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Panel explains $23.25 million override on May 5 ballot, warns of deep school cuts if it fails
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Summary
Members of Brookline’s Expenditures and Revenue Study Committee told a public webinar the Select Board chose a $23,250,000 override question that would raise the town’s tax levy just under 7% over three years; panelists said a failed override would require immediate school and town staff cuts and service reductions.
Members of Brookline’s Expenditures and Revenue Study Committee on a May 5 webinar described the ballot question voters will see on May 5 and laid out what would happen if the override fails.
"Property taxes do represent roughly 73% of Brookline's overall revenues," said Cliff Brown, a member of the Expenditures and Revenue Study Committee, explaining the fiscal pressures that drove the panel’s recommendations. Brown said the committee projects a three-year structural deficit of about $7.95 million for the town and roughly $18,000,000 for the schools — a combined shortfall the committee summarized as approximately $25,900,000 over three years.
Sam Mintz, editor of brookaline.news and one of the webinar hosts, framed the legal context: "Under a state law called Proposition 2 and a half ... a tax override is built into that law as a way to override that limit, but it has to be approved by a majority of voters," he said, noting that the panel’s role was to explain the factual basis for the ballot question without advocating for or against it.
The Select Board chose the ERSC’s option 1, described by Sedef Cosme, chair of the school subcommittee, as a $23,250,000 override that would translate to an override tax levy "just shy of 7% over 3 years." Cosme said the model the Select Board chose front-loads some town funding while ramping school funding over three years so the schools’ share tracks with their projected annual deficits.
The committee outlined the consequences of a failed override for schools and town operations. Cosme said the schools had already planned a 22.1 FTE reduction as part of the FY27 budget process; she added that the PSB’s presented “failed override” scenario would require an additional 58 FTE cuts in FY27 and additional classroom reductions over the following years that the committee summarized as about 130 more classroom FTEs in later years, with concentrated losses at Brookline High School.
On the town side, Janet Galbart of the town subcommittee described cuts and shifts that would affect core services: the town expects to eliminate five FTEs that would be moved to grant-funded or revolving-fund positions in some cases, and without an override projected further reductions would touch police, fire and public works staffing and capital contributions.
Panelists emphasized that personnel costs and health-care premiums are the largest budget drivers. Cosme said Brookline currently covers a high share of health-premium costs and recommended negotiations and joint town-school work to bring those contributions more in line with peers. The ERSC also recommended a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between town and schools to set a timeline and accountability for the reforms the committee cited as necessary to break what Brown called a repeating three-year override cycle.
The committee presented alternate structures (a smaller $18.6 million option and a tiered ballot approach) and explained tradeoffs: option 2 would have been more front-loaded and would have produced a larger stabilization fund; option 1 ramps spending and produces a smaller near-term stabilization balance. As Cosme put it, front-loading raises more money earlier and therefore can leave more in reserves at the end of the three-year window.
The webinar closed with panelists pointing listeners to the ERSC report and the town and school budget books for line-item detail, and with a reminder that the override is a voter-decided measure on May 5.
