Town leaders present proposed 2027 budget at spring forum

By Adam Swift

Town Manager Tony Marino and Finance Director Sarah Johnson presented a proposed balanced budget of just over $68.3 million for Fiscal Year 2027 at last week’s spring forum.

The largest chunk of the town manager’s proposed $68,361,037 operating budget is the $41,259,738 for the schools.

Overall, the budget is just under a $2 million increase  from the $66.4 million budget that was approved for FY26.

During the spring forum, held at the Neil Shapiro Center at the high school, Marino and Johnson reviewed the expected revenues and expenditures for FY27. They also outlined the next steps in the budget process.

The town’s finance committee began reviewing the proposed budget by department earlier in April. The final proposed budget will be approved by the town council on or before June 16, at least 15 days before the beginning of the new fiscal year on July 1.

“The department heads have put a lot of work into these budgets,” said Marino. “We use what is called a GFOA, Government Finance Officer’s Association, format; it’s designed to be a more transparent budget. It gives out more information for the departments, it lists the missions for the departments, goals and objectives, a lot of stats in there in regards to things they have done over the year.”

The 270-page proposed budget book is available for the public to view on the town website on the town manager’s page.

“We started this work back in the November/December timeframe, all the way up until the last couple of weeks,” said Marino.

Johnson noted that the budget process begins by looking at the revenues that are expected to come into the town for the next fiscal year.

“Once we determine our revenues, then we determine how we are going to share the budget,” said Johnson.

The base budget document begins with the $66.4 million that was allocated for the town and school operating budget for FY26, Johnson said.

For FY27, Johnson said there is just under $1.7 million in new revenue that is being shared between the town and the schools.

“We have to back off our debt exclusions from the prior year, and add in the new debt exclusions and then it comes down to what the schools are going to get for their budget, which is $41,259,738, and then $27,101,299 for the town,” said Johnson.

The bulk of the money for the budget comes from Winthrop’s property tax levy, Johnson said.

Under Proposition 2-½, the town is able to increase the tax levy by 2-½ percent, plus add in the estimated new growth for the town.

“Last year, we did very well; we estimated $350,000, and we actually brought in $349,398, so we were close,” said Johnson. “We are estimating $350,000 again for FY27.”

Johnson said that because the schools had a successful $3.5 million Proposition 2-½ override vote, the town wanted to be fair and gave it the 2-½ percent growth on that override for a total of $87,500.

The next largest piece of revenue for the town is from state aid. Johnson said Winthrop is anticipating the governor allotting just under $16.3 million in state aid for FY27. After state charges and offsets, she said the net number comes down to just under $14.8 million.

“The next largest piece that we collect ourselves and from the town and all the residents from the various departments is local receipts,” said Johnson. “The largest piece of that is motor vehicle excise … that we pay on our cars here in Massachusetts.”

Motor vehicle excise taxes are expected to bring in about $2.3 million to the town, she said.

“Basically, when you add up all of that (property tax) revenue, the levy, the debt service – because that gets taxed outside the levy if it … is a debt exclusion like the new fire station, some of that is the new debt for the fire station,” said Johnson. “And then that $22 million that we talked about before was the state aid and the local receipts, and add all of those pieces together, it equals $68,361,037, which is the exact amount of money we are sharing with the town and the schools. Our balance is budget, which is a good thing, and that is not easy, it’s difficult because whenever the department heads ask us for money, there are always more asks than the money we have to go around.”

In the introduction to the budget book, Marino noted that annual increases in our health insurance, charges from Northeast and Essex Technical Schools, union contracts, building and vehicle insurance, and retirement and pension funding take up most of the town’s 2.5% tax increase per year. As a result, it is challenging to honor new staffing requests, new software and upgrades, and other new initiatives, he stated.