Medfield voters will decide on June 2 whether to pass an $850,000 Proposition 2 ˝ override.

Officials have said that the override amount would add approximately $215 to the property tax bill for the average single-family home in the town.

Town Administrator Michael Sullivan said that the need for extra revenue is being driven by increased pension and health care costs.

-- Calvin Hennick

The $2,735,000 Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion passed by more than a 2-to-1 margin at Tuesday's town election in Rockport.

The vote was 1,230 in favor, 509 opposed. The voter turnout was 34 percent, which Town Clerk Fred Frithsen termed average for a town election.

The override will pay for repairs and capital needs, including school roof repairs, educational technology replacement, replacement of five school buses, town computer systems replacement, a fire truck, and firefighter breathing apparatus.

Because the town is retiring debt in fiscal year 2009, town officials say that the impact will be minimal to taxpayers. The override for all items except the roof repairs are for five years; the roof repair debt will be spread over 20 years.

Sandy Jacques, outgoing Finance Committee chairman, explained that the tax rate is expected to go down in fiscal 2009, and that the impact of the debt exclusion won't be felt on tax bills until 2010 at the earliest, depending on when bonds are issued for the projects and purchases.

-- David Rattigan

We asked Barbara Anderson, executive director, Citizens for Limited Taxation, to write a short column in this season of overrides. Take it away Barbara . . .

May 5, 2008

A quick retrospective for those who weren’t Massachusetts taxpayers before the Great Tax Revolt in 1980:

There was no control on property taxes, so they ranged from highest to third highest in the world, year to year. The local public employee unions, other spending interests, and people who could easily afford higher taxes packed town meetings or intimidated city councils.

Incredibly, the educational establishment had a thing called "school committee fiscal autonomy." This meant that the school committee had to be given whatever budget it demanded, unless the town went to court, where it usually lost. When taxpayers complained at a school committee meeting, they were ignored.

So they rebelled by passing Proposition 2 ˝, which limited property taxes AND repealed "school committee fiscal autonomy." Local managers, able to finally get some control over school budgets, looked there first for savings. So when you hear that "education was devastated by Prop 2 ˝," it was merely treated, for the first time, like other town departments. Even today, per pupil expenditures are among the highest in the nation.

You will also hear that "overrides are a legitimate part of Proposition 2 ˝." Well, yes, in that we created an override provision as a safety net to cover emergencies and other unanticipated expenses, like a court judgment. Voters were so angry in 1980 that it never occurred to us that they would vote to raise their taxes to pay for operating expenses, including employee pay raises and benefits that exceed their own.

Property taxes and the total per capita tax burden are still far above the national average in Massachusetts. But at least taxpayers have some control, and are generally treated more politely by school committees that might want their override vote. It’s only when an override fails that they hear they selfishly don’t care about either education or "the children;" and for override advocates, more is never enough.

This year, forced to recognize that some people can’t afford to pay more, override proponents are stating their sympathy before arguing for the override anyhow. Clearly they don’t care that a tax increase is a pay cut for people on fixed incomes, or who are unemployed; sometimes they suggest that such people might want to live somewhere else that is more affordable for them. At a Marblehead Town Meeting several years ago, a woman responded to a senior citizen’s concern that "if you can’t afford this, perhaps you aren’t managing your portfolio properly." Perhaps.

After hearing about "the suffering children in Wellesley" shortly after Prop 2 ˝ passed, I tuned out on the tales of woe. But now it’s clear that serious problems do lie ahead for Massachusetts cities and towns if they don’t get control over public employee benefits and special education costs. State laws must be changed, unions must be confronted, reforms must be made. Voters who allow overrides stand in the way of necessary change – and of Governor Patrick’s campaign promise for "property tax relief."

Readers can learn more at our website, www.cltg.org.

-- Barbara Anderson
Executive Director
Citizens for Limited Taxation

Brookline voters approved a $6.2-million property tax override Tuesday night, while Shrewsbury rejected its proposal for a $1.5-million increase.

"It's unbelievable. I am so thrilled," said Rebecca Stone, a Brookline school board member who worked for the override. "I am so grateful to this town right now."

