As Lowell and the country gear up for the most famous day of the month, we wanted to take a moment to commemorate the important July date that people not in government overlook every year; July 1st.

Numbers crunchers throughout Lowell City Hall, area Town Halls, and even Commonwealth of Massachusetts pols up on Beacon Hill recognize this date as the first day of the Fiscal New Year, the day new budgets take effect (even if those budgets are sometimes a 1/12th budget because the State Senate and House of Representatives can’t get their act together in time, as was the case for FY 2024).

It’s also the day your taxes go up (do they ever go down?), though in Lowell that first payment doesn’t come due until August 1st.

So while you may not have donned a party hat, rattled some noisemakers, raised a glass of champagne and kissed a loved one when the clock struck Midnight last night, take a moment to reflect on FY 2023, make a few sure-to-be-broken resolutions for the coming year, and head on out to your favorite shopping spot, dining establishment or watering hole and spend, spend, spend! Your local and state governments are counting on that Sales and Meals Tax revenue.

From all of us at InsideLowell, to you and your wallet, Happy Fiscal New Year!