How we know

Glossary

What do the budget terms on these pages mean?

Terms

Assessed value

What the Town's assessors say a property is worth, for tax purposes. Rentals are valued mostly on the rent they earn, and owned homes on what comparable homes sell for.

Base case

This site's main forecast. It starts from the budget Town Meeting adopted in May 2026 and assumes costs and revenue keep behaving as they did from FY2011 to FY2025. Every other result on these pages is a change from it.

Breakeven

The point at which a new home's property tax just covers the cost of the Town services and schooling it adds, usually stated as a number of school-age children per home.

Chapter 70

The state's main aid program for public schools. It is the largest part of Brookline's state aid.

Cropper-McKibben

The demographers who prepared the School Department's 2023 enrollment forecast. Their forecast has enrollment rising again to about 7,400 by FY2034. See the three forecasts compared.

Debt exclusion

A vote to raise property taxes above the levy limit for one specific borrowing, such as a school building, until that debt is paid off. It runs through the General Fund but is matched dollar for dollar against the debt and pays for nothing else, so the forecast sets it aside on both the revenue and the spending side; the spending history and the tax bill page include it.

Enterprise fund

A separate fund for a service that pays for itself through charges, such as water and sewer or the golf course, kept apart from the General Fund.

Fiscal year

Brookline's budget year runs from July 1 to June 30 and is named for the year it ends: FY2027 runs from July 2026 to June 2027.

Free cash

Money left over at the end of a fiscal year, mostly because revenue came in above budget and some appropriations went unspent, once the state certifies it. The Town spends it two budgets later, mostly on capital.

FTE

Full-time equivalent: a way of counting staff in which two half-time positions count as one.

General Fund

The Town's main operating fund: schools, Town departments, benefits, debt and capital paid for from taxes and general revenue. About 90% of the Town's money runs through it.

Levy limit

The most Brookline may collect in property tax in a year under Proposition 2½: last year's limit plus 2.5%, plus new growth, plus any override voters approve.

Local receipts

Revenue other than property tax and state aid: motor vehicle excise, meals and hotel taxes, fees, permits, fines and investment income.

NESDEC

The New England School Development Council, whose enrollment forecast the base case uses. Adjusted for the births since it was made, it projects enrollment falling to about 5,400 by FY2040. See the three forecasts compared.

New growth

Tax on value added to the town by construction, renovation and new business equipment. It is added to the levy limit on top of the 2.5%, permanently, with no vote.

OPEB

Other post-employment benefits, mainly retiree health insurance. The unfunded OPEB liability is what the Town has promised in future retiree health costs beyond what it has set aside.

Override

A vote to raise the levy limit permanently. Brookline has passed five since 2005, most recently in May 2026.

Pension liability

What the Town owes in future pensions beyond what its retirement fund holds. The Town pays it down on a schedule set to reach full funding in FY2030.

Proposition 2½

The 1980 state law that caps how fast a town's total property tax can grow: 2.5% a year plus new growth, unless voters approve an override or a debt exclusion.

Residential exemption

A reduction in the taxable value of an owner-occupied home, $354,974 in FY2026. It does not change how much the Town collects; it shifts tax from owner-occupied homes to rentals and second homes.

Reserves

Money the Town holds for emergencies and to smooth bad years, including stabilization funds and unspent fund balance. Town policy keeps them at or above 20% of revenue.

Room

Revenue minus the cost of continuing today's services. Positive room can pay for new priorities or capital; negative room means cuts or new revenue.

State aid

Money from the Commonwealth, mainly Chapter 70 school aid and unrestricted local aid, net of state and MBTA assessments.

Students per birth

Public school enrollment divided by the children born to Brookline residents in the 13 years that feed kindergarten through grade 12. It rises when families with children move in or stay.

Go deeper

• Data and sources: Where does each number come from?
• Assumptions register: What does the forecast assume, and why?

Last updated 2026-10-07. What has changed.