JLJames Laurenti

What Beverly Does Next

Beverly is running short. A state law caps how fast the city can raise money, its costs rise faster, and the gap between them is starting to hit the services people use. That is not just a Beverly problem. Every city and town in Massachusetts runs under the same rules. But how Beverly handles the next few years will shape the kind of town it is for a long time after. This is hard to follow. I built these pieces to make it clearer, so you can weigh in with more confidence when you want to. Nonpartisan, sourced, and built for people who don't have time to dig.

The story

One narrative in three parts: how the budget got here, how this year played out, and the choices ahead. Start at the top.

  1. How the budget works

    Why the city keeps running short: a state cap on how fast it can raise money, and costs that outrun it. The problem, in plain language.

    Interactive tools for this part

  2. The FY2027 budget

    The year the gap got real: rising costs, the trash-fee fight, and what was cut to balance one budget.

    Interactive tools for this part

  3. The options

    Coming later

    What Beverly could do about the bigger gaps ahead, and what each choice costs. It follows the city's Deficit Reduction Committee as it weighs the real options, and the FY2028 shortfall nearly doubles this year's.

Go deeper

Standalone reads that sit alongside the story rather than inside it.

  1. Who Beverly is

    Coming soon

    A decade of budget choices, measured against six North Shore neighbors, and what they reveal about the town. The scorecard behind the options ahead.

  2. What sets your property taxes, and what doesn't

    How the property tax really works across Massachusetts, and why the wealthiest towns are not the highest-taxed. Statewide, not just Beverly.

Explore

Interactive pieces. Poke at the numbers and the map yourself.

  1. MA property tax explorer

    Every Massachusetts town: your bill and rate across the decade, your town's fiscal shape and the towns most like it, and whether its property values outran its residents' incomes.

  2. Find the money

    The actual budget, and a chance to close the gap yourself. It’s harder than "just cut the waste."

  3. The development map

    Beta

    Where Beverly is changing, parcel by parcel.

A note on why this exists

I built this because I wanted it and couldn't find it. I kept hearing about Beverly's budget in passing, and every explanation was either a snapshot missing the context or a source with an agenda. I'm a fairly new resident and a father. I love this place, my kids will always call it home, and I'm invested in its future. This is also the work I do for a living. I'm a product manager, and the job is mostly untangling complicated problems until other people can see them clearly. I think that matters here for a specific reason: the better informed people are, the richer the argument gets, and the better the decision at the end of it. So I would rather hand you the whole picture and let you build your own view than press mine on you. Here it is. You decide.

James Laurenti