Amesbury Budget Trends

The tax rate in Amesbury is a source of constant debate and through all the bickering I find it very difficult to understand what the true facts are. I was curious how how much services cost and how they have grown relatively to other towns in Massachusetts.

I went to the Mass DOR databank pages and downloaded historical expenditure data for all cities and towns in Massachusetts to find out.

Below is a Table for Amesbury expenditures from 2000 to 2008 showing the cost per person to run specific functions. (click on all tables and graphs to increase size for viewing).  For example if you look at the 2008 column on the Fire row you will see that the budget for Fire in Amesbury was 186 dollars per person.

The Table Below indicates the % change each year from 2000 to 2008.
The Growth rate peeked in 2006 with the large debt service in that year.

This table looks at the difference in per person expenditures between 
Amesbury and State averages.

I thought it made more sense to look at Amesbury in terms of peer communities. I took 2007 census data and picked the four closest towns in population, land size and average income. Those communities are Auburn, Hudson, Medway and Millbury.

By looking at peer communities (if these are appropriate peers) a different story is told than looking at the state averages.

Below is a graph showing the growth of Amesbury expenditures - (it excludes debt service education and total which throw of the scale in parts).

Observations and Questions:
Education is the most complicated local budget item for all towns because of state/federal mandates, dependency on reimbursements and seemingly inequitable Chapter 70 implementations.

Where is the growth in the education budget coming from? Is it like most communities where the majority of growth is coming from SPED and retiree health benefits?

Can Amesbury advocate for more equitable treatment with Chapter 70?

See Chapter 70 post below for some thoughts on this topic.
The 200+ dollars more per citizen that Pentucket receives  in Chapter 70 would be a good start.

Can we over the long term look to peg our Police and Fire costs with comparable communities?

What does the revenue side look like?
Can we add more office and industrial to the town?