Budgets

Guide to Budget Reviews

The Finance Committee (Fincom) is tasked with reviewing the budget on behalf of the residents.   The committee holds reviews (called budget hearings) on each department.  Fincom members ask many questions ahead of these meetings and during the meetings.  All of the questions and answers are available on the Town website within the “meeting packets” for each of the meetings.  Meeting packets for any public meeting can be found by searching the Document Management System.

Below is the FinCom schedule for this year.  The numbers in parathesis, where applicable, refer to the accounting sections in the budgets linked above.

If you would like to be notified of Fincom budget hearings, you may sign up for “Finance Committee” under Agenda Center for email or text reminders.   The public is welcome to attend the Fincom Budget Hearings in person (Town Hall) or via Zoom.  The hearings are also broadcast on WestfordCAT on Comcast channel 9, Verizon channel 34, and streaming on their website.  The public is also welcome to give input or ask questions at the hearings or at any time by emailing the Town Manager, Kristen Las, Select Board Chair, Tom Clay, or Finance Committee Chair, Kristina Greene.

Budget Process

The Town's accounting year runs from July to June. Accounting years are numbered by the second of the two calendar years they span, so for example the year from July 2026 to June 2027 is known as 'Fiscal Year 2027'. Each year the Town is required to have a budget approved by Town Meeting that is balanced (that is, the expected revenue from taxes, fees, and other sources is equal to the expected expenditures). The budget presented at Town Meeting is broken down by department into personnel costs and other expenditures. Each of those categories is reviewed in detail by the Finance Committee before being approved by the Select Board and brought to Town Meeting. The main exception to this is that by law the School budget is approved by the Select Board as a single line item, with the breakdown of spending within that line being controlled by the School Committee. 

Budget preparation begins around September each year when departments start putting together their budgets for the following fiscal year. These are then aggregated by the Finance Department and Town Manager's Office and those requested department budgets are modified to create a balanced budget overall. This is presented to the Select Board at the end of the calendar year so that the Finance Committee can hold public meetings to review them in January/February. The final budget is presented at the Annual Town Meeting, usually in late March, where it is voted on. 

For a detailed explanation of the budget process, the impact of proposition 2^1/2, and municipal finance in general, take a look at the report produced  by the Budget Task Force in 2023.