One Town, One Budget Forum - Oct 29th, 2026

Held in the High School Discourse Lab, with a remote presentation option. Detail were available from https://www.arlingtonma.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/40478.

There are three parts to the forum: town budgets, school budgets, and Q&A.

Town Budgets

Presented by Town Manager Jim Feeney and Deputy Town Manager of Finance Julie Wayman.

Municipal budgets are an exercise in matching income with expenses. By law our budgets must be balanced.

Arlington's budget is based on the town's five-year long-range plan. It's main categories are income, direct costs, and indirect costs.

Arlington has a structural deficit. Our revenues are constrained by proposition 2.5 and costs rise faster than revenues. We periodically have overrides to compensate. Overrides allow voters to increase taxes by more than 2.5%. The town made several commitments with the last override: there will be no overrides prior to FY 2030, and there are caps on school and operating expenses.

Pensions, insurance, and curbside collection are significant fixed costs to the town. These costs also increase significantly year over year.

In our financial planning process, we generally make conservative estimates. Sometimes we'll finish the year with a budget surplus. That doesn't mean we get to spend more. Instead, the surplus is rolled over to next year.

Arlington's levy limit is driven by a formula. (new levy limit) = (prior year levy limit) + 2.5% + (new growth). Excluded debt is added to this number.

Land is the resource that most limits the tax levy. 61% of Arlington's land is taxable, 27% is roads and water, and 12% is tax-exempt. The 61% that's taxable breaks down to 56% residential and 5% commercial and industrial.

Arlington's taxable property is overwhelming residential, so we're not in a position to have a split tax rate like other communities do. Residential properties make up more than 94% of property taxes. Were Arlington to adopt the maximum residential to commercial shift, residential rates would only decrease by around 2%.

New growth is one way to expand the tax base, and it's not subject to the limits of proposition 2.5. Arlington's new growth was 0.87% in FY 2026, which puts us at the bottom of the town manager 12, and in the bottom third relative to all communities in the commonwealth.

In Arlington, new growth is generally limited to redevelopment and rarely exceeds 1% in any given year. We can change our zoning map to encourage new growth, but the market largely dictates what gets built.

The budget process generally takes around nine months. It starts in the summer with staff in the Town Manager's office and Finance Department. Department budgets are reviewed in the fall. Towards the end of the year, the Select Board and Town Manager send the budget to the Finance Committee, who also reviews it. Town meeting votes on the budget in May.

Arlington had $247M in revenues for FY 2027. 77% came from property taxes, $30M came from state aid, and $12M came from local receipts. State aid varies considerably from year to year. Local receipts include things like excise tax, meal tax, hotel tax, licenses, and fees.

On the expense side of the budget, approximately 50% goes to public education, 32% is fixed overhead (insurance, debt service, and waste collection), and 17% goes to municipal services (town departments, like police, fire, and public works).

We incurred significant cost increases from Health Insurance (+24%), curbside collection (+24%), and pensions (+10%). These expenses totaled about $50M.

What can we expect from FY2028 and beyond? We expect cost pressures to continue, especially health insurance. Pension costs should remain steady. Curbside collection costs are likely to increase at a rate of 5--6% year. Fuel surcharges will increase, due to the high cost of diesel. Arlington is fortunate in this area -- we locked in a futures contract for fuel one day before the Iran war started, and as a result we're only paying around $3/gallon for diesel. Our electric contract expires in December 2027 and rates are likely to increase at that time. Natural gas prices are expected to decrease, based on a futures contract the town entered into years ago. About 82% of the town budget goes to staff salaries. Collective bargaining agreements come up for renewal at the end of FY 2027.

School Budgets

Presented by Superintendent Liz Homan and Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Chris Schweitzer.

The school's budget process starts in October, and the School Committee is the deciding authority on what the budget should be. Once approved by the School Committee, the public school budget becomes part of the town's budgeting process.

The school budget used to have separate line items for special ed and non-special ed, but this has been combined into one line item. Per override commitments, the school budget increases at 4% year-over-year. The school district is now starting to see the effect of declining birth rates.

The school uses several strategies to decrease spending. These include account reorganizations (for better visibility and tracking), cutting staff, increasing class sizes, limiting school offerings, and adding or increasing fees.

Arlington's public school enrollment declined by seven students last year, and this was the first decline in several decades. This year, the student population declined by 34 students, 21 of which were in-district. That's approximately one elementary class.

Families that move out of town tend to be replaced by new families, which limits enrollment reductions.

This year, there were 17 full-time employee reductions in the schools.

The student population is changing. In 2020, about 25% of students had significant service needs. That percentage is up to 29% in 2026. "High need" is a state designation for students. It includes low-income families, English language learners, and students with disabilities.

There are two main components to the school budget: (1) salaries for school employees (about $91M), and (2) operational, materials, and other operating expenses (about $16M).

