Belmont Needs Better Budgeting & Smarter Spending

The Collins Center Report is often quoted by Town Officials as justification for recommended changes and actions – for example, an appointed not elected treasurer or using Belmont’s Free Cash for only one-time expenses.

Other recommendations made in the Collins Center Report are seemingly ignored. This newsletter is the first in a series highlighting Belmont’s dismal record of poor budgeting and misguided spending. In this initial article we set the stage by highlighting the Collins Center Report’s observations on the overall tax burden on Belmont homeowners.

• From the Collins Center Report, Page 5

In 2022…the Town was the 10th most expensive place in Massachusetts to own a home – while per capita income ranked 22nd.

In 2022… The average homeowner could be expected to pay $15,568 annually in property taxes, or approximately 15.73% of their income.

• From the Collins Center Report, Page 6:

…the Town is asking far more of its residential taxpayers than its comparable peers.

The Fallacy of Belmont’s “low tax rate”

These alarming statistics have climbed even higher in 2023. Here is where Belmont ranks in the current year. Claims of Belmont’s “low tax rate” are misleading and flawed reasoning by those who support increasing the tax burden on residents.

(All data below is sourced from the Massachusetts Division of Local Services, Department of Revenue)

• In 2023, Belmont is the 9th most expensive place to own a home, outranking 342 other communities, and representing a jump from 2022.

• In 2023, the average homeowner now pays 16.79% of their per capita income on local real estate taxes, which have increased to $16,450 annually for that household, also a jump from 2022.

It’s worth nothing that the increases described above are BEFORE the additional tax burden to come from the debt exclusions for the library and the rink. Those debt exclusions will increase the average homeowner’s tax bill by 7% for the next 30 years.