Hamilton-Wenham school district gets override support in both towns
Voters in Hamilton went along with two of four Proposition 2½ proposals at Thursday's town election.
Overrides of $121,582 for the town's operating budget (973-850 vote) and $340,121 for the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District (1,060-782) passed, while capital exclusions to purchase a pickup truck (985-839) and police cruiser (960-867) failed.
A proposal to fund the school district budget also needed to pass at a special election in Wenham. Voters there, who have traditionally supported overrides, voted 468-165 to allow a tax hike of $154,817 to fund the school district.
"We're very pleased that it passed, and with a significant margin," said Hamilton-Wenham Regional School Committee Chairman Donald Gallant, a Wenham resident. He credited a citizens group for helping to rally their fellow residents to support the budget, but noted that even with the override approval, the district would still be laying off the full-time equivalent of 22 people, mostly in the classroom.
By a 425-206 margin, voters in Wenham also supported a capital exclusion for $113,000 for an electrical retrofit for the Buker School as an emergency shelter and the purchase of a highway department truck.
-David Rattigan
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I'd like to thank all the people on the "Enough is Enough committee for all thier hard work. I'd also like to thank everyone who voted "NO" and the school committee and the selectman are on notice, we're not giving up. We (the taxpayers) are mad as hell, and we're not going to sit by and let the special interest groups walk all over us anymore. Sincerly Carol Mazzetta Hamilton