Belmont Warrant Committee reviews multi-year budget model ahead of expected FY29 override

BELMONT — September 24, 2025 — Belmont Warrant Committee digs into multi-year fiscal model, projects FY29 operating override. The committee spent most of its September 24 meeting examining findings from the town's Multi-Year Budget Advisory Committee model, which confirms a structural deficit driven by roughly 3 percent annual revenue growth against 4 to 4.5 percent expense growth. Tom Caputo, a committee member who co-led the modeling effort, said the April 2025 override could sustain operations through FY28, with a potential path to FY32 if expense growth is restrained and the override mitigation fund is carefully deployed. The model assumes $3 million in annual free cash recycled into operations, a figure member Jack Weiss flagged as potentially too optimistic now that the school department has already squeezed out historical salary turnback savings. A scenario involving a smaller, earlier $6 million override in FY28 was discussed and largely set aside — Caputo noted it would generate roughly $2 million less in annual levy revenue beyond FY31, accelerating the need for yet another override. The model assumes no debt exclusion over the five-year planning window, though members acknowledged a future DPW facility project will eventually require one.