Hi there, fellow Needham Residents and friends!
Let’s chat about Needham’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2025. Since I work in the field of finance, I find this topic very interesting, and I hope to share some of this with you, so that we can together make Needham a better town.
Needham has three main funding sources:
- The General Fund: This is the big kahuna, accounting for about 85% of the town’s fund. It’s like the main checking account for Needham, covering everything from schools to police to parks. Most of this is funded from property taxes, with a bit of help from the state and local fees.
- Enterprise Funds: These as special accounts for water and sewage utilities. They make up about 7% of the budget. It’s like having a separate wallet just for your utility bills, but on a town-wide scale.
- Community Preservation Fund: This is the smallest of the three, but still important. It’s about 1.4% of the budget and goes towards preserving Needham’s charm and character (i.e., preservation of its historic buildings, maintaining and upgrading open spaces, etc.).
When it comes to spending, here are a few main categories:
- Department Budgets: This is the biggest slice of the pie, at about 65%. It covers most if not all the town departments – schools, police, fire, public works, etc.
- Town-Wide Expenses:. Think of this as Needham’s overhead – insurance, debt payments, employee benefits, that kind of thing. About 28% goes here.
- Other Appropriations: This is about 6% and covers things like cash for big projects and some financial housekeeping.
- Non-Appropriated Expenses: The smallest chunk, at about 1.5%. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what this covers, but it’s a small part of the overall budget.
It’s pretty cool to see how a town manages its money, right? It’s like a giant household budget, but with a lot more zeroes!
References:
https://www.neilsberg.com/insights/needham-ma-population-by-year/
https://www.needhamma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/45558/Final-2024-ATM-Warrant-Build_For-Website