Local Receipts
Money the city collects locally that isn't property tax: the fee you pay to register your car, extra pennies on the dollar when you eat out or stay in a hotel, trash pickup fees, permits, parking tickets and other fines, interest the city earns on its bank accounts, and a few other odds and ends.
This rose to $12,593,868 this year, about 10% more than the $11,459,835 it was in FY2025.
Computed from this category's own year-by-year revenue recap figures, charted above - see Methodology.
Line Items, FY2026
| Line item | FY2026 |
|---|---|
| Motor Vehicle Excise | $4,492,958 |
| Other Excise - Rooms | $1,265,000 |
| Other Excise - Meals | $370,000 |
| Other Excise - Cannabis | $400,000 |
| Penalties/Interest on Taxes | $714,000 |
| Payments In Lieu of Taxes | $124,000 |
| Charges for Services - Trash | $2,267,200 |
| Other Charges for Services | $22,660 |
| Fees | $231,750 |
| Rentals | $10,000 |
| Department Revenues - Cemetery | $41,600 |
| Other Department Revenues | $156,000 |
| Licenses and Permits | $1,060,800 |
| Fines and Forfeitures | $140,400 |
| Investment Income | $500,000 |
| Reimbursement for Related Exp - CDBG | $50,000 |
| Reimbursement for Related Exp - Airport | $50,000 |
| Medicaid Reimbursement | $682,500 |
| Other State Revenue - recurring | $15,000 |
| Local Receipts, Total | $12,593,868 |
Where It Comes From
You, more or less directly - registering a car, eating at a restaurant, staying at a hotel, buying legal marijuana, getting a permit, or paying a ticket.
Who Controls It
It depends on the item. The car registration fee is set entirely by the state - the city has no say in that one. The extra tax on restaurant meals, hotel stays, and marijuana sales are all optional add-ons the City Council chose to adopt, up to a cap set by the state. Most other fees and fines are set by the city itself.
Rates & Fees
Car registration fee ("excise tax"): set by the state at $25 for every $1,000 your vehicle is worth, based on a fixed depreciation schedule from the original sticker price - not what you could sell it for. Meals tax: up to an extra 0.75% on top of the state's 6.25% meals tax, if the city has adopted it. Hotel/motel tax: up to an extra 6% on top of the state's 5.7% tax, if adopted. Marijuana sales tax: up to an extra 3%, if adopted. Fitchburg has adopted several of these - you can see exactly how much each one brought in this year in the table above.
Governing law: M.G.L. c. 60A (vehicle excise), c. 64G (rooms), c. 64L (meals), c. 64N (marijuana)
Background: Mass. Dept. of Revenue — Local Option Excise Taxes