Approval of the Brookline override would increase taxes by $385 a year on the median-value single-family home in Brookline, and $118 on a median-value condominium, according to the town administrator's office. About $3.6 million of the total would be used to cover the budget deficit for the 2009 fiscal year, which begins July 1, and perform various deferred maintenance projects. Backers also said they money would pay for a longer school day.

Along with the measures in Brookline and Shrewsbury, a town meeting in Marblehead passed property tax increases for two school building projects, although the moves still require a vote at a special election, and in Rockport, a $2.73 million debt exclusion to fund a series of capital needs, including a firetruck and school buses, was approved.

History appeared to play a role in yesterday's votes. Brookline's success echoed that of 14 years ago, when officials last asked voters to support an override for an operating budget. In Shrewsbury, voters have never passed an override for an operating budget.

Shrewsbury residents have rejected a Proposition 2 1/2 override for the fourth time in four years.

In today's balloting, the "No" vote prevailed by a large margin, 5,212 to 3,545, according to according to preliminary results released last night by the town clerk's office. Voters' rejection of the $1.5 million tax increase proposal kept the town's perfect streak intact -- residents have never approved an override.

At a press conference last week, town and school officials had warned voters that, if the override failed, nine teaching positions would be eliminated and class sizes would increase. Officials also told residents to expect cuts to the Meals-on-Wheels program, Shrewsbury Youth and Family Services, and the library.

Opponents argued that the town's schools have been able to prosper -- hiring new staff and raising MCAS scores -- despite a failed override last year. Last May, a $5 million override was narrowly rejected in an election that drew 52 percent of the town's registered voters.

Voter turnout was lower this year, at an estimated 42 percent, officials said.

-- Lisa Kocian

In Abington, a petition was turned in to the Town Clerk's office Tuesday triggering a recount of the ballot votes on a $650,000 override to fund trash disposal service next year.

The official count right now stands at 680 votes in favor and 679 opposed. The election took place on April 26.

The Town Clerk thought a handful of absentee ballots mailed to voters who are overseas might settle the vote, but none of the ballots had arrived when the deadline for their arrival passed Tuesday.

Town Clerk Linda Adams has three business days to set a date for the recount. She is expected to do so on Friday, according to personnel in the Town Clerk's office. If the override goes down in defeat, the Board of Health will have to raise the $650,000 (cq) needed for the upcoming year's trash service through fees or a pay as you throw program. The recount petition was submitted by resident Daniel McDonnell.

-- Christine Legere

About 400 voters turned out for Bridgewater's Annual Town Meeting on Monday and approved a $1.36 million override to help fund next year's $41 million operational budget.

But supporters of the proposal know their work has just begun. Overrides generally meet with success at town meetings in Bridgewater, only to be later shot down when it comes to the ballot vote. Officials plan to set a special election to vote the override question for June 14.

Selectmen Chairman Herbert Lemon said his board, as well as the town's Advisory Committee, tried to keep the override amount reasonable.

“We tried to find a balance, when we set the override amount, to get what the town needs, while minimizing the impact,” Lemon said.

The Brdigewater override would add $190 to the yearly tax bill on a median-priced house of $377,000. If the override fails, 28 positions are slated to be cut at the schools, the library will remain at its reduced level of service with no hope of gaining back its state accreditation and state aid, and the fire department will continue without civilian dispatchers. The override would also allow the town to hire a planner to help improve the town's commercial tax base. About $600,000 of the total would go into the town's cash reserve, helping to improve the bond rating.

-- Christine Legere

At the opening night of Marblehead’s Town Meeting on Monday, voters defeated a citizens’ petition that would have authorized spending $1.2 million on a land purchase with money raised through a debt exclusion form of a property tax hike.

Town Meeting resumes tonight, with two override requests for school projects still on the table.

The citizens' petition called for the town to purchase a 2.2-acre wooded parcel off Long View Drive West. The property has been permitted for a seven-home subdivision, according to Jeff Stracka, who organized the petition. Town meeting the last two years narrowly rejected similar proposals to buy the land.

Stracka said that as with the previous votes, this year’s proposal mustered a majority – by about 30 votes – but fell short of the two thirds margin needed.

