Town’s budget is balanced, bigger than last year
Feb 10, 2021
A pie chart depicting the town’s projected FY2022 revenue. Photo courtesy: Town of Wareham
A pie chart depicting the town’s projected FY2022 expenses. Photo courtesy: Town of Wareham
A chart comparing the average single family home tax bill in Wareham and surrounding communities. Wareham town taxes are the first entry, followed by WF (Wareham town taxes plus Wareham Fire District taxes), and OF (Wareham town taxes plus Onset Fire District taxes). Photo courtesy: Town of Wareham
The town’s budget for the next fiscal year does not include the deep cuts to services that some officials feared would be necessary, reported Town Administrator Derek Sullivan at the Feb. 9 Board of Selectmen’s meeting.
Although the town’s revenue has taken hits with significant reductions in income from taxes on meals and hotel and motel stays, the town’s overall budget is up about 4.2 percent from last year.
For fiscal year 2022 — beginning July 1, 2021 — the town’s budget will be $70,400,091. Of that budget, 62 percent will come from taxes.
The total tax levy is limited by Proposition 2 ½, which limits the increase in the tax levy to 2.5 percent growth year over year, aside from new revenues.
Sullivan said that new businesses don’t boost the town’s budget as much as one might think: It takes $34 million of new growth to add $375,000 to the town’s coffers.
At the onset of the covid-19 pandemic, Sullivan reworked his estimates for the 2021 budget, assuming state aid would be down about ten percent. As the state provided more aid than he planned for, those funds will be rolled over into the new year.
The pandemic also hit the town’s income directly through reduced tourism: Tax revenue from meals is down by about 22 percent, and the taxes paid on hotel and motel stays are down about 40 percent.
Sullivan noted that he used $600,000 from the town’s stabilization — or “rainy day” — fund in 2021, and that a number of town accounts have been drained over the years. This coming year, he hopes to build some of those cushions back up.
One bright spot in the budget is that the town is set to spend 13.5 percent less this year than last on paying down debts.
“We hold a very small amount of debt,” Sullivan said.
One long-term strain on the budget is the ongoing decrease in state aid and increase in state bills: Compared to ten years ago, Sullivan said, the town receives about $2.5 million less from the state and owes $3 million more.
Of the town’s budget, 44 percent is spent on schools; 21 percent covers school and town employee benefits; ten percent goes to public safety. Five percent of the budget goes to general government functions and four percent goes to public works.
