Sources

All primary sources, reports, and external references cited or used in Open Beverly. Last reviewed July 2026.

Open Beverly is an independent civic project, not affiliated with the City of Beverly. All figures are drawn from the official documents listed here. Errors present in source documents are reflected as-is. Where Open Beverly makes illustrative estimates (e.g., debt service projections), those are noted as estimates in the text.
Primary City Documents
1
City of Beverly Financial Forecasting Committee (FFC) — Meeting Minutes, 2016–2025
Beverly Financial Forecasting Committee. Meeting minutes for fiscal years 2016–2025, including formal financial forecast presentations.
Available via Beverly Public Library LaserFiche server and Beverly Agenda Center.
Used in: How We Got Here, What's Next, Override Calculator Capital Plan
Official city document
2
City of Beverly Financial Forecast FY2026–2030
Beverly Financial Forecasting Committee. Prepared December 2025. Source for FY2027 baseline levy ($139.6M), total revenues ($178.9M), total expenditures ($182.8M), and FY2028 projected deficit ($7,107,323). Also source for the 6%/yr expenditure growth and 4%/yr revenue growth figures used in the Override Calculator model.
Available via Beverly Agenda Center — Financial Forecasting Committee.
Used in: Override Calculator, Capital Plan, Homepage, How We Got Here
Official city document
3
Beverly Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports (ACFRs), FY2009–FY2023
City of Beverly, Office of the Finance Director. Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports (formerly CAFRs) including 10-year statistical tables, balance sheets, revenue/expenditure summaries, and debt schedules.
Used in: City Data, How We Got Here
Official city document
4
City of Beverly Adopted Budget, FY2025 and FY2026
City of Beverly, Office of the Mayor / Finance Director. Interactive versions published via ClearGov.
FY2026 Adopted Budget (ClearGov) · FY2025 Adopted Budget (ClearGov)
Used in: Budget Explorer
Official city document
5
City of Beverly Proposed Budget, FY2024 and FY2027
City of Beverly, Office of the Mayor / Finance Director.
FY2027 Proposed Budget (PDF) · FY2024 Proposed Budget (PDF)
Used in: Budget Explorer
Official city document
6
Beverly City Council — Vote to Authorize City Hall Renovation Borrowing, January 2026
City of Beverly City Council. Voted 7–2 in January 2026 to authorize borrowing $28 million for the City Hall renovation, with construction planned through fall 2028. Open Beverly searched Massachusetts Municipal Finance Oversight Board (MFOB) meeting minutes for 2025–2026 and did not find Beverly listed, suggesting the city did not use the state qualified bond program; bonds may not yet have been issued as of July 2026.
Used in: What's Next
Official city document
7
Beverly Tax Rate History — City Assessors Office
City of Beverly, City Assessors Office. Residential and commercial tax rates by fiscal year.
beverlyma.gov/391/City-Assessors
Used in: City Data
Official city document
8
MassGIS Property Tax Parcel Data — FY2026 Assessed Values
Massachusetts Office of Geographic Information (MassGIS). FY2026 property tax parcel shapefile data including assessed values, land use classification, and parcel geometry for Beverly. Used to compute value per acre, tax per acre, and parcel-level mapping.
mass.gov — MassGIS Property Tax Parcels
Used in: Property Map Sources About
State agency data
9
City of Beverly 2025 Draft Capital Expenditure Plan
City of Beverly, Office of the Mayor. Draft 10-year capital plan covering General Fund and Enterprise Fund projects FY2025–FY2034, including a debt service schedule. Source for all project tables and debt projections on the Capital Plan page.
Available via beverlyma.gov — Engineering Department.
Used in: Capital Plan
Official city document
10
City of Beverly Street Map with Pavement Condition Index (PCI), Fall 2021
City of Beverly, Engineering Department. Pavement condition ratings for all Beverly streets, surveyed Fall 2021. Color-coded by condition category from Excellent (85–100) to Failed (0–10).
2021 PCI Map (PDF, beverlyma.gov)
Used in: Capital Plan
Official city document
State Law & Policy
11
Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 59, §21C — Proposition 2½
The enabling statute for Proposition 2½. Limits the annual increase in a municipality's property tax levy to 2.5% of the prior year's levy, plus new growth. Override elections and debt exclusion procedures are also specified here.
Used in: How We Got Here, What's Next, Override Calculator Capital Plan
State law
12
Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 44 — Municipal Finance
Governs municipal borrowing in Massachusetts. Requires that bond proceeds be used exclusively for the capital purpose for which they were authorized; operating budget transfers are not permitted. Relevant to the City Hall renovation discussion.
Used in: What's Next
State law
13
Massachusetts Secretary of State, Elections Division — Override Election Records
Public records of Proposition 2½ override elections statewide, by city and town.
sec.state.ma.us. Open Beverly has not independently verified every listed city's override history; readers should confirm via the Secretary of State's override database.
Used in: How We Got Here
State agency
14
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) — District Profiles
School enrollment figures and per-pupil spending by district.
profiles.doe.mass.edu
Used in: City Data
State agency
External References
15
Strong Towns — "Roads and Debt"
Strong Towns (strongtowns.org). Published January 26, 2016. Explains the revenue-per-acre framework: how infrastructure-intensive, low-density development generates insufficient tax revenue to cover its long-term maintenance costs, creating a structural fiscal liability. Strong Towns is a nonprofit think tank focused on the financial resilience of cities and towns.
archive.strongtowns.org — Roads and Debt
Used in: What's Next
External reference
16
Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) — Annual Budget Survey
Massachusetts Municipal Association. Annual survey of city and town finance officers, consistently identifying Proposition 2½ revenue constraints as a leading fiscal pressure across the Commonwealth.
mma.org
Used in: How We Got Here
External reference
17
National Research Council — Investments in Federal Facilities: Asset Management Strategies for the 21st Century
National Research Council. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2004. Page 28 (citing Kadamus, 2003): "It has been estimated that the cost relationship is between $4 and $5 in capital liability created for each $1 of deferred maintenance." Used to support the claim that deferring maintenance on public buildings creates compounding future costs.
Used in: What's Next, City Data
Federal research report
18
Paul Leighton — "Who wants Family Dollar? City gets only one bid in its effort to sell the key downtown building"
The Beverly Beat, June 10, 2026. Reports on the outcome of the city's request for proposals for the Rogers Building (218-226 Cabot Street), including the single bid from Harborlight Homes, Mayor Cahill's comments on the acquisition rationale, and Harborlight Executive Director Andrew DeFranza's explanation of why few developers bid.
Used in: What's Next
News reporting
19
City of Beverly — Request for Proposals: Rogers Building (218-226 Cabot Street)
City of Beverly. RFP issued for the sale and redevelopment of the former Family Dollar building. Specified that "greater consideration" would be given to ownership unit proposals. The RFP did not include the adjacent parking lot, which the city retained. Referenced via The Beverly Beat reporting (source 16).
Used in: What's Next
Official city document
Methodology — How We Built This

