Town Gov’t · Reading, MA

Budget Comparison

What changed, year over year — every Town Manager budget book side by side. Pick any two years to see exactly where the money moved, or scan the trends across all seven years, FY21 through FY27.

← Budget explorer

Pick Two Years

Biggest movers

The largest swings between the two selected budgets, across every category tracked on this page (minimum $100k change).

Side by Side

The headline numbers

Where the money comes from

Shared costs — the fixed-cost engine

Town departments

Department totals follow each year’s own budget book. Public Works is shown with the rubbish, snow & ice and street-light lines included in both years so the comparison is apples-to-apples (the FY27 book budgets those lines separately; the FY27 figure here is the sum of its printed lines). In FY23, Technology was still a division of Administrative Services — it’s split out here so both columns match the later books.

School cost centers

Enterprise funds

Trends

Each point is that year’s Town Manager proposed budget — seven years, FY21 through FY27, from the last pre-COVID plan to the override year.

Total voted budget

Benefits & health insurance

The fastest-growing cost in town government.

Free cash used to balance the budget

Rising reliance on reserves is the town’s own warning indicator for a future override.

Debt service

The FY26 lull (library debt retired) and the FY27 step-up (Killam & ReCAL excluded debt arrives).

Student enrollment (Oct 1 headcount)

The Budget Books & Ask Recap AI

Ask Recap AI to compare any two budgets — it reads every budget book on this page. Figures are each year’s Town Manager proposed budget; Town Meeting sometimes amends lines before the final vote, so voted totals can differ slightly.