In collaboration with Finance Director Victor Garofalo, the Bedford Finance Committee has released guidelines for town departments as they begin to construct their Fiscal Year 2021 (FY2021) budgets.
According to the Committee’s recent memo, the FY2020 growth available to be shared among Bedford’s boards, committees, and the schools was $1,925,885. For FY2021, the committee recommends a small increase with $2,061,889 in available revenue growth.
The Finance Committee has decided to allocate a 3% increase for all boards and the Selectmen’s budget, and 3.5% for Bedford schools. The higher allocation for the schools is due to increased enrollment and educational demands.
Overall, Bedford’s FY2021 operating budget is expected to increase by 4.51% over FY 2020, including insurance/benefits, water/sewer, roads, refuse/recycling, debt, and utilities.
In the coming months, each department, board, or committee will meet with the Finance Committee to discuss their budget guideline, how it affects their department, and present their draft budget.
Once approved by the Finance Committee, the budgets will be rolled up into a final document presented to voters at Annual Town Meeting, on Monday, March 23.
The Finance Committee calendar may be updated, but at present the following schedule is available should residents be interested in specific budgets:
- Planning Department, January 9
- Bedford Free Public Library, January 16
- Board of Health, January 16
- Schools, January 23
- Selectmen, January 30
Finance Committee meetings are open to the public and are held in the Selectmen’s meeting room at Town Hall. Click this link to confirm the final January dates, or .refer to The Bedford Citizen’s weekly column, “Town Government at Work.”
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