# Health & Sanitation: what the town votes for it

One of twelve departments in the omnibus budget Town Meeting votes each spring. [All twelve together](/analysis/town-budgets).

## What it is

The Board of Health and the services the town buys in with it — the Nashoba Associated Boards of Health, nursing, and mental health. Under a fifth of one per cent of the budget.

## The department

| | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 |
|---|---:|---:|---:|
| voted | $99,260 | $104,961 | $117,819 |
| a year | 8.9% |  |  |
| share of the budget | 0.3% |  |  |
| pull on total growth | +0.02 |  |  |

## Its lines, as printed

### FY2023

| line | label | voted |
|---|---|---:|
|  | General Health Expense | $44,652 |
| 55 | Nashoba Assoc. Board of Health | $36,760 |
| 56 | Nashoba Nursing | $16,848 |
| 57 | Mental Health | — |
|  | Animal Inspector Salary | $1,000 |
| | **total** | **$99,260** |

The page prints **$99,260** for this department. The lines above come to $99,260, a difference of +0.30.

### FY2024

| line | label | voted |
|---|---|---:|
| 54 | General Health | $46,332 |
|  | Expense | — |
| 55 |  | $39,517 |
|  | Neatoba Board of | — |
|  | Nasheba Nursing | $18,112 |
| 57 | Mental Health | — |
| 58 | Animal Inspector Salary | $1,000 |
| | **total** | **$104,961** |

The page prints **$104,961** for this department. The lines above come to the same.

### FY2025

| line | label | voted |
|---|---|---:|
|  | General Health Expense | $53,427 |
| 55 | Nashoba Board of Health | $43,469 |
| 56 | Nashoba Nursing | $19,923 |
| 57 | Mental Health | — |
| 58 | Animal Inspector Salary | $1,000 |
| | **total** | **$117,819** |

The page prints **$117,819** for this department. The lines above come to the same.

## What moved

Lines that appear in FY2023 and FY2025 under the same printed label, biggest move first.

| line | FY2023 | FY2025 | change |
|---|---:|---:|---:|
| General Health Expense | $44,652 | $53,427 | +$8,775 |
| Nashoba Nursing | $16,848 | $19,923 | +$3,075 |
| Animal Inspector Salary | $1,000 | $1,000 | +$0 |

## What this cannot show

- What any department ASKED for. The omnibus is what Town Meeting voted, which is already balanced — the difference between a request and a vote is where a cut lives, and the annual report prints only the second.
- What was actually spent. Voted and spent are different quantities and rule 1 forbids mixing them in one calculation.
- Whether any department reduced SERVICE. A department can hold its dollars and cut its hours, and a dollar figure will not say so.
- Why any line moved. The omnibus states an amount and gives no reason for it, so every explanation of a movement here would be a hypothesis.
- Anything about FY2026 below the total. The FY2025 annual report prints no department figures at all.
- That growing faster than the levy cap is a problem. Proposition 2½ limits the LEVY, not the budget: the budget is the levy plus state aid, local receipts and transfers, and new growth raises the levy limit on top of the 2.5%. The cap is used here as a common reference point every board in town already uses — it is not a ceiling anybody breached.