Essex Board of Finance sees FY2025–26 surplus as tax collections outpace budget

The Board of Finance reviewed preliminary year‑end results for fiscal 2025–26 showing stronger‑than‑budgeted tax and local revenue collections and a projected overall surplus.

The preliminary report shows current property tax collections forecast to finish the fiscal year at $26,932,970, bringing the collection rate to about 100.06 percent. Year‑to‑date total tax collections were reported at $27,350,174, or 100.86 percent of the fiscal‑year total. The report noted particularly strong interest and lien fee collections, with a cited collection rate of 329 percent, and favorable State and Federal grant revenue of $95,500, driven primarily by a $72,000 Town Aid Road Fund grant.

Local revenue items above budget included interest income (~$132,000), conveyance taxes (~$152,700), building permits (~$46,000) and town clerk fees (~$49,000). On the expenditure side, year‑to‑date spending was forecast at $27,887,721 (96.65 percent of budget), excluding proposed supplemental appropriations and auditor adjustments that have not yet been recorded.

The preliminary forecast put the fiscal‑year revenue surplus at $460,856 and estimated an overall surplus around $728,347. The minutes note the deferred tax revenue journal entry and auditor adjustments have not yet been recorded and “may have a material impact.”

The Board voted to accept the preliminary financial report as submitted.