Since Fiscal Year 2006, the town has produced a budget book and has submitted it to the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for review. In each of these 18 years, the budget book has received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for excellence.
According to the GFOA, “The budget document is very important, since it identifies the services to be provided (along with the funding), and the rationale behind key decisions.” Furthermore, as a given, a municipality, like Concord, which expects to earn and maintain its Aaa credit rating from Moody’s Investors Services produces high-quality budget documents.
A budget book is not just a printout of the General Ledger, essentially the adopted budget approved by Town Meeting. It contains vital information for residents to know that their taxes are being well spent. For example, past budget books contained a 10-year history of the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees by division and as a whole. Since personnel costs make up most of the budget, changes in the number of FTEs is important.
These budget books also explained changes in proposed operating spending for each division and described planned capital projects. In the books, each division outlined its accomplishments for the year and presented its goals for the coming year. All of this is essential for residents to continue to maintain confidence in the integrity of the town.
The Finance Administration division did not produce a Fiscal 2025 Budget Book, and the last document, the Fiscal 2024 Budget Book, was done during Fiscal 2023, when the division’s appropriation was $555,491. Since then, the appropriation has increased to $647,927 in Fiscal 2024 and $756,342 in Fiscal 2025. This increase of $200,851, or 36.1 percent, over the last two years isn’t explained anywhere.
A budget book is the document that would explain this increase.
Paul Macone
Grove Street
