Town Administrator Nick Connors was able to make about $973,000 in reductions after reviewing the Select Board’s initial requests for the town’s 2027 fiscal year budget, reducing previously anticipated costs to the average homeowner.

“We took your points to make cuts and lower the use of levy excess capacity based on the proposals we had previously,” Connors said. 

The budget reflects the cost of operating the town while also accounting for revenue from state aid (up 2.38%), property taxes, motor vehicle excise taxes, and licenses and permits. It balances short- and long-term financial considerations, managing risks and evaluating staffing models and vacancies.

Connors had initially proposed 7.7% increase in the operating budget, or $3.2 million, during his first review with the Select Board. The school budget is proposed to rise 3.96%, or about $1.35 million. Overall spending has now been reduced by roughly $704,000.

“We identified cuts that we thought were reasonable. They were not easy. They were difficult adjustments both on the town-side and the school-side,” Connors said. 

Part of the savings will go to the Essex Tech assessment, which totals $98,250. Connors noted there are still “big outstanding pieces” of open enrollment data and the solid waste contract.

Swampscott’s contract with Republic Services expires July 1. Currently, the town pays $1.1 million for services, plus a tipping fee of $108 per ton for trash and $85 per ton for recycling, according to Department of Public Works Director Gino Cresta. Connors noted that neighboring communities “have seen significant increases” in similar contracts.

Updated Group Insurance Commission (GIC) rates could save the town approximately $365,000, Connors said. 

“Open enrollment is April 1, so it could be the portion of our census that has the most expensive plan that limits overall savings, they might not be interested in paying the increases either,” Connors said. “We will have to see what the final census looks like as we get to the beginning of May, but this is our best guess.”

During the first round of budget reviews, Connors said he and Director of Finance Patrick Luddy planned conservatively so that they didn’t end “up on the higher end and we told you something tonight that was not reflective of what we could accurately forecast or that we would be coming back in a few weeks saying there is a crushing number.”

The GIC numbers account for new employees and potential changes in family coverage.

Altogether, this does reduce the estimated cost to the average homeowner. The revised proposed tax levy of $67,281,364 is estimated to increase residential property tax rates by $0.70 per thousand, to $12.70. This is a reduction of $0.17 per thousand from Connor’s original proposal.

Commercial and industrial property tax rates are estimated to increase by $1.30 per thousand, to $23.45. This is a reduction of $0.32 per thousand from Connor’s original proposal.

There is an estimated excess levy use of $1.9 million under the revised proposal. Connor’s previously present to use $2.8 million of excess levy capacity, which is the difference between the maximum amount of property tax a municipality is allowed to raise under legal limits and the amount actually levied.

Select Board members asked if there was additional room to reduce funding to the police and fire departments, particularly around overtime pay as the two agencies are now almost fully staffed.

“You made serious reductions as we requested, and I appreciate that,” Select Board Chair Katie Phelan said. “If there is some place more that we should be going, we should be exploring it.”