Town budget comes in at $85.1 million, state aid for education reduced

Town Administrator Derek Sullivan highlighted the potential negative impact of several federal policies as well as a reduction in state aid for education during a presentation of the roughly $85.1 million 2026 budget.

Last year’s budget was about $81.6 million. This year’s budget has increased by 3.5%, with additional spending primarily focused on education, benefits and public safety. Meanwhile, inflation in the South Coast region has risen 3.9% over the last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Last year, Wareham received about $16.4 million in school funding through the state’s Chapter 70 program. This year, the town is set to receive around $16.6 million from Chapter 70. However, the state is providing only about $650,000 for charter school reimbursements this year, compared to nearly $900,000 last year. This brings the total state aid for education to $17.2 million, which is about $80,000 less than the previous year.

“It’s a little hard to swallow,” Sullivan said.

The town has budgeted $36 million for the school district, which is a $1.4 million increase from the previous year.

In November, Superintendent Matt D’Andrea told the School Committee that the district needed $900,000 more on top of the $1.4 million increase to maintain the same number of teachers and programs. The difference in funding means that once again the district will have to make cuts.

Increases from non-education state aid line items total about $150,000, continuing a decline in the amount of money the town has received from the state over the last two years.

“That obviously has not kept up with the last round of inflation,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan credited conservative budgeting for the town’s ability to maintain relatively normal funding for services and departments.

“If we didn’t have this we’d be looking at not being able to fund the departments and the school anywhere near this,” he said.

Two budget areas may be negatively impacted by federal policies in 2026 and beyond, Sullivan told the board. One falls under local receipts which consists of money collected locally, including fees, licenses and motor vehicle excise tax. The last item, Sullivan said, could be influenced by recent tariffs put in place by the administration of President Donald Trump.

On April 2, the administration announced a sweeping 10% tariff on all imported goods and higher “reciprocal tariffs” on dozens of countries.

While Wareham’s revenue from motor vehicles excise tax has been trending upward over the last few years, increasing by roughly 3.5% annually and yielding about $3.5 million in 2024, Sullivan said that could change.

“The tariffs could reduce new car sales and as cars age they devalue yielding less excise tax revenue,” Sullivan said. “It is something we need to consider, this could begin dipping as people hold onto their vehicles longer and they depreciate in value.”

The president has targeted several social programs for funding cuts and rollbacks, including Medicaid, which Sullivan said may also affect Wareham. 

The town receives a Medicaid reimbursement for services it offers through the schools, such as special education, counseling and other services for eligible students. The reimbursement is budgeted at $275,000 for next year.

“This is one that could certainly fully disappear, it's hard to predict as service levels and eligibility fluctuate,” Sullivan said. “The federal cuts impact this so it's something we may not have in [the future.]”

Sullivan ended the presentation by highlighting the difference in the average single-family tax rate between Wareham and surrounding towns.

Wareham’s average single-family tax rate for 2024, including the taxes levied by the fire district, is $4,759 — in Onset it's $4,950.

In Bourne the average is $5,711 which equates to about $8.9 million more collected in tax revenue by Bourne. Similarly, Carver collects $9.2 million more than Wareham while Middleboro collects $17.1 million more.

“That really demonstrates that the difference is the amount of money we are able to spend on providing services, that’s something that needs to be said out loud,” said Select Board Chair Judith Whiteside. “Our goal is to provide the best service possible and we just need everybody to understand we’re doing it with what we have.”