Lunenburg Budget Project · Data architecture

Where every dollar lands, and who decides

All money into the town in FY2026, where it comes to rest, and — the question the budget documents never answer — who actually gets to decide how it is spent.

1 · Every dollar into the town

FY2026. The general fund is budgeted revenue; the other funds are their own money and are shown on their own bases. These are not added — a budget and nine months of actuals are different quantities.

General fund — 192 revenue accounts

$52,187,832

6000 Sewer Enterprise Fund

$1,454,671

7900 Solid Waste/Recycling Enterpri

$1,000,000

5000 Sewer Betterments

$436,667

6200 Peg Access Enterprise Fund

$225,927

All special revenue funds (actual, 9 months)

$1,553,151

2 · Who SETS each dollar coming in

A different question from who spends it, and it has a sharper answer. Six accounts are 95% of all town revenue; 113 of the 192 carry nothing at all.

Set by the town — inside a cap it cannot exceed67.3% of revenue

$35,111,996

Set by the Legislature — the town has no say21.4% of revenue

$11,153,368

One-time money that does not recur4.2% of revenue

$2,209,993

Moved in from the town’s other funds0.7% of revenue

$376,851

Local receipts — fees, permits, excise, fines6.4% of revenue

$3,335,624

The town sets 67% of its own income, inside a ceiling it did not write, and has no say at all over 21%. Proposition 2½ caps the levy increase; Chapter 70 and the rest of state aid arrive in the Governor’s budget. Between them that is 89% of everything the town takes in.

Set by the town — inside a cap it cannot exceed — $35,111,996

The property tax levy. The town chooses the rate, and **Proposition 2½ caps the total increase at 2.5% plus new growth.** Above that needs an override at the ballot. This is the only large revenue the town sets at all, and it is set inside a ceiling somebody else wrote.

RE TAXES $34,029,858, PP TAXES $1,052,138, SUPPLE TAX $30,000

Set by the Legislature — the town has no say — $11,153,368

State aid. The amounts arrive in the Governor’s budget and the Cherry Sheet. **Chapter 70 alone is more than a sixth of all town revenue and no vote in Lunenburg changes it by a dollar.**

CH 70 AID $9,229,410, UGGA $1,316,438, SCHCOSTREI $318,424, ABATE ELDE $56,897, VET ABATE $56,897, S6CH115VET $50,560 … and 3 more

One-time money that does not recur — $2,209,993

Free cash, reserves and proceeds. Real money, spendable once. Using it for a recurring cost moves the problem to next year rather than solving it.

FBCYBUDGET $2,209,993

Moved in from the town’s other funds — $376,851

Transfers, chiefly from the enterprise funds. **Not new money into the town** — money the town already had, moved between pockets.

TRANS ENT $338,397, OP TRAN SR $38,454

Local receipts — fees, permits, excise, fines — $3,335,624

**A residual** — everything not in the classes above. Rates are set variously by the town and by statute, and the amounts move with activity rather than with any decision.

MVE $1,875,000, RESCUE WAG $275,000, BUILD PERM $262,000, INVEST INC $155,100, NETMETERIN $145,000, MEALS TAX $100,000 … and 58 more

3 · The general fund is one pot

Every one of those 192 accounts pays into fund 0100 and loses its identity there. No record ties a source to a department. The town apportions by share when it presents a budget; that is a convention for explaining, not a route any dollar takes.

Which means the question “what does Chapter 70 pay for?” has no answer, and the question “who decides how the pot is spent?” has a very good one. That is what the rest of this page is.

4 · Who actually decides how it is spent

The omnibus budget is $51,189,961 across 67 departments. A person at Town Meeting is voting on all of it and reasonably believes they are deciding it.

Assessed by somebody else9.4% of the budget

$4,829,830

Committed by votes already taken5.0% of the budget

$2,547,439

Town Meeting votes a total; another elected body allocates52.6% of the budget

$26,919,511

Set by bargaining, claims and premiums8.0% of the budget

$4,107,709

Moved to capital and trust funds2.5% of the budget

$1,285,000

Discretionary — the meeting sets the amount, a department spends it22.5% of the budget

$11,500,472

22.5% of the budget is a line Town Meeting is actually setting. Everything else is real, legitimate, and already decided — by an assessment the town cannot refuse, a debt vote taken years ago, a bargaining agreement, or another elected body that allocates the total after the vote. Nothing on the warrant says which is which.

Assessed by somebody else — $4,829,830

A bill the town did not set and cannot refuse. Another body — a regional district, the state, the retirement system — decides the amount and sends it.