"I’m disappointed," he said. "For the third year in a row, a majority of town meeting voted in favor of this article. It’s very difficult to get two thirds….particularly when the Finance Committee gets up and speaks against it. That’s a pretty high bar.''

Swampscott also adjourned the first night of Town Meeting without addressing two capital exclusions: $300,000 to buy a fire engine and $150,000 for road repairs.

-- John Laidler

Approximately 900 people turned out for the Hamilton Town Meeting Monday night, filling the cafeteria at the Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School, then the auditorium, and spilling into the adjacent Miles River Middle School.

Following an hour of discussion, residents voted in favor of a $1,288,322 Proposition 2 ˝ override for the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District.

With less discussion, residents also voted in favor of a $177,444 override for the town's operating budget. Both articles passed by voice vote.

The Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District is seeking a $1,889,589 override from the two towns. At its Town Meeting held Saturday, Wenham voters approved their share of the override, for $601,267.

To be approved, the override must pass at May 15 elections in both towns.

-- David Rattigan

Groveland's $172,340 Proposition 2 ˝ override for continuation of a road improvements project was defeated at the ballot box Monday, 485-357.

For several years, the road improvement program had been placed before voters annually as a capital exclusion. But this year, the Board of Selectmen put it on the ballot as a permanent override.

Town Meeting voted in favor of the override last week, sending it to a townwide election.

Finance Director Greg Labrecque thought the vote reflected the "no override" mood of voters.

"People aren't going to vote for an override for anything," Labrecque said. "The economy's not going to allow it. People are having a tough time, and they expect us to live within our budget, just like everybody else.

"You have a finite amount of money and you make your choices."

-- David Rattigan

Voters in three municipalities go to the polls Tuesday to consider property tax increases to pay for a variety of services.

Brookline is by far the highest profile of the three, as voters consider two property tax overrides: one for $5.4-million or a second for $6.2-million. Polls are open from 7 am to 8 pm. Read more about the Brookline override here.

Shrewsbury considers a $1.5-million override, resulting in a $119 yearly increase on the average home. Here is the town ballot.

Voters in Rockport consider a $2.7-million debt exclusion, which would hike taxes $108 a year.
It is a five-year debt exclusion for most items (educational technology, five school buses, town computer systems, fire truck, and firefighter breathing apparatus); and 20 years for school roof repairs, which will cost $1.5 million.

Meantime, in Newton, mayor David Cohen is asking voters to distinguish between their feeligns about him and their views of the May 20 property tax increase.

‘‘The referendum on me is scheduled for November 2009, not May 20, 2008,’’ Cohen said Monday night, speaking of the proposed override of Proposition 2 1/2. ‘‘This vote is much larger than the mayor. This vote is about the citizens of Newton, and whether we have the resolve to do what we must to keep our city as vibrant as it is today.’’

A $91,000 override for the Fire Department and five debt exclusions passed by majority vote at Georgetown's Town Meeting Monday.
The five debt exclusions include $45,000 for two school vans; $43,000 for two copiers for schools; $60,000 for security upgrades at the middle-high school; $50,000 for repairs to the roof at the old highway garage; and $125,000 to repair or replace the roof at the Public Safety Building.
Two of the proposals, for the school vans and the Public Safety Building roof, generated some debate before passing.
The $414,000 in total expenditures, which would add about $125 to annual property taxes for single-family homes starting when first-quarter 2009 bills are mailed in the fall, must now go before a town election May 15.
Last spring, Georgetown voters narrowly defeated a proposed $1.1 million override at the election after it passed Town Meeting. With nearly 50 percent of registered voters turning out, the tax increase lost, 1,284 to 1,267. A recount failed to reverse the results.
-- David Cogger

