Three towns consider tax increases

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.’’