Essex-Manchester School Budget Projects 7.94 Percent Town Assessment Hike for FY27

ESSEX — December 8, 2025 — Essex-Manchester Regional School Committee previews a tentative FY27 budget carrying a 7.94 percent increase in the combined town assessment. At a December 8 joint session with select board representatives from Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea, school business officials presented a total operating budget increase of 7.39 percent — personnel up 5.1 percent and operations up 11 percent — anchored by a budgeted 20 percent health insurance premium increase. The draft draws $600,000 from the district's excess-and-deficiency fund and reduces the annual OPEB contribution by $150,000 to partially offset the assessment impact. Essex officials warned that the school increase alone is "more than double our levy increase in its entirety," leaving the town effectively at zero excess levy capacity after fall town meeting appropriations for a new DPW superintendent, harbor master rebuild, and a $650,000 cash tanker truck purchase. Manchester-by-the-Sea is negotiating three of four collective bargaining agreements, budgeting a 15 percent health insurance increase, and facing roughly $7 million in capital needs tied to lost federal grants. A formal public budget hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, December 10.