ATM Budget Approvals
By Gregory T. Federspiel
April 18, 2025
A major focus for the Annual Town Meeting, scheduled for April 28 at the Memorial School gymnasium, is the approval of all the new budgets for the upcoming fiscal year. All registered voters are urged to attend the meeting in order to debate and vote on the proposed expenditures for the new fiscal year which begins on July 1, 2025. (The fiscal year extends to June 30, 2026 thus it is called the FY26 budget.) Resident voters serve as the Town’s legislative body and all expenditures must be approved by those in attendance at the Town Meeting (state law does not allow absentee voting or virtual participation.)
The first budget up for approval is for the North Shore Agricultural and Technical School District. Manchester’s share of the total budget is based on the number of students we send to the regional “voc-tech” school. Manchester’s enrollment has dropped from 13 down to 8 thus we have a smaller number for next year. Article 3 seeks voter approval of $176,418.
Article 4 is for the Town’s general operating budget. Funding for each department is presented with funding broken out between salaries for personnel and all other expenses. With the addition of 1.75 staff positions, a recommendation from the recently completed operations audit and a much higher increase for health insurance premiums total expenditures are 5.6% higher. However, this can be covered by 1.5% tax increase. Both the Finance Committee and the Select Board recommend approval of the proposed budget.
In Article 5 voters are asked to approve a list of capital expenditures. 20 of the 23 requests are recommended for approval by the FinCom and Select Board. Capital items range from road repaving to the design of a new ADA compliant restroom for the library. The cost of the 20 items comes to $4.215 million and paid for mostly by tax dollars and drawing down the Town’s fund balance. As part of the funding mix and as has been the Town’s practice lately, approval of a $660,000 capital exclusion is being requested, this time for the design of a new DPW facility.
The School District budget is contained in Article 6. Due to a spike in health insurance costs and higher salaries, Manchester voters are being asked to approve a 7.3% increase in funding to the District. Changes in enrollment between Essex and Manchester result in Essex facing over an 8% increase which necessitates a Proposition 2 ½ override at their Town Meeting and at the ballot. This request boosts the projected overall tax increase for FY26 to 3.5%
In Article 15, the recommendations of the Community Preservation Committee are presented for approval. A total of $897,100 is proposed for 10 projects with the two largest projects being $500,000 for the renovation of the Tuck’s Point Rotunda and $200,000 for the Affordable Housing Trust.
The annual contribution, set at $330,000 for FY26, to the Town’s OPEB Trust account (other post employment benefits – retiree health insurance) is the subject of Article 16. The fund will be fully funding in a couple more years.
While not an actual expenditure article, Article 17 asks voters to accept the Hero Act for Veterans which allows for various property tax exemptions for qualifying veterans to increase at the rate of annual inflation. Exemption costs are covered by the Town’s “overlay” account.
Finally, in Article 18, voters are being asked to approve the revolving funds established for the Parks and Recreation Department and the Board of Health. Revolving funds allow fees to be collected and used to fund the programs for which the fees are collected.
All 22 articles are spelled out in detail in the Finance Committee booklet that each household will receive. The booklet can also be found here.