Wenham Town Meeting members voted to go all in on a school override, and also passed a capital exclusion when they gathered Saturday.
Earlier in the week, the town's Finance and Advisory Committee recommended lowing the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District override to $413,660, from the district's $601,267 request. But Town Meeting OK'd the original amount, along with a $153,000 one-year capital exclusion to buy equipment for various town departments.
Jack Wilhelm, chairman of the finance committee, argued that if both overrides pass, Wenham residents would be absorbing a cumulative two-year property tax increase of about 20 percent.
The two spending plans must now pass at a special election scheduled for May 15. A townwide "yes" is expected to cost an additional $582 in fiscal 2009 property taxes for a median single-family home valued at $544,200.
"It was a respectful meeting," said veteran Selectman Peter Hersee, who retired following the Town Meeting. He is supportive of the school override, noting, "I've sat through so many subcommittee meetings, and seen what they've gone through. Then need that money desperately. It's the unfunded mandates [such as the No Child Left Behind Act and special education requirements] that really do it."
The school district's override also must be supported in Hamilton at its Town Meeting Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School and at that town's annual election on May 15.
Hamilton voters are being asked to pay $1,288,322 as the town's share of the override.
-David Rattigan

There will be cuts in Brookline; the argument is over how to make them.

Heading into Tuesday's vote on whether to raise property taxes, proponents are saying that approval would give the town enough breathing room to cut costs without precipitous layoffs. Opponents are saying that by adding spending now, the town would increase the danger of bigger bloodshed later, especially with a slowing economy.

The lively interest around town reflects the fact that this will be the first time since 1994 that Brookline residents will vote on a general override of Proposition 2 1/2, a state law that limits a community's annual increase in property taxes to 2 1/2 percent, plus revenue from new growth. (Voters approved a limited override in 1995 to pay for the high school's renovation.)

For years, Brookline managed to avoid property-tax increases beyond the 2.5 percent limit by tightly controling spending, and implementing such steps as a "no new hire" policy, outsourcing or combining services, and trimming staff. The town's finances also benefited from growth and hotel room taxes from a new hotel in Coolidge Corner.

But savings from these types of maneuvers are drying up, and officials are coming to grips with trends taking place in communities across the state.

Costs - particularly benefits - are growing faster than revenues, said Michael Widmer, executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, while state aid hasn't kept up with inflation.

"Most cities and towns have squeezed where they can, and then some," he said. "I think we will see more and more communities hit the wall in the years ahead."

That means, he said, that "even wealthier communities will turn down overrides" as residents can't afford to pay any additional taxes.

Millis voters will go to the polls tomorrow to decide two two override questions.

In the first proposal, town officials are seeking a one-time $400,000 capital override for the purchase of a new fire truck. The measure would add $138 to the average single-family property tax bill next year.

In the second measure, officials are seeking an operating override of $180,000 to pay for three additional firefighter-EMTs. The proposal would add about $63 per year to the average tax bill for a single-family property.

In a capital or debt exclusion override, voters approve a one-time expenditure that increases the town's tax levy only until the debt is fully paid. An operating override permanently adds to residents' annual tax bills.

Elsewhere on the ballot, Planning Board chairwoman Catherine C. MacInnes faces challenger Joseph Fawkes in the only contested race in tomorrow’s town election. MacInnes is running for her fourth five-year term. Polls at the Veterans Memorial Building will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., officials said.

-- Calvin Hennick

The slim margin of approval for the $650,000 override in Abington has gotten even slimmer.

Once Town Clerk Linda Adams checked some provisional votes, cast by residents whose names had been left off the voting lists used at the polls during the April 26 election, the official vote count shifted.

With four provisional votes found to be legitimately cast by registered voters, Adams said the official count for the override became 680 in favor and 679 opposed. Unofficial counts released last Saturday showed a three-point margin of victory for the override.

Officials will know whether that final result will be challenged by Monday at 5 p.m.: the deadline for submitting petitions to demand a recount of ballots. The petition must bear a total of 40 signatures of registered voters: 10 from each of the town's four precincts.

Adams said three residents picked up petitions for a recount earlier this week. "I've only heard back from one of them," Adams said today. "He wanted to keep the petitions over the weekend."

