Wenham Town Meeting OK's overrides

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