In addition to property taxes, the town relies on several other revenue sources to balance the budget. The most significant of these is *local receipts*, which brought in $5.8 million in FY24. For FY26, state aid is budgeted at $2.8 million, and other revenue sources are projected to contribute $0.4 million.
Even assuming the high end of projected FY26 expenses—$45 million—and holding local receipts flat at $5.8 million, property taxes of $37 million would be more than sufficient to balance the budget. In fact, they would generate a surplus. The total revenues would be: *$37.7M (property taxes) + $5.8M (local receipts) + $2.8M (state aid) + $0.4M (other)* *= $46.9 million in revenue versus $45 million in expenses → a $1.9 million surplus.* In other words, *collecting $37 million in property taxes does not require any cuts to services. Quite the opposite—it still results in a nearly $2 million surplus.* This example makes it clear that residents are being overtaxed. Even with a $2 million reduction in property taxes, and even if expenses hit the high end of projections, the town would still run a surplus. And this is in the context of having *$25 million in reserves* by year-end—well above the credit agency’s minimum requirement of $7 million. *Even if the Community Center expansion is approved, reserves would remain at $16 million—more than double the required level.* David On Mon, Jun 9, 2025 at 6:38 AM Andrew Payne <[email protected]> wrote: > David C. wrote: > >> The town only needs around ~$37M in property taxes to balance next year’s >> budget. >> > No - in FY24, our *actual expenditures were $41.3m. *My *guess* is that > FY26 actual will come in around $43-$45m. > > NOTE: Our actuals are listed in the first column of "Table 1" in each > year's Financial Warrant: > > [image: image.png] > > Source: > https://www.lincolntown.org/DocumentCenter/View/98197/20250329-Fincom-Report-FY26--FINAL- > > If you want a ~$37m budget, then we've got to find ~$7m of operational > spending to cut, which means deep cuts in services. What are town meeting > voters willing to give up? > > One please-let's-use-the-correct-data resident's view, > > -andy >
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