Bedford will vote for an 8% increase in Property Tax on March 11th

Both the Bedford Town Council and the Bedford School District have offered “flat” operating budgets on the March 11 ballot, but then proceed to tack on numerous Warrant Articles that will, once again, significantly increase property taxes, continuing the multi-year trend of increasing the local tax burden.

Would you vote to increase the towns’ operating budget by $2.6M? If all Warrant Articles pass, the total allocation for the Town’s spending will increase by 20%, with more than half of that attributed to the “Capital Reserve Deposit.”

For the Town’s Operating Budget, which again, has been offered as a “flat budget,” Bedford property owners will be asked to pay $3.55 per $1,000 of the assessed value of their home. Because this value is the same as the total Town Allocation from property taxes for 2024, the town claims this is “the same as last year.” However, the 2024 allocation included an amount specifically set aside for the “Capital Reserve Deposit,” which is required to be considered as a separate warrant article, and is in fact, again being requested as a separate warrant article for 2025. If approved, this warrant article will add $0.42 to the $3.55 from 2024. This warrant article alone would increase the town’s portion of your property tax by more than 10% (0.42/3.55 = 11.8%)!

A true “Flat” budget from the town would be an Operating Budget that only requests $3.13, such that the Warrant Article for the Capital Reserve Deposit of $0.42 would then bring our tax burden to the same level that it was in 2024 ($3.13 + $0.42 = $3.55). The Bedford Town Council has instead increased their operating budget by $2.26M while proclaiming fiscal responsibility and then asking the voters for more money in order to save for the future. A rather creative way to ask for a 12% budget increase, when you think about it.

The Capital Reserve Deposit allows the town to prepare for significant expenditures by allocating a portion of tax revenues to specific efforts. The full proposal for the Capital Reserve Deposit Warrant Article spells out each anticipated expense and the amount to be allocated to each. This is the reason why we have Articles 12-14, because they involve either spending or closing Capital Reserve allocations and we, the voters, need to approve that.

Funds that are collected and allocated for the Capital Reserve are held by the town until the specified effort needs funding (for example, collecting $600,000 each year for a new Fire Engine at a future date). The town determines needs, requests funding, and deposits the tax revenues for this reserve each year through Warrant Articles. The town carries a balance of several million dollars in the Capital Reserve Fund at this time.

By increasing the Operating Budget by $2.6M, the Bedford Town Council has put us in the position of deciding whether to contribute to the Capital Reserve Fund or save our own money. While claiming a budget that is “the same as last year,” the Town Council is forcing property owners to choose between saving for the town’s future or their own. We have all been raised to save and prepare for the unexpected, but perhaps this year we should let the Town Council find those Capital Reserve funds within “the same” $3.55/$1,000 that they managed with in 2024.