Restraining Weston’s Property Tax Growth
Weston’s town spending has been growing rapidly for several years. These continual spending increases, in turn, drive the level and growth of our property taxes, which are much higher than neighboring affluent communities. Voting at Weston’s Annual Town Meeting is your most important, direct opportunity to slow this growth, and motivate the Select Board and School Committee to better restrain town spending and taxes going forward.
Focus on Weston urges you to attend the Weston Annual Town Meeting this Monday, May 9, at the High School, and recommends that you vote NOT to approve Article 2, the proposed Fiscal Year 2023 Weston town budget. Vote NO so the budget can be sent back for some long-needed adjustments, and hopefully a new approach to Weston town spending and property taxes.
Weston’s Budget and Tax Challenges – Weston property taxes are far higher than comparable affluent Boston suburbs, whether viewed for the average home (34% higher), median home (17% higher), or per capita (26% higher). The Select Board is proposing a further 4.2% tax rate increase this year, from 12.81 to 13.35 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. You can do the math on your own home valuation, but keep in mind that your assessed property value will also be increasing by at least a few percentage points, so your tax bill could increase by even more.
Property taxes on the typical Weston home have increased 18% over the last 5 years, or 3.4% per year, while Boston area inflation has been running about 2.4% per year. These continual and significant tax increases not only compound over time, but also could affect Weston’s reputation as one of the most desirable Boston suburbs, as current and potential residents become turned off by the high taxes.
Weston Public Schools represent nearly two-thirds of this annual spending, with compounding issues of declining enrollment, and performance metrics only roughly in line with or lower than comparable affluent school districts. With this year’s proposal, the school budget will have increased 15% over the last 5 years, while enrollment has declined 8%. Together, this represents a 25% increase in per pupil expenditures. As a result, per pupil expenditures are now 30% higher than comparable affluent districts, according to state data. While this year’s recommended school budget increase of 2.5% may not seem unreasonable, it masks the continuing and more significant increase in spending per pupil.
Budget Decided at Town Meeting – Every spring, at the beginning of the Annual Town Meeting, Weston voters are asked to approve an annual budget – and implicitly the town property tax rate and property tax bills. The Town Manager, Superintendent of Schools, and their staffs develop their proposed budgets in the few months before, and a few line items are tweaked in minor ways based on review by the Select Board, School Committee, and Finance Committee.
Every year, the Finance Committee expresses concerns, this year “imploring the Town and Schools to address structural issues and approaches to spending.” But then this same Fincom votes to support the budget as presented and encourages residents to do likewise. The chairs of these three important town committees make brief presentations to Town Meeting urging resident support, and the few hundred Weston residents who attend (3-4% of registered voters) rubber stamp the budget with relatively little discussion, let alone much real understanding.
More Business as Usual? – The Select Board and School Committee offer the more-or-less same explanations every year, starting with “maintaining level service.” In reality, this means annually increased staffing and amenities. For example, this year we will be considering the initial stages of a $1 million expenditure for Pickle Ball courts. Relatively little thought is given to potential efficiencies, or whether various traditional expenditures are even still needed. Amusingly, sometimes these excuses even conflict, as with the Select Board insisting that our taxes are higher than comparable towns because we get less state aid, while the School Committee says that our per pupil spending is higher than these other towns because we get more state aid. In fact, neither is true. State aid to Weston is about in line with comparable towns, since it is largely formulaic based on population, school enrollment, and other demographic factors.
Summary – Regardless of the smooth presentations and seemingly rational explanations, please take the time to understand your property taxes and voice your opinion. Even if your property taxes are buried in your mortgage payment escrow, that is still money out of your pocket. Then attend the Town Meeting on Monday evening and vote not to approve the budget, so it can be sent back for some long-needed adjustments, and perhaps a new approach to Weston town spending and property taxes going forward.
And please do not worry about voting NO to the proposed budget. It is our choice. Other towns’ voters do it and even we have done it in the past. Town services will not be interrupted, and the town’s Triple A bond rating will not be affected as a result. It simply means that the Town Manager, Select Board, and School Committee will need to sharpen their pencils and provide voters with some thoughtful revisions for consideration at a future meeting.
The Town Meeting will be held in the High School auditorium, this Monday, May 9, at 7pm. Unfortunately, absentee voting is not permitted, so you must attend in person. The budget vote happens right near the beginning. As one of only a few hundred voters likely to attend, your vote can make a big difference.