However, with some exceptions, the town’s fiscal situation has since fallen more in line with neighboring communities. The number of building permits issued and their estimated value, as presented in Appendix A, Chart II, has declined and, after a spike in development, new growth, which is anticipated tax revenue associated with new construction, has returned to a more historic level. Consistent with the experience of most Massachusetts towns, Appendix A, Chart III shows a decline in home sales and an increase in foreclosures. Reflective of the regional economy, the unemployment rate as of June 2009 rose to 10.8 percent of the town’s working population, ranking it the 8th highest among all Massachusetts towns. See Appendix A, Chart I and Table I. Although Templeton has been moderately successful in its initiatives to stabilize the annual budget, the town is taxing to its levy limit and using all of its free cash to support recurring operating expenses that continue to escalate. While town meeting appropriated a “balanced budget” of $13,823,558 for FY2010 funded through a combination of property taxes ($7.27m), state aid ($1.53m), local receipts ($1.52m) and miscellaneous revenue ($3.5m), a significant portion was funded with free cash. As depicted in Appendix A, Table III, free cash is a healthy 6.4 percent of the budget or $882,486. Over the preceding two years however, the town has appropriated 100 percent of certified free cash or $1.55 million in total to supplement the budget.

The above material is from the DOR financial review of 2009.

Jeff Bennett