Town’s financial plan lays out high stakes for schools, fire department as override vote looms
Town Administrator Charles Carey has released a $481 million budget proposal for fiscal year 2027 that offers the most detailed rationale to date for a tax override question likely to be on Brookline’s ballot in the May election.
Click here to read the full financial plan and the Town Administrator’s budget message.
The financial plan for the fiscal year that begins on July 1 asks for $5.31 million in override funding over the next three years to help town departments maintain their services.
That request does not include Brookline’s school district, which is still crunching numbers to develop its own request for an override ballot question.
Even after approving a first round of cuts recently for FY27, the schools are facing a projected gap of around $6.4 million next year, and nearly $20 million over the next three years.
“FY27 is a tough year. It’s a year in which we stand on a precipice,” said Carey as he presented the plan to the Select Board on Tuesday.
The funds from the town’s portion of the proposed override would go largely to maintaining service in a number of municipal departments including the Police and Fire Departments, tree and sustainability divisions in the Department of Public Works and transportation programs for the Brookline Senior Center.
“This is a Corolla, not a Cadillac, override. It does not ask for new things. It seeks to continue operations as they currently stand and solidify the municipal departments’ financial footing for the next three fiscal years,” Carey wrote in the budget message.
Meanwhile, at a recent School Committee meeting, Superintendent Bella Wong warned of “massive staff reductions” if voters fail to approve an override.
The budget proposal also includes new forms of revenue and cost savings to chip away at a long-term structural deficit, including increasing parking ticket fines and a strategic plan to install solar installations on town buildings.
Fire department funding is high stakes
Other than the schools, the town department facing the highest stakes in the override effort is the Fire Department. Town officials say that they need significant help from an override to pay for a new firefighter contract. Failing that, they say that layoffs or even closing a station could be required.
After a contentious debate over overtime spending and staffing levels last spring, the town and its firefighters union reached agreement on a new contract in June.
That contract included new language aimed at reducing what Carey called an “overuse” of firefighter leave on weekends. But the contract comes at a substantial cost to the town, and town officials are relying on an override to help pay for it.
Carey’s override proposal includes $1.7 million, nearly a third of the total request, for overtime and contractual obligations for firefighters. The contract is back-loaded, with a “tail” that has the bulk of its increased costs come into effect on June 30, 2027, the last day before the start of fiscal year 2028.
Carey emphasized the $1.7 million in override funding would simply to maintain the current level of fire service.
“If the Town is unable to fund the FY28 costs, it will inevitably be forced to make very difficult operational decisions, including having to close a company or station, removing one engine company from regular service, and/or laying off up to 20 firefighters,” he wrote.
“We don’t want to do that,” Carey told the Select Board on Tuesday. “I think that would be a real negative outcome.”
Why is this happening?
Communities across Massachusetts are experiencing a major financial pressure point, as costs, particular for employee health insurance, soar.
“Brookline, like many Massachusetts municipalities, faces existential and systemic budget challenges this year. The cost of providing health benefits to employees will once again increase by a double-digit percentage with no relief in sight in future years,” Carey wrote in the budget message.
State aid is also decreasing, and changes from what Carey called a “hostile federal administration” are also trickling down to Brookline.
Fundamentally, the root of the problems faced by Brookline and other municipalities in Massachusetts is Proposition 2 ½, which limits how much communities can raise their property tax levy each year to 2.5%, plus an increment for new growth (recently, around 1% per year in Brookline).
Inflation and changing healthcare patterns mean that the town’s costs are growing much more than that 3.5% a year. This leaves Brookline and other municipalities with two options: Ask voters to agree to raise their property taxes via overrides every few years, or make significant cuts to services.
In Brookline recently, both have been required. Carey’s FY27 budget proposes making cuts that would save about $1.5 million this year and eliminate five staff positions. Without an override, he wrote, 17 town positions would have to be cut, in addition to the impacts on services like the schools and fire department.
There is another factor which could ease the long-term tax burden on residents, which is commercial development.
The more commercial taxpayers there are in Brookline, the less the burden is on homeowners. Some commercial categories like hotels and restaurants also pay additional excise taxes, making them extremely valuable to town finances.
That’s why Brookline officials have placed such high-stakes on the redevelopment of a sleepy office park in Chestnut Hill, which is awaiting a Town Meeting vote this May. The new zoning for a large mixed use project going as high as 14 stories needs approval by two-thirds of Town Meeting members – far from certain as neighbors of the project rally against a current proposal from the developer who owns the site.
Points of pride
Amid the bleak overall picture and plea for support from the community, Carey also called out some of the achievements of the town’s government and its employees.
“Even in the face of these stark challenges, Brookline continues to innovate and punch above its weight,” he wrote.
He mentioned the town’s Sustainability and Natural Resources Division unlocking the potential for millions in state grant funding and launching a new strategic solar initiative.
The Recreation Department has been recognized for two years running as one of the best in Massachusetts, and helped save Brookline Adult and Community Education programming in 2025.
“Our Police and Fire Departments, operating under new and fair collective bargaining agreements, are considered prized destinations for new recruits and laterals alike. Our Senior Center remains the envy of other communities, offering a level of social worker support and programming that few can match,” Carey continued.
Other departments he singled out were the Department of Public Works for its increased installation of roadway improvements and Planning and Community Development for its work on completing a Comprehensive Plan.
“All of this takes place against the backdrop of our municipal employees—building and health inspectors, gardeners, planners, lawyers, clerks, engineers, and countless more—going above and beyond for the Town every day,” Carey wrote.
What’s next?
Carey and his staff are planning to present their budget proposal to members of the public at several upcoming meetings.
The town’s Advisory Committee will also begin reviewing and making recommendations on the budget.
The official override ballot question will be confirmed by the end of March, and voters will weigh in during the town election in the first week of May.
Town Meeting will have the final say on approving the town budget later in May.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the schools gap for FY27.
link
