Small Town, Big Government

 

For small towns like Shutesbury, the lion’s share of revenues is allocated to education, and the local government is often run by part-time employees and volunteers. If the population (and tax base) grows, it stands to reason that town government will also expand. If the number of residents stays the same or decreases, you can reasonably expect the cost of local government to follow in step.

According to the Donohue Institute at UMASS Amherst, Shutesbury’s population decreased by 1.18% between 2010 and 2019, while general government costs have increased from approximately $294,000 in 2010 to $484,000 in 2019. 

That’s a big increase, so I decided to look at other Franklin County towns with similar populations. I teased out Ashfield, Leverett, and Shelburne to see how their populations and government expenses have changed over the same timeframe.

Population numbers are from 2018 and costs and expenses are rounded up or down to the nearest thousand. DLS Gateway links load to default pages, so sort by town and/or topic to check references for each town and subject discussed.

Ashfield: Population 1,734

The cost of local government for Ashfield climbed from $246,000 in 2012  to $434,000 in 2019 (information was unavailable for 2010 and 2011). General Fund expenditures for General Government equaled 9.76% of the town’s budget in 2019, with 57.33% going to education and 15.33% allocated to Public Works.

Ashfield’s population decreased by 1.10% between 2010 and 2019.

Leverett: Population 1,861

Our neighbor, Leverett, saw its government costs increase from $290,000 in 2010 to $386,000 in 2019. Between 2014 and 2017, yearly costs jumped around from about $418,000 to $500,000 before settling in at $355,000 in 2018. Those increased costs were likely due to the building of the town’s broadband network. For 2019, General Government made up 6.07% of Leverett’s annual budget while education took the biggest chunk at 62.21%.

Leverett’s population decrease from 2010 to 2019 was quite small--a mere 0.37%.

Shelburne: Population 1,861

In 2010, Shelburne’s General Government costs were $273,000. Costs have increased each year (excluding missing data for 2012 and a jump to $427,000 in 2015) to the 2019 total of $415,000. Education used 52.60% of Shelburne’s 2019 budget and General Government’s share was 9.00%.

Shelburne lost 3.36% of its population between 2010 and 2019, a big loss compared with the other towns profiled in this post.

Shutesbury: Population 1,774

Breaking down Shutesbury’s $484,000 in General Fund expenditures in 2019 shows our Education expenses slightly lower than Leverett’s (59.66%) and General Government coming in at 7.38%.

What stands out here is that Shutesbury’s increase in funding for General Fund expenditures has been steadily increasing each year since 2010. The other towns increase or decrease funding from one year to another, likely in response to local projects and priorities.

Shutesbury’s fiscal year expense budget shows close to $564,000 in General Fund expenditures set aside for FY 2022.

Upon closer inspection of the “Unclassified” category on the DLS Gateway, I see that Shutesbury’s numbers are far higher than the other three towns under consideration.

What are “Unclassified” expenses? According to the Community Comparison Spending by Function page:

Unclassified = Fixed costs + Intergovernmental + Other expenses

ClearGov describes this expense segment as “unknown or a mixture of more than one expense type”.

Since 2010 (excluding the aforementioned missing data), all four towns have seen their Unclassified totals move in an upward trajectory. Shutesbury differs in that its 2010 dollar amount was quite high--$610,000--compared to Leverett’s total of $290,000; Shelburne’s   $242,000 total was lower still. Ashfield’s data for 2010 and 2011 is missing, but its 2012 total was a mere $210,000.

By the process of elimination, I found that “Unclassified” expenditures on the DLS website are almost identical to those categorized as “Miscellaneous” on Shutesbury’s expense budget.

Next time, I’ll take a look at how Shutesbury’s high expense categories compare with those of our wealthier neighbor, Leverett.