Town Accountant Achieves Certification Town Accountant Alix Heilala recently passed examinations and met all of the requirements necessary to be recognized as a Certified Governmental Accountant by the Massachusetts Municipal Association, and becomes one of 23 auditors or accountants in the Commonwealth who will be awarded this distinction this year. Congratulations Alix!

FY 2008 Budget Request

The Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee are in agreement on General Fund operating budget requests for Fiscal Year 2008 totalling $18,558,911. Read the Budget Summary.

Capital Improvement Program FY 2008-2012 Summary

Fiscal Policy Plan

The Fiscal Policy Plan is a ten-year financial planning tool for the Town of Provincetown, and has been the framework for much of the Town's decision-making. The Plan has integrated baseline projections of revenues and expenses with assumptions about the future impact of all major "facility needs" initiatives under consideration by the Town. The Plan sets limits of what the Town as a whole can afford, while also proposing how the Town's financial resources should be reallocated to provide housing that is affordable.

The Town Manager's revised and updated draft Fiscal Policy Plan predicted that the FY 2006 override of $350,000 will carry us through FY 2007, FY 2008, FY 2009, and FY 2010, based on current revenue and expense projections. Should non-property tax revenues pick up between now and FY 2011-- from, perhaps, additional state aid, parking funds, local room occupancy excise taxes, higher rent paid by the pier corporation, or greater per-pupil revenues paid for out-of-district students-then another override might be avoided for an even longer period of time. In the Fiscal Policy Plan, under real estate taxes, the row labelled "Override" that shows that incremental amounts needed above the levy limit beginning in FY 2011.

[See this TABLE and CHART for an analysis of average tax bills since FY 1986.]

General Fund Debt Service is broken out into (a) the existing schedule of payments for bonds already issued; (b) School Building Assistance local share which begins in FY 2008, and (c) CIP debt, which reflects items recommended in the Capital Improvements Program.

The Plan assumes 10% annual increases for the insurnace/fringes/retirement budget (which is reduced by $208,000 in FY 2008 as our County Retirement assessment gets reduced-- a year behind-- from Cape End Manor employees' shift to New England Deaconess).
All other operating expenses are projected to increase by 2.5%, including the schools.

For revenues, the Plan does not assume any increase from the current $695,000 in Truro tuitions or any increase in school choice funds (which are currently set by statute). If those revenues increase, the amount of property tax needed above the levy limit could be less. Other non-property revenues are projected to increase by 2.5% unless otherwise indicated.

For further information, contact the Town Manager

Who Pays? An analysis of the FY 2003 property tax burden. The amount of the property tax levy increase is borne disproportionately by so-called "new growth" properties-- a category which includes new construction, substantial renovations, condominium conversions, subdivisions of land, and exempt properties being returned to the tax rolls. How much any individual property’s tax bill goes up is affected as well by how much its assessed value changes in comparison to all other properties. Read more.

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