Advisory Committee Presentation

After the final Information Session at the Houghton Building on Monday, April 28th, I requested a copy of the PowerPoint presentation for inclusion on this site.  Town Administrator Marie Sobalvarro was kind enough to send me a PDF of the slide deck, which I am making available here so that everyone may review the information ahead of the Town Meeting.  This is the final deck, intended to be presented at the Town Meeting on May 5, 2025.  I captured images of each of the slides from the PDF to make them easier to include here.  I have not made any alterations to the content of the slides.

If you have questions about these slides, I strongly recommend watching the recorded presentations from the three Information Sessions which were previously held.  Videos of these sessions, as well as other related videos, are available on the YouTube Videos page.  If you have questions not already addressed, I would recommend bringing them to the Town Meeting on May 5th.

Slide 6 shows the many factor in the funding shortfall - several years of inflation exceeding the tax levy increase cap of 2.5%.  The Operating Budget Increase lags inflation due to timing of the fiscal year vs. calendar year, and the lag in impact on various costs.

Slide 11 really shows how Education dominates the budget, at 66.8%.  This is a portion of the budget the Town has little control over - if any two of the three towns in the district approve the school budget we must fund it in full.  Both Stow and Lancaster and expected to approve the budget, so it will not matter how Bolton votes.

Side 14 shows additional tax on the average single family home in Bolton, assessed at $820,557, will be $952.  If your home is assessed below or above the average, your tax impact will vary accordingly.  I have documented how to determine your personal tax impact on the Frequently Asked Questions page.

Slide 15 makes what I think is an important point.  Adjusted for inflation, Bolton is spending less per person today than ten years ago - and in that time the Town has increased services.  So, while taxes have increased, we're getting more for less!  Inflation has decreased the value of a dollar, so, yes, strictly in dollar terms costs have increased, but when adjusted to a constant dollar value the Town has down quite a lot to increase efficiencies in order to offer more value while keeping costs increases well below inflation.

Slide 17 Is key - if the override does not pass the entire $1,927,105 shortfall must be covered by cuts not to the overall $33,957,500 Operating Budget - but only to the $7,067,710 Discretionary portion of the budget.  That's a 27.3% cut to the Discretionary funding, which means there is no way to avoid painful cuts to programs and services.  Further, that portion of the budget includes Public Safety, which will always be given funding priority, so the bulk of the cuts will fall on other areas.

Slide 18 highlights the cuts I've previously documented across this site in more detail.  These are deep cuts to programs and services.