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Essex Board of Finance sees FY2025–26 surplus as tax collections outpace budget
Summary
Preliminary FY2025–26 numbers show property tax collections and several local revenue lines above budget, yielding a projected revenue surplus of $460,856 and an estimated overall budgetary surplus near $728,347; auditor adjustments remain pending.
The Board of Finance reviewed preliminary year‑end results for fiscal 2025–26 showing stronger‑than‑budgeted tax and local revenue collections and a projected overall surplus.
The preliminary report shows current property tax collections forecast to finish the fiscal year at $26,932,970, bringing the collection rate to about 100.06 percent. Year‑to‑date total tax collections were reported at $27,350,174, or 100.86 percent of the fiscal‑year total. The report noted particularly strong interest and lien fee collections, with a cited collection rate of 329 percent, and favorable State and Federal grant revenue of $95,500, driven primarily by a $72,000 Town Aid Road Fund grant.
Local revenue items above budget included interest income (~$132,000), conveyance taxes (~$152,700), building permits (~$46,000) and town clerk fees (~$49,000). On the expenditure side, year‑to‑date spending was forecast at $27,887,721 (96.65 percent of budget), excluding proposed supplemental appropriations and auditor adjustments that have not yet been recorded.
The preliminary forecast put the fiscal‑year revenue surplus at $460,856 and estimated an overall surplus around $728,347. The minutes note the deferred tax revenue journal entry and auditor adjustments have not yet been recorded and “may have a material impact.”
The Board voted to accept the preliminary financial report as submitted.
