It's not a tax. It's a fee.

Property tax increases are increasingly unpopular. So some towns want to privatize essential services. Others are turning to fee increases.

"Depending on the community, it's definitely coming to a crisis point," said Thomas Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, whose members are juggling rising costs, many with flatlined funding. "If you're not a crisis community, you probably will be, in short order."

In Tewksbury, for example, officials are considering making the Senior Center, high school sports, and the public library self-funding, instead of seeking a Proposition 2 1/2 override to pump taxes up to the level needed to run the services. The town is also considering an annual $215-per-household, trash-removal fee for the first time.

In Lexington, the schools will charge an annual per-child fee of $1,025 for a new all-day kindergarten program. In Chelmsford, officials facing a $2.8 million budget deficit are considering instituting for the first time what many other communities already tap as a revenue source - a school bus fee. The $200-per-child transportation charge would be on top of recent hikes in fees for sports and extracurricular activities.