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Yarmouth finance committee previews $101M FY2023 budget and gives preliminary approval to departmental budgets
Summary
Town Administrator Bob presented a $101,000,904 FY2023 recommended budget that leans heavily on property tax revenue, warns of low state aid and pandemic-era revenue disruption, and reserves levy capacity for returning capital and roadway funding. The committee gave preliminary approval to the departmental budgets presented.
Town Administrator Bob told the Finance Committee on June 16 that the town's recommended FY2023 budget totals $101,000,904 and is built on a revenue mix that remains heavily dependent on property tax revenue, which he said accounts for more than 71% of the town's revenues. He told members the town receives roughly 1.7 million in gross state aid but, after nearly $963,000 in cherry-sheet charges, net state aid available to support operations is in the roughly $730,000 range.
Why it matters: Bob framed FY2023 as a "transitional year" intended to restore local estimated receipts and to return capital and roadway funding that was shifted to free cash during the pandemic. He warned that inflation, rising insurance and retirement costs, and new exempt debt tied to the recently sold middle-school bonds (he said exempt debt will grow about 36%) will put upward pressure on the levy and service budgets.
Key details: Bob said the town followed a conservative approach to revenue estimates during the pandemic and sees room to cautiously raise estimates toward pre-pandemic collections to rebuild fund balance. He highlighted non-property local receipts as a volatile pool (meals, rooms, motor-vehicle excise and permit fees) that together comprise roughly 28% of the budget mix and noted those estimates were trimmed sharply in FY2021 and have only partially recovered. He also told the committee the town has restored some OPEB contributions after updating actuarial assumptions.
Debt and capital: Bob described the new middle-school bond as exempt debt that will push exempt debt up sharply in FY23 but said exempt status keeps that debt outside the Prop 2½ levy calculation. He recommended reserving about $750,000 of levy capacity to begin returning roughly $3 million in capital and roadway funding back from free cash over several years.
Committee action: After presentations by department heads, the committee conducted a preliminary up-or-down roll-call vote on the departmental budgets as presented that evening. Members present voted to approve the preliminary departmental budgets; one member (Brian) was noted as absent. The chair emphasized the vote was preliminary and can be amended before the final report to town meeting.
What comes next: The Finance Committee will continue departmental budget reviews and prepare a final report to town meeting; Bob and staff will supply additional materials and hard copies of budget books for committee review.
(Quotes in this article are taken from remarks by Bob, Town Administrator, during the June 16, 2021 finance committee meeting.)