Proponents of a $1,889,589 Proposition 2 ˝ override for the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District were dismayed Wednesday night when the Wenham Finance and Advisory Committee voted to ask that the district's budget figure be amended at Saturday's Town Meeting.
Wenham's portion of the proposed school override is $601,267, but the Finance and Advisory Committee voted to request a reduction to $413,660.
Richard Boroff, regional school committee chairman, said the school district leadership is checking with its lawyer to determine its options.
"It's certainly a shock," Boroff said, noting that any change made in Wenham also affects Hamilton, which is responsible for approximately two-thirds of the school district budget. Hamilton's Town Meeting is scheduled for Monday, and voters there are being asked to fund $1,288,322 of the override.
"The school committee has the fiduciary responsibility to set its budget," Boroff said. "It's not the responsibility of the Wenham Finance Committee to unilaterally change our budget."
Finance and Advisory chairman Jack Wilhelm said the committee was not setting the budget, "just recommending that voters approve a different amount of money than the amount [the district] presents to the town -- a lower amount of money."
Wilhelm said the committee had received an opinion from Town Counsel Paul Weaver that it was within its rights.
"We want to support the schools," Wilhelm said, noting that Wenham had a tax increase of 11 percent this year, and with the school override plus the town's $153,000 one-year capital override for equipment purchases proposed this spring, the increase in fiscal year 2009 might be an additional 8.3 percent.
"The cumulative increase would be 20 percent," Wilhelm said. "We just think that's too much."
Based on the district's figures, he said, his committee determined that the schools could provide level services with an override of $1,255,000.
Wenham's Town Meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, at the Buker School. Hamilton's Town Meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School.
-David Rattigan

In 1980, voters, via ballot initiative, approved Proposition 2 1/2, which limits the amount cities and towns can raise property taxes to 2.5 percent annually over the previous year, plus the value of new growth. But the tax rate still can be raised further, if residents vote yes to an override.

There are three kinds: Capital exclusions - usually to purchase equipment or make a repair - raise property taxes for one year; debt exclusions for larger expenditures, typically five to 10 years, but can be as long as 20 years for larger projects; and overrides that permanently raise taxes.

With health insurance, special education, and other costs increasing at a rate unmatched by state aid, communities across the state are scheduling tax increase votes. Here is an overview from towns and cities west of Boston. Brookline has a vote on May 6 and Newton has a vote on May 20.

Below are snapshots of 11 communities in the northern suburbs that have scheduled tax-increase votes. Will voters already feeling the squeeze in their cost of living say yes? The elections scheduled this month and next will tell.

By Rachana Rathi and Erica Noonan
GLOBE STAFF

NEWTON -- They wave signs at street corners and outside elementary schools, pass out flyers in front of grocery stores, and knock on door after door to tell their neighbors how to vote. A few have even have been known to tear down posters and signs.

Newton’s streets are flooded with residents looking to swing a May 20 ballot question calling for an override of Proposition 2 1/2's limits on property-tax increases.

Two citizens citizen groups — Move Newton Forward and Newton for Fiscal Responsibility — are engaged in all-out campaigns leading up to one of the season’s most-watched suburban override votes in area communities.

The $12 million question, that, if approved, will would cost the median Newton household around $378 a year in additional property taxes, on top of the 2.5 percent increase allowed by the state law without a special vote. The first group is advocating for the tax increase; hike; the other is opposed.

On the same day as the Newton vote, the towns of Ashland and Holliston will also be placing their own proposed overrides — to raise $446,000 and $992,000, respectively — before voters.

In the last few weeks, several area towns have answered the question of whether officials were able to persuade voters to approve tax increases. In Sudbury, the answer was no.

Natick and neighboring Wayland each passed Proposition Prop. 2 ˝ override questions — Natick, for $3.9 million, and Wayland, for $1.9 million. Activists in both towns said they had to worked longer and harder for votes this year than ever before.

Medfield Town Meeting voters have shot down a $450,000 debt-exclusion override proposal that would have funded design plans and other costs associated with a new parks and recreation facility.

The override would have added about $30 per year to the average single-family home property tax bill, town officials said.

Also at Monday's Town Meeting, voters approved spending $1.1 million in design plans and other costs for a public works facility and $100,000 for a preliminary study for a new police and fire station. Officials said the town has enough cash on hand to pay for both of those projects without an override.

-- Calvin Hennick