Direct figures vs. calculated figures
Most numbers on this site are taken directly from official documents and cited by source. In cases where Open Beverly has performed a calculation, this is noted. The main calculated figures are:

  • Override Calculator projections — the 10-year levy, gap, and tax rate trajectories are calculated by Open Beverly using the FFC's base-year figures and stated growth assumptions (6%/yr expenditures, 2.5%/yr revenue). The model uses constant rates for readability; actual outcomes will vary. The FY2028 deficit figure ($7,107,323) is drawn directly from the FFC forecast.
  • City Hall debt service estimate (~$1.9M/yr) — Open Beverly's illustrative calculation, based on $28M principal at 4.5% over 25 years. Actual debt service depends on final bond terms and market rates at issuance.
  • Revenue per acre (property map) — computed by Open Beverly from MassGIS parcel data using the pre-calculated annual tax field divided by parcel area in acres. Methodology follows the Urban3 revenue-per-acre framework.
  • FY2027 total assessed value (~$12.1B) — estimated by Open Beverly from FY2026 actuals; not a published city figure.

Quote attribution
Quotes from FFC meetings are drawn from official meeting minutes. Speaker attributions reflect how the minutes record each speaker. Minutes are available through the Beverly Public Library LaserFiche server.

AI-generated content
City Council meeting summaries on the Summaries page are generated by an AI model from BevCam audio recordings. They are not official records and may contain errors. For official minutes, use the Agendas & Minutes page. The rest of Open Beverly was written with AI assistance and reviewed by the site author.

Data currency
Financial figures reflect the FFC's December 2025 forecast (FY2026–2030). Property parcel data is FY2026 assessed values from MassGIS. Pages note their last-updated date where relevant.