Brewster Anticipates First Override In 15 Years

BREWSTER – “This has been, I think fair to say, our most challenging year in developing a budget and bringing it forward for consideration,” said Town Manager Peter Lombardi at Monday night’s budget presentation before the select board. 

The 2027 town operating budget calls for the first operating override in 15 years. 

The estimated general fund revenues total $63.8 million, while the projected general fund operating appropriations, including the Nauset Regional and Brewster Elementary schools, total $64.6 million. This leaves the need for a Proposition 2½ operating override of $850,000. 

Revenue projections for fiscal 2027 stayed relatively conservative, in keeping with previous years. Brewster’s assessor Jim Gallagher expects about $300,000 in new growth. State aid, based on the governor’s proposed budget which will be finalized in July, is slated to increase about $80,000 over 2026. The assumed increase in local receipts sits at about 6 percent, lower than last year’s increase of just under 9 percent. 

Short-term rental revenues have leveled out over the past seven years, based on the experience of Brewster’s finance team: Lombardi, Assistant Town Manager Donna Kalinick and Finance Director Mimi Bernardo. Bernardo projected revenues for 2027 to be about $1.2 million. 

Other projected revenues include ambulance receipts, water indirects, golf indirects, solar revenues and cannabis revenues. These are all set to increase incrementally, but often cover the direct department’s operating budget. A portion of the solar revenues is transferred to the general fund to cover a part-time energy manager. 

The total estimated 2027 revenues sit at just under $64 million.

Nauset Regional, the Brewster Elementary Schools and Cape Cod Tech account for 50 percent of the town’s operating budget, said Kalinick. As of Monday, budgets for the schools were only projections, so the town’s budget is based on an educated guess of operating increases. 

The recommended budget carries a 3 percent increase for schools in the Nauset Regional School district. Kalinick said that in previous years, the town informed the schools that a 3 percent increase was what the budget allowed, but they ended up being more. Currently the middle school budget has an increase of 4.7 percent while the high school has an increase of 3 percent. 

As of Monday, the town hadn’t been provided any additional information for the central office budget, which includes benefits and health insurance numbers. 

If operating costs increase over 3 percent, the schools will need an operating override, which was last needed in fiscal year 2024. The town has also budgeted $200,000 for a total enrollment increase, outside of the 3 percent operating increase. 

The Brewster elementary schools hold a similar snapshot. The projected 3 percent increase remains within the levy, but the current increase is slated at 3.4 percent for Stony Brook Elementary and 5.3 percent for Eddy Elementary, an average of 4.4 percent overall. Any increase over the 3 percent will require an override, which last happened in 2025. The health insurance cost for the schools is increasing by 12 percent and pensions will increase by 11 percent. 

The town budgeted a 3 percent operating increase for Cape Cod Tech as well. Enrollment stayed consistent with last year’s percentage at about 9 percent. 

The Cape Cod Municipal Group, which provides staff health insurance, voted for an 8 percent increase, using stabilization funds to offset the reported 10 percent rate increase that their carriers projected. Pension projections are based the year prior as of Sept. 30. The projection the town made was a bit higher than numbers received by Barnstable County Retirement, with a final increase of 6.2 percent. This year, these numbers were “late-breaking,” which made it harder to determine other aspects of the budget, said Lombardi.

Personnel is reportedly the number one driver when it comes to operating costs, he said. In the 2027 town operating budget, the finance team accounted for a 2.5 percent cost of living adjustment and a 3 percent step increase for most employees, plus a one-time market adjustment. These agreements are in accordance with union contracts.

Within the levy limit, the town can add a 1.5 percent cost of living adjustment and a 3 percent step increase. The additional cost of living and market rate adjustments will have to be included in an operating override. These adjustments coincide with a level services budget that accounts for no staffing reductions. 

Town operating expenses outside of staffing adjustments come in at .6 percent. The total town operating expenses including personnel adjustments within the levy limit sits at a 3.4 percent increase, with the total recommended increase including personnel expenses in the operating override sitting at 6.9 percent. 

With all the adjustments, the finance team determined that remaining conservative would help lessen the potential override, thus many departments did not see increases in funding or staffing.

The recommended 2027 budget includes a $240,000 allowance from short-term rental revenues for the preschool family support program, which is now entering its third fiscal year. This was a select board decision made earlier this year to set aside 20 percent of the short-term rental funds for the program. 

The only financial implication when it comes to staffing is within the recreation department. The part-time department assistant will be gaining five hours, increasing from 19 to 24 hours a week. According to the recommended budget, this is a $2,000 net impact on the general fund. 

Eight departments did not get personnel increases. Those included a full time public works laborer, two police patrol officers and one sergeant, two more firefighters and an EMS coordinator, a new full-time building inspector, a part-time assistant assessor, a part-time assistant accountant, an increase from part-time assistant conservation agent to full-time and an increase in hours for the assistant town planner. 

Lombardi said union contracts and employee agreements expire in June 2026, so negotiations are active and ongoing. According to the presentation, “compensation data from comparable Cape communities identify the need for greater market adjustments for Brewster salaries than originally anticipated in the financial forecast to be equitable and competitive.”

In the meantime, the select board and finance team will be meeting with department heads on Friday to go over the proposed budget. They will continue to monitor school budgets as things progress, determining if a school operating override is necessary.  

These decisions will be brought to voters in May. For more detailed information on the recommended budget, visit Brewster’s OpenGov platform via the town website.