town would approach voters with more modest figures every four or five years, he said. For such a plan to work, communication is key, he added.
“I think we need to get to that point,” he said.
