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Resident urges AFC to limit next year’s budget growth to 2.5%
Summary
During public comment, resident Joe Considine presented a seven‑town tax-rate comparison, said Westborough’s rate has risen relative to neighbors, and asked the Advisory Finance Committee to recommend capping departmental growth at 2.5% next year.
Joe Considine of 10th Smith Street used the committee’s public-comment period to urge restraint in next year’s budgets and presented a seven-town comparison of residential tax rates.
Considine told the committee that he calculated a seven‑town mean including Westborough and the six abutting towns and that Westborough’s relative position has increased over recent years. He said that ‘‘last year, it went to a 115’’ relative to the mean and noted that the local food pantry’s caseload has risen sharply; "food pantry ... customers ... are up 85% from last year," he said.
"For next year, I cannot support a budget for greater than 2 and a half percent growth, and we'll vote no if the budget exceeds this amount," Considine added.
Committee members acknowledged the comparison and discussed how peer towns are selected for benchmarking; staff and the finance team said they will document reasons for comparator choices and that the finance-team level will continue work over the summer. The committee did not take formal action on the citizen’s request during the meeting.