Wrrs Assessmentdept 820

$2,392,572

Monty Tech Assessmentdept 310

$1,334,521

State Assessmentsdept 825

$1,028,529

Nashoba Healthdept 521

$47,815

Nashoba Nursingdept 522

$21,915

Montachusett Planning Commdept 841

$4,478

dept	how we know	why
310	`stated`	Named `MONTY TECH ASSESSMENT`. A regional school district assesses its member towns.
521	`outside`	Nashoba Associated Boards of Health — a regional district.
522	`outside`	Nashoba Nursing — same.
820	`stated`	Named `WRRS ASSESSMENT`. The Worcester Regional Retirement System sets it; the town pays it.
825	`stated`	Named `STATE ASSESSMENTS` — the Cherry Sheet charges.
841	`outside`	Montachusett Regional Planning Commission — a regional body assessing its members.

Committed by votes already taken — $2,547,439

Debt service. The decision was made when the borrowing was authorised, sometimes decades ago, and this year’s meeting cannot revisit it.

Principal Serial Loansdept 710

$1,506,369

Interest Serial Loansdept 751

$1,039,840

Loan Administrative Feesdept 754

$1,230

dept	how we know	why
710	`stated`	Named `PRINCIPAL SERIAL LOANS`. Repayment of borrowing authorised by votes already taken.
751	`stated`	Named `INTEREST SERIAL LOANS`. Same.
754	`stated`	Loan administrative fees.

Town Meeting votes a total; another elected body allocates — $26,919,511

The schools and the library. **Town Meeting still sets the total, which is the largest lever there is.** It does not set the lines inside it.

School Departmentdept 300

$26,247,474

Lunenburg Public Librarydept 610

$632,037

School Non-Recurring Expensesdept 301

$40,000

dept	how we know	why
300	`minutes`	Town Meeting votes the school bottom line; the School Committee allocates within it. Its own minutes carry `Review & Approve Line Item Transfers` as a standing agenda item, with transfers voted line by line.
301	`stated`	School non-recurring, a separate article.
610	`outside`	A public library is governed by elected trustees.

Set by bargaining, claims and premiums — $4,107,709

Insurance and compensation. An amount is voted, but what drives it is agreements and events rather than a choice made at the meeting.

Insurancedept 914

$3,713,520

Liability Insurancedept 945

$239,189

Workers Compensationdept 912

$145,000

Unemployment Compensationdept 913

$10,000

dept	how we know	why
912	`outside`	Workers compensation — claims driven.
913	`outside`	Unemployment compensation — claims driven.
914	`outside`	Health insurance, active and retiree. Rates and shares are set by bargaining and by the insurer, not by a vote on an amount.
945	`outside`	Liability insurance — premium driven.

Moved to capital and trust funds — $1,285,000

Voted as a transfer rather than as spending on anything.

Transfer To Capital Project Fddept 993

$1,052,500

Transfer To Trust Fundsdept 996

$232,500

dept	how we know	why
993	`stated`	Named `TRANSFER TO CAPITAL PROJECT FD`.
996	`stated`	Named `TRANSFER TO TRUST FUNDS`.

Discretionary — the meeting sets the amount, a department spends it — $11,500,472

**A residual.** What is left once the classes above are taken out. It is not a positive finding about any of these departments.

Police Departmentdept 210

$2,406,172

Fire Departmentdept 220

$1,717,588

Facilities & Groundsdept 193

$711,606

Highway Administrationdept 421

$644,443

Highway Construction & Maintedept 411

$634,850

Information Technology Deptdept 155

$491,311

Recycling Programdept 433

$470,000

Land Usedept 170

$440,157

Snow Removaldept 423

$355,571

Town Accountantdept 135

$323,244

Radio Watchdept 228

$310,764

Town Managerdept 126

$305,325

Assessor'S Administrationdept 141

$297,308

Council On Agingdept 541

$261,182

…and 35 more, every one under $221,357.

What this page cannot tell you

Which source paid for which department. There is no such fact. See the pot above.
Whether an assessment is fair. Only that the town does not set it.
What the special revenue funds were spent on. We hold totals for them and no account detail — the town produces an expense report for the general fund and for each enterprise fund, and not for these.
Who decides inside a delegated total. The School Committee votes line item transfers in public and its minutes record them; the library’s equivalent is not in this archive.

Generated by scripts/build_who_decides.py from sources/data/lunenburg.db. Every figure is computed; --check fails if this file stops reproducing.