Westwood approves override

Westwood voters Tuesday enthusiastically endorsed a $2.78 million tax increase for local schools at the polls.

“The margin of victory shows this community values a high performing school district,” said School Superintendent John Antonucci, when results were released.

The annual town election drew 56 percent of the town’s registered voters, who cast 3,002 votes in favor of the override and 2,207 opposed.

“Two years ago we suffered a significant defeat of a $2.4 million override,” Antonucci said. “One of the things we are proud about is we turned a 2:1 loss into a 60:40 win in two years. This override brings us back to the level we’d like to be at.”

The extra money will allow for the addition of 30 fulltime positions, the restoration of programs that fell to budget cuts during the last five years and much-needed infusions into supply and maintenance accounts.

Antonucci said school supporters spent the last 15 months doing vigorous community outreach. Dozens of budget presentations were given over the last several weeks. “Our goal was to leave no question unanswered,” Antonucci said. By the time the proposed tax increase went to the polls, both the Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee were supporting it.

Town Administrator Michael Gillette said the vote showed the direction the community wanted to take. “The voters came and they spoke,” Gillette said. “It was a demonstration of the value placed on education in the community. And having an over 50 percent turnout is huge for a local election. It’s usually more like 25 percent.”

The impact of the override will be an increase of $393 to the tax bill of a median-priced home of $566,000.

Annual Town Meeting voters on May 7 will be asked to take the final step in the process, by allocating the override money into the $30 million school budget for the upcoming year.

-- Chris Wallgren