Arlington's annual budget season has begun, and the town's Finance Committee faces two nights a week of scrutinizing town budget proposals until it issues its report to Town Meeting in April. That work has continued since 1895, when the town was much smaller. It has continued after 1980, when it was much larger and when Proposition 2 1/2 set limits on town spending.
The Fincom's work continues now in the face of a looming override when voters are asked to fill in the town's funding gap. The amount has yet to be determined, but you see when red ink occurs, as projected by the Jan. 18 spreadsheet presented to the Long Range Planning Committee.
