Milton considers override Monday

Milton taxpayers are being asked to support a $3.4 million tax-limit override proposal Monday that would allow the town to provide essentially the same level of service next year that it has in the current fiscal year.

A handful of communities south of Boston have considered increasing taxes this spring, with varying results. Hull voters defeated a $1.6 million override aimed at maintaining local services. In Hingham, voters supported a $1.1 million permanent increase in taxes to open a new elementary school this fall.

In Rockland, a town that has passed only one permanent tax increase in the past 20 years, voters last weekend overwhelmingly approved a whole menu of override questions related to next year's budget, totaling $2.7 million.

Lakeville selectmen will ask voters at a June 15 Town Meeting to consider increasing taxes by $1 million or $1.7 million. The larger number would sustain local government at its current level, but the schools would still be cut by 10 percent. A ballot vote on the overrides has been set for mid-July.

Historically, Milton has supported both temporary tax increases, called debt exclusions, for capital projects and permanent overrides for yearly budgets. The most recent was a positive vote on a $2.4 million override for the fiscal 2007 budget. But the pending proposal will be a gut check, as it is the largest amount ever put before voters.

Town leaders decided to keep the override question as a single amount, even though the ballot then breaks down how much each department would receive. "Our questions generally go as one rather than a menu," said selectmen chairman John Shields. "We are all one town, and everything contributes to our quality of life."

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