SHREWSBURY – Shrewsbury’s fiscal 2025 draft budget has been released.
Having released a first projection of the fiscal 2025 budget on Feb. 16, Town Manager Kevin Mizikar detailed the budget in presentations to the Select Board and the Finance Committee on Feb. 27 and 29 respectively.
According to Mizikar’s report, the budget will total $183,654,369, which is an increase of approximately $2.3 million over the fiscal year 2024 budget. During the tax classification hearing in the fall, Principal Assessor Ruth Anderson’s presentation indicated that the average single-family tax bill was projected to increase by $471.40.
The report’s executive summary outlines how the budget maintains nearly all the town’s promises made to taxpayers in the leadup to the 2021 Proposition 2½ override vote. The lone exception, as Mizikar notes in the budget, is that the town’s shared operating expense will increase by 7.10%, slightly exceeding the 6.65% cap. Mizikar called the increase insignificant and said it is because of rising healthcare costs.
When Shrewsbury approved the override in 2021, the town made a commitment to not ask for another override for at least four fiscal years, with fiscal 2025 being the fourth year. However, because of the town’s “steadfast commitment to the policies… put in place in 2021,” Mizikar said the town will be able to get at least another two years out of the override.
In essence, the town will get six years instead of the predicted four years projected in the 2021 override.
“We’re in a very strong position — a much better position that we thought we would have been in May of 2021. Very much due to the fact that we followed the playbook that we outlined in 2021,” Mizikar said at the Feb. 27 Select Board meeting.
The town’s expenditures are projected to increase by $1.3 million, below the 4.0% benchmark created by the 2021 override. Of the $1.3 million in new municipal expenditures, $1.2 million is dedicated to salaries, with much of the money going toward contractual increases. According to the budget, net operating expenses across all municipal departments, excluding utilities, increased by only $77,000.
Wanting to stay below the 4.0% threshold, the town made some difficult decisions when considering what to fund, according to Mizikar. The town cut roughly $2.4 million in requests from departments to balance the budget. Eight town departments asked the town for additional staff to meet current service demands, but the budget was not able to fund those positions.
The budget invests in public safety, adding two full-time patrol officers to the Shrewsbury Police Department. The department had asked for five positions in an effort to start a Traffic Services Division.
“There have been two successful overrides — one in 2014 and one in 2021 — and before that there were seven unsuccessful overrides. So there’s never a sense from any of us at this table that when we ask we will receive. We understand that we need to earn that trust from the community that we are taking care to stretch every dollar as far as we can, and I think the budget presentation that we just heard is indicative of the work that is being done,” said Select Board Chair Beth Casavant.
“It comes with an impact,” she continued. “When we talk about the fact that the budget is balanced… we have to make sure that we’re still recognizing that there’s a lot in this budget that would have impacted resident experiences that can’t be done because we’re making a choice to extend the duration of the override. We’re not in a position anymore, we hope, where we ask for an override to avoid catastrophe. We’re trying to change the mindset of the public so they understand that we’re asking for the override because we need additional funding to maintain services that people have come to expect.”
The budget is 61% funded by municipal taxes, with an additional 14% coming from state aid.
The school budget, which comes in at $86.8 million, will increase by 4.50%, just below the 4.75% cap. As the Community Advocate reported last month, the school budget focuses on literacy, language skills and fostering community and belonging.
Superintendent Joe Sawyer outlined the school budget on Feb. 7.
The town’s Finance Committee will hold public hearings on the budget on March 21, 23, and April 11. In the March hearings alone, the Finance Committee will review the budget with different departments for over 11 hours. The budget will be voted upon at Shrewsbury’s May 20 Annual Town Meeting, roughly one month before fiscal 2025 starts on July 1.
In the time until Town Meeting, the budget may change based on feedback from residents and stakeholders.
