CONCORD, Mass. — The Concord Finance Committee voted Nov. 5 to aim for a 2.5% increase in the town's tax levy as it set preliminary budget guidelines for fiscal year 2028. Before that, members voted down a 0.5% target and a 3.28% target.

The committee then voted unanimously to set a 1.05% guideline for each of three budgets: the town government and Concord's two school systems. Members said that figure covers operating expenses, not the joint accounts. Joint-account costs, such as employee benefits, "are factored into the total spend and the levy," one participant said.

Figures shown during the meeting put the total spending increase tied to the 2.5% levy target at 2.32%.

Three motions

The first motion called for a preliminary tax impact of 0.5% for fiscal 2028. Some members pushed back during debate. "I think that's going too deep too quickly, and there will be a lot of unintended consequences," one member said.

Another member took the other side. "Ever since I've joined this committee, all we hear every year is hope and faith that if we send a message that they're gonna listen and then they're gonna do something, and every year the taxes go up four or five percent," the member said. The motion failed. The member calling the roll counted nine no votes.

Next came a motion to set the levy target at 3.28%. Figures presented at the meeting tied that number to a 2.99% increase in total spending. Committee member Eric Dahlberg opposed it.

"This to me is way too high, and this is not challenging enough given the priority we have to place on affordability and cost of living in the town," Dahlberg said.

Another member said, "I'm not gonna vote for anything above three percent." The 3.28% motion also failed.

A member then moved to set the target at a 2.5% tax impact, and the motion passed on a roll-call vote. Before the vote, one member said that for them the figure was "a bit too austere."

The committee then took up how to split the guideline. One way of reaching the 2.5% target, shown during the meeting, was a 0.8% increase for the town and 1.15% for each school system. Some members argued the town should take a deeper cut than the schools. Others wanted equal treatment.

"To me it's simpler for everybody to set it equally across all three," one member said. The motion to set 1.05% for each of the three budgets passed unanimously.

Where members stood

Paul Rodriguez, who leads the committee's guidelines work, built a spreadsheet model of several scenarios. He said his original proposal of a 2.75% increase for each budget would mean a 3.71% increase in total spending and a 4.1% increase in the levy.

Members went around the room before any motions were made. Dahlberg said he favored negative guidelines for every budget. "2.75, respectfully to me, is way too high given where we're at, where the trend line is," he said. "Speaking from my own experience, my taxes have gone up 60% in the last five years, and I'm one of the lucky ones."

One member suggested 0% for the town and about 1.5% for the schools. "I'd want to keep the total tax levy to about two percent if possible," the member said. "I think the town citizens have taken it on the chin repeatedly over the last five or seven years, and it's time that we've stepped up for them."

Another member set a ceiling of 3%. "If we leave the tax levy growth at 4%, taxes are gonna double in 10 years, and that is unacceptable," that member said.

A third member favored about 2.5%. "I think two is onerous when I look at those numbers," the member said. "I just think it's gonna be too big of a battle."

Before the motions, the chair summed up the spread. About half the committee was at or above 3% for the tax impact, five members were in the 2% range, and one was at 0.5%.

A member who had earlier shown a long-term tax projection said some members were "being a little bit loose" with the numbers. That member said the median tax bill is now around $15,000. At 4% annual growth, the member said, it would reach about $23,000 in 10 years, or about $27,000 once new debt is added. "27 isn't a double of 15, but it's about 75 percent growth," the member said.

The scenarios assumed $1 million from the pension reserve, down from $1.842 million. "The one million feels right to me for now," one member said.

Public comment and next steps

The only public comment came from a resident on Zoom. "I am here as a person who's retired on fixed income trying to understand the proposed approach to spending that is higher than the inflation rate," the resident said.

The committee is expected to vote on final guidelines after the town and school budget units present their preliminary budgets. One member said that would happen "in the month of December."

Before the vote on how to split the guideline, one member asked the chair to tell the budget units, in the chair's letter, that "our bottom line of the 2.5 is the driving force." The member said the units could work together on their budgets within that limit.