During the Oct. 15 meeting of the Hudson Board of Selectmen, one of the items discussed was in regards to setting the town’s tax rate and in that talk, they decided to use $1.1 million from the Town’s Unassigned Fund Balance to help lower the rate.
Acting Town Administrator, Steve Malizia, explained that they try to estimate the tax rate, so they’re ready for when they meet with the Department of Revenue.
“It could change probably not tremendously,” Malizia said.
It was explained by Malizia, that they were recommending to use $1.1 million from the Town’s Unassigned Fund Balance, in order to help with the tax rate.
“If the Board of Selectmen uses $1,100,000 of the Town’s $9,083,853 Unassigned Fund Balance, the tax rate would be approximately $16.73 per thousand,” Malizia wrote in a memo to the Board of Selectmen. “This tax rate represents an 6.7% or $1.05 increase over last year’s rate of $15.69 per thousand.”
It was noted by Hudson Finance Director, Lisa Labrie, that if they were to allocate the $1.1 million, then they would still have a surplus of approximately $7.9 million.
“This balance would be equal to 8.4% of Fiscal Year 2025 gross appropriations,” she wrote.
One question raised by Selectman, Kara Roy, was what the recommended percentage that they should have in the Unassigned Fund Balance.
He explained that the good government practice is to have between five and 10% of the Town’s appropriations in the Unassigned Fund Balance.
“We’re well within that parameter,” Malizia said.
It was also noted that by using some of the Unassigned Fund Balance, they would still be within the parameters of the town’s recommendation which is 8%.
The Board of Selectmen unanimously approved allocating $1.1 million from the Unassigned Fund Balance for the tax rate.
Also during the meeting, it was noted that they would potentially be able to get more revenue from the State than they are anticipating which could impact the tax rate.
“We could get additional revenue from the State,” Labrie told the Selectmen.
Malizia said they were recommending that if they get any additional revenue, that they should use it to reduce the tax rate, instead of increasing the Town’s Unassigned Fund Balance. He noted they aren’t expected to get much of an increase if anything.
The Board of Selectmen gave a consensus to do so.
