Governance
The Town's Chief Executive Board
What is the Select Board?
An annual contingency fund budgeted by the Finance Committee.
What is the Reserve Fund?
The 4 Primary Revenue Types Supporting General Fund Budgets.
What are Property Taxes, State Aid, Local Receipts, and Transfers?
The Largest General Fund Operating Budget.
What is the School Department Budget? (~47%)
The 3 Fixed Costs Expenses Comprising ~72% of all 16 Fixed Cost Expenses.
What are Health Insurance, Pension Assessment, & Debt Service?
The Town's 3 Enterprise Funds.
What are Water, Sewer, and Skating Rink?
The Town Has Received Over $1 Million to Date Associated with Legal Settlements for this Health Contaminent.
What Is PFAS? (Polyfluoroalkyl substances)
Debt securities issued by a municipality.
What are municipal bonds?
Committee Responsible for All Town Building Related Projects.
What is the BRC - Building Renovations Committee?
The Month in which Annual Town Meeting is Typically Held.
What is May?
The School Department's Executive Board.
What is the School Committee?
The Special Education Services Contingency.
What is the Sped Reserve Account?
Percent Property Taxes Fund General Fund Operating Budgets in FY 2026.
What is 78.25%
The 2 Cost Items Representing ~2/3rds of General Fund Expenses.
What are Salaries & Benefits?
The Town's Funding Approach for Employee Health, Dental and Unemployment Benefits.
What is Self-Insured?
Primary Source of Revenue To Pay All Water Enterprise Expenses.
What Are User Charges or Water Rate Revenue?
The Town Will Receive ~$1.7 Million Over 15 Years from Legal Settlements Associated with This Crisis.
What is the Opioid Crisis?
The Town's Credit Rating as per Standard & Poors Global Ratings.
What is AAA?
Committee Responsible for School Related Building Projects.
What is the SBC - School Building Committee?
A Town Meeting that is Not an Annual Town Meeting.
What is an STM or Special Town Meeting?
The Recommending Body to Town Meeting Voters.
What is the Finance Committee?
The 3 Components of the Town's Permanent Reserve Fund.
What is Free Cash, (Core) Stabilization Fund, and the Assessor's Overlay Fund?
Month the Governor Proposes the Next Year's Budget Funding.
What is January?
School & Municipal Capital Project Funding from General Fund Revenues.
What is Cash Capital?
The Town's Share of this Unfunded Norfolk County Managed Liability is ~$48 Million at 12/31/24.
What is the Pension Liability?
The 3 Combined FY 2026 Enterprise Fund Operating Budgets total to this amount in FY 2026.
What is $19 Million?
SRF's That Have "Not to Exceed" Spending Levels Set at an ATM.
What Are Revolving Funds? (as per ch.44 sect. 53 E 1/2)
Debt Financing that Voters Must Approve at the Ballot, which is A Tax Increase Over and Above the State's Proposition 2 1/2 Limit.
What is Excluded Debt?
A Formal Request for Government Information.
What is a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) Request.
The 1st Article of the Annual Town Meeting Does This.
What is Elect a Moderator to Preside over the ATM.
The Recommending Body for Canton's Capital Projects.
What is the CPC - Capital Planning Committee?
The Town Reserves Benchmark Percentage as a Percent of General Fund Budgeted Expenditures.
What is 15%.
Local Receipts Line Item Comprising the Largest Amount of Local Receipts.
What is Motor Vehicle Excise Tax? ($6.17MM in FY25)
The Average Percentage Split of General Fund Revenues Between School and Municipal After Accounting for Fixed Costs.
What is 2/3rds and 1/3rd?
This Particular Town Net Liability Amount is $83.3MM at FYE 2025.
What is the OPEB Liability? (other post employment benefits other than pension)
The Town Leases the Rebuilt Metropolis Skating Rink from this State Agency.
What is DCR? (Dept. of Conservation & Recreation)
The Town Received ~$7 Million Under this Federal Relief Program.
What is the American Rescue Plan Act or ARPA?
The Total Amount of All Debt Outstanding at FYE 2025.
What is $52,996,376.97?
85% of Town Employees are Governed by These.
What Are Collective Bargaining Agreements?
Typically the Last Article Voted at the Annual Town Meeting.
What is the Budget Article or the Article to Appropriate Funds to Meet Expenses for the Next Fiscal Year?
The Recommending Body for Canton's Housing, Historic, and Conservation & Open Space Initiatives.
What is the CCPC - Canton Community Preservation Committee?
The Names of the Other 3 Town Stabilization Funds.
What are the GMS Capital Stabilization Fund, the "St. Gerard's" or 1860 Washington St. Stabilization Fund, and the Solar Stabilization Fund?
It increases the Tax Levy Limit Other Than by 2 1/2% Annual Increase, Overrides or Exclusions.
What is New Taxable Property Growth?
It Accounts for Nearly Half of State & County Assessments Deducted from the Town's State Aid.
What is the MBTA Assessment?
The State Authorized Financing Tool for the Plymouth Rubber Site Redevelopment.
What is District Improvement Financing or DIF?
A Separate Enterprise Fund Within the Sewer Enterprise Fund.
What is the Stormwater Enterprise Fund?
The ~$2 Million Self-Replenishing Fund Supporting One Dept's Annual Operating and Capital Budgets.
What is the Ambulance Receipts Reserved Fund?
The Amount of Excluded Debt Voters Implicitly Authorized at the Ballot for the GMS Project.
What is $240,624,835?
The Quantum of Vote Required to Fund an Unpaid Bill of a Prior Fiscal Year at an ATM.
What is 4/5ths?
It Disposes of Multiple Warrant Articles at a Town Meeting with a Single Vote.
What is the Consent Agenda?