Concord's Tax Policy is a Great Model for Framingham to Follow

FIRST, THE CORRECTION

Here is the correct information:

Concord

FY24: 5.2% (tax levy increase)
https://www.minuteman.media/DocumentCenter/View/41738/2023-Finance-Committee-Report?bidId=

The linked document takes some reading to figure out the tax levy increase, but since Concord, MA has a tax base which is largely residential, the fact that the single family property tax increase for FY24 was 5.3% is a simple indicator that the tax levy went up by about the same amount.

WHY CONCORD, MA IS A GREAT MODEL FOR FRAMINGHAM TO FOLLOW

Concord is interesting as they use their excess capacity, or unused tax levy, as a reserve they can tap into when they need to plug budget gaps. So in the past they decided to tax below the tax levy limit and now that know they can bring their tax levy up to the tax levy limit.

In FY23, Concord had $5.4 million in excess capacity. In FY24, they used $1.7 million of that to plug budget gaps, so their excess capacity dropped to $3.7 million. They use the fact that they started taxing below the tax levy limit in the past as a tool to handle budget difficulties encountered later on. They know that in any given year they can raise the tax levy all the way up to the tax levy limit.

Framingham can use the same strategy as Concord, MA, as it has a huge excess capacity of $40.9 million which it can draw on. Now would be a very good time to follow Concord’s example and tap into some of that unused tax levy to provide sound budget solutions for FY25.

Just to emphasize the point, here is a chart which shows how Framingham’s excess capacity, or unused tax levy has grown since 2013. In any fiscal year Framingham can increase its tax levy up to the tax levy limit if its wishes.