Duxbury voters reject one override, pass two others

By Robert Knox
Globe Correspondent

Duxbury voters on Saturday defeated a $1 million tax override to fund design studies for the renovation or reconstruction of the town's police station and fire stations.

The study was intended to determine whether the aging public safety facilities could be renovated in their current locations or must be rebuilt. It would also have examined where new facilities could be sited and whether they could be combined in a single facility.

But voters, worried about increased town spending, rejected the design study measure by a vote of 1,419 to 885 in Saturday's town election.

Two other tax increase measures on Saturday's ballot passed, including a $616,774 override for new equipment for town schools and other departments, such as textbooks, technology upgrades, and new vehicles. The measure was a capital exclusion tax override, meaning that the increased spending will be added to the tax levy for one year only. The projected tax increase from the new equipment is expected to add $108 to the average homeowner tax bill of $641,300, according to finance director John Madden.

It passed handily by a vote of 1,345 to 982.

Voters also approved a $163,000 tax hike for the design plans for the renovation of the town owned swimming pool by a vote of 1,411 to 901.

Both the pool and the police and fire station design study questions were debt exclusion overrides, allowing the town to borrow money above the limits of Proposition 2 ½ and putting the cost of the borrowing on tax bills for the life of the loans.