FY27 Budget Process and Progress

FY27 Budget Process and Progress

By Larry Cain, Town Council

At the beginning of March, I wrote a Councilors’ Corner article that introduced our plan for developing the 2027 fiscal year (July 1, 2026 - June 30, 2027) municipal and school budget. The article explained that in January the Town Council had set a goal to target a 0% tax increase for all taxpayers. This challenging goal is based on recognizing that Scarborough residents are facing inflationary pressures in many different ways. In addition, with the coming tax increase impacts from the school building project, any relief we can find is a worthwhile effort.

The Finance Committee received initial spending plans that equaled a net tax increase of about 6%. From early discussions, meetings and community feedback, it became apparent that achieving a 0% increase is not attainable without severe spending cuts that negatively affect services, safety, and students. The basic inflationary pressures that affect all of us are also affecting the costs required to run the town and the schools.  

The Finance Committee then pivoted to setting a tax increase target not to exceed 2% over last year. We received requests from leadership to provide more specific targets for the Town and School. The 2% target equated to a total reduction of $3.65 million from the first plan that was submitted. This is roughly half of the increase that was initially proposed; not a cut to last year’s spending. The school budget makes up the majority of spending compared to the total cost. We assigned 60% of the reduction target to the school budget and 40% to the town budget. This means the schools are striving to identify $2.19 million in savings, while the Town is aiming for $1.46 million in savings. 

OK, that is the process, let’s talk about progress. Over the last few weeks both bodies have done incredible work to identify reductions that will have the least negative impact to students, staff, services and residents. They have shown dedication, integrity and creativity. Both groups have structured their presentation in a similar fashion. They provided an initial list of reductions that have a low impact (but definitely some impact). Then there are additional savings opportunities listed that have an increasing amount of consequences. By including explanations for each proposed item, we can make informed decisions about the overall fiscal, staffing and service reductions.

For the municipal budget, the identified savings are about $1.1 million, and the more difficult reductions also total about $1.1 million (exceeds the goal we set). For the school budget, the identified savings are about $1.7 million, with more difficult reductions meeting the goal we set. 

As you can see, there was hard work done to respond to our challenging requests. This does not at all mean that leadership is supporting all these reductions. They gave us what we asked for, but are strongly advocating for a thoughtful review before any decisions are made. For clarity, one area that already has consensus from the Finance Committee is that there should be no reason to cut any student activities or athletics for any grade level.

During May, there are additional School Board and Council meetings to develop and approve final budgets. We are certainly anxious to receive feedback from the community. Please visit the Town calendar to find public meetings that you can attend. Conversations with Councilors events are also listed on the calendar at many locations around town. The budget will be a key topic of those meetings.

This continues to be a work in progress, and I express sincere appreciation for everyone that is participating. The dedication and knowledge of these professionals is impressive. Besides any financial goal, I am acutely aware that a successful outcome includes meeting the varied needs of our community. Based on current process and progress, success seems attainable. 

Councilor Larry Cain also serves as the Finance Committee chair.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Scarborough Town Council.