Shrewsbury Projecting 3.75% Town Budget Increase For Fiscal 2024

SHREWSBURY, MA — Shrewsbury Town Manager Kevin Mizikar has published his 2024 fiscal outlook for the town, giving residents an idea of how much the town will spend and collect in the coming budget year — and in future budget years.

Mizikar is projecting a total town budget of about $173.2 million for fiscal 2024, which begins on July 1. That's an increase of about 3.75 percent, or $6.5 million, over the fiscal 2023 budget.

Shrewsbury measures budget growth in two ways. The section of the budget for municipal departments only — including the school department, police and parks, for example — will rise about 5.5 percent over fiscal 2023 to $165 million, according to the projection.

Of that total, about $83 million goes to the school department, and over $62 million to support the remaining municipal departments. The town will also spend another $20 million on utilities.

For fiscal 2024, each department except schools were limited to 4 percent budget growth. Mizikar said he cut about $1.2 million in budget requests for fiscal 2024 to maintain a balanced budget.

On the revenue side, the projection predicts tax levy growth of 2.49 percent to support the budget. The town will not use any money in fiscal 2024 from its property tax override stabilization fund — an account the town uses to avoid a Prop 2-1/2 override — but will use a combined $7.2 million from the fund in fiscal years 2025, 2026 and 2027 to avoid overrides.

Apart from property taxes, the town receives revenue from other sources, including state aid, local fees and excise tax revenue. But the tax levy accounts for about 60 percent of all town revenue.

The 2024 fiscal projection is part of a much longer budget process that will continue through the spring. At the end of March, the Finance Committee will hold hearings on each department's budget and make its own recommendations before final approval at Town Meeting in mid-May.

Read the town's full fiscal 2024 projection here.