On the personnel side 80% are professional (student-facing), 2% clerical, and 16% operational. Professional staff get a 2.75% cost of living adjustment each year, plus step benefits. Arlington teacher's pay tends to be lower than the town manager 12 and neighboring communities, especially for newer teachers. The better pay at higher steps is intended to be a retention incentive.

For staff with a master's degree, the lowest pay step is $64,000/year. Step 5 is $76,000/year. The highest step is $109,000/year. Pay competitiveness will continue to be a challenge for Arlington.

The cost of out-of-district tuition was $6.9M, which was reduced to $4.6M due to state circuit breaker credits. Out of district placement happens when the schools can't meet the needs of particular students. Arlington's out-of-district enrollment has been decreasing, but the cost per pupil has been increasing.

Q&A

(Question) Can you talk about milestones in pension funding?

(Jim Feeney) Mr. Feeney says we're projected to fulfill our unfunded liabilities by 2034, and that will reduce the portion of the budget devoted to pensions.

(Question) An attendee asks about IT and facilities.

(Chris Schweitzer) Mr. Schweitzer says the school has their own IT and facilities budget.

(Question) An attendee has a question about the cost of living. Families that have kids with disabilities have additional financial burdens. What steps can the town take to help?

(Liz Homan) Ms. Homan says that she's trying to talk with families about these topics, to avoid the need for outside assessments.

(Jim Feeney) Mr. Feeney says that property taxes are tightly regulated at the state level, and we can't change that locally. But there are local services available, food assistance for example.

(Question) Will there be more staffing cuts in the public schools, and where will they be?

(Liz Homan) Ms. Homan hopes not. Enrollment drops will result in staffing reductions, but we will try to minimize that.

(Question) Is there a rhythm and cadence to contract periods, to have control over when costs can change?

(Liz Homan) Ms. Homan says the schools explicitly stagger contract renewals to do just that.

(Jim Feeney) Mr. Feeney says that budgeting certainty is a paramount consideration. We prefer multi-year contracts, 3--5 years if possible. It's good to lock costs in.

(Question) Will the town adopt pay as you throw for curbside collection?

(Jim Feeney) Mr. Feeney says that's not an option for the current contract. The container program has reduced tonnage, which reduces costs for the town.

(Question) Are there any other ways to increase revenue?

(Jim Feeney) Mr. Feeney says that 77% of the town's revenue comes from property taxes and the next largest portion comes from state aid. We have more control over local receipts, but that's only 2% of revenue.

(Liz Homan) Ms. Homan says there are some programs that are self-sustaining, like Arlington Community Education. But those revenues can't be used elsewhere. There are numerous aspects to state funding formulas that we do not have control over.

(Question) What about people who live and work in town? Is there a consideration about raising taxes to raise their salaries.

(Julie Wayman) As a town employee and resident, Ms. Wayman is okay with where her taxes go. A lot of town employees are proud of their work.

(Jim Feeney) Mr. Feeney says the government pay classification program does not consider this.

(Liz Homan) Ms. Homan says there are lots of public school employees who cannot afford to live in Arlington.

(Question) What are our projections for commercial growth?

(Jim Feeney) Mr. Feeney says we start tracking growth projections as soon as building applications come in. It can take a long time for zoning changes to make a difference. Mr. Feeney notes that Arlington has a single rate for both residential and commercial properties. If we wanted a higher commercial rate, we'd want to target something like a 75%/25% commercial/residential split, but we'd need a lot more B district land. Right now, our best opportunities are in growing up.

(Question) There's a question about the special ed reserve fund.

(Liz Homan) Ms. Homan says the fund balance is around $800,000. We haven't contributed to, or taken from, that fund in a while.

(Question) It seems that some costs are increasing a lot, and that means other things have to increase more slowly. How do we adjust for that?

(Jim Feeney) Mr. Feeney says we have to look for ways to save money and reduce the number of full-time employees. We aggressively pursue third-party grants and use them to offset the cost of services. Bi-weekly yard waste collection is one example of cost mitigation.

(Liz Homan) Ms. Homan says that most communities can't see pending deficits as well as Arlington can, and that visibility gives us an advantage. Collaboration between the town and schools is critical.

(Kirsi Allison-Ampe, School Committee) Ms. Allison-Ampe says the state assumes a 4.5% year-over-year cost increase per student. We felt we could work within a 4% year-over-year increase, so that's what we went with.

(Question) I'd like to see more detail on what is and isn't included in each budget line. How can the school district provide clearer explanations?

(Liz Homan) Ms. Homan says we try to take feedback. The school committee and staff will do their best to answer questions about the budget process.

(Jim Feeney) Mr. Feeney invites people to review the Town Manager's financial plan and budget. It's a long document, and there's a lot of information there.