City Budget Comparison
FY2026 — How Fall River's spending compares to neighboring cities
Total Budget
Spending Per Resident
Residential Tax Rate
FY2026 rate per $1,000 of assessed property value
Source: MA Department of Revenue, FY2026 Tax Rates by Class
Where the Money Goes
Understanding the Differences
These four cities are geographic neighbors of similar size, but their budgets can look very different due to how each one organizes and reports its spending. Here's what to keep in mind.
Not all budgets are organized the same way
Each city decides how to group its costs. For example, Brockton puts employee benefits, debt payments, and schools all under "General Government" in its official documents — making that category look enormous. We've separated those costs into comparable categories, but some differences remain.
Pension costs can show up in different places
Most cities pay into their pension fund directly (a "pension contribution"). Brockton instead issued bonds years ago to cover its pension liability, so $20.8M of what is functionally a pension cost shows up as debt service. This makes Brockton's debt look high and its benefits look low compared to peers.
State assessments can be visible or hidden
Massachusetts charges cities for things like charter school tuition and regional transit. Fall River, Brockton, and New Bedford show these as a ~$40M expense. Taunton nets most of them against state aid on the revenue side, so they don't appear as a separate spending line — but the obligation is still there.
Enterprise funds make total budgets hard to compare
Cities fund services like water, sewer, and EMS either through the general fund or through separate "enterprise funds" paid for by user fees (your water bill, ambulance charges, etc.). Whether these are included in the reported total budget varies by city — and it can make a big difference:
Fall River's $64.3M in enterprise funds (water, sewer, EMS) are not included in its $452.6M total. If New Bedford excluded its enterprise funds the same way, its total would drop from $550.8M to $492.4M — a $40M gap rather than $100M. The "Total Budget" bars above use each city's reported total, so keep this in mind when comparing.
Population and scale matter
Taunton has about 60,000 residents — roughly 60% the size of the other three cities. Its total budget is smaller, but per-capita spending tells a more useful story. When you switch to "Per Capita" view above, you'll see the cities are closer than the raw dollar amounts suggest.
How each city reports its budget
Official Budget Documents
Read the full adopted budget for each city.