Lakeville voters consider tax increase Saturday
By John Laidler
Globe Correspondent
Lakeville residents will decide on Saturday whether to raise taxes in order to ease a town fiscal crunch that recently resulted in steep cuts, including layoffs of police officers and teachers.
At a special election, voters will consider two alternative Proposition 2 1/2 tax-limit overrides one for $1 million and the other for $1.7 million to help fund town services in fiscal 2010. If both questions pass, the higher amount would prevail.
Passage of the $1 million override would undo many of the recent cuts, while adoption of the $1.7 million override would restore nearly all of them, according to town administrator Rita Garbitt.
Advocates on both sides are sounding their messages to voters.
We feel the override is essential for the overall wellbeing and safety of our town, said Marlo White, spokeswoman for a group called Concerned Citizens of Lakeville, which supports the measures.
The group believes the $1.7 million question would be the most beneficial for the town, but is urging residents to vote yes on both questions to ensure at least one of them passes, White said.
Carl Peirce, chairman of Lakeville Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, (cq) said his ballot group urges residents to vote no on both questions.
We believe the town should reflect its citizens, he said. And many of those residents, he said, notably those unemployed or on fixed incomes, cant afford an override of either amount.
Elsewhere in the region this year, overrides permanent increases in a communitys property tax cap were adopted in Hingham, Milton, and Rockland, and defeated in Hull. Walpole, meanwhile, narrowly approved a debt exclusion, or temporary tax increase, for a new library. Abington voters will take up a $1.7 million override on July 25.
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Lakeville is in the middle of nowhere. It is rich with water, mosquitoes, and development. It is a place where once a local family sold a ton of land to the Town for next to nothing. It is where a grandson of that family and his wife, both vocational school teachers at the high school which was built on that land, were laid off after a failed Proposition 2 1/2 override nearly twenty years ago. Yup. Thank you very much.
Lakeville is rich with water but reaps next to no profit from that treasure. When the lease was up they just renewed it for cheap. Just like the cost of the land for their schools. Next to nothing.
Lakeville has hundreds of homes which cost too much for the people who work in town. The people who can't afford to live in Lakeville are the grandsons and grand-daughters of the folks who built the town. They are the people who work in the town, the same people who no longer learn to cook, sew, manage business or home economics, fix cars, engines, or machinery, because there is no longer a vocational high school in town. Again, thanks to previous failed over-rides of Proposition 2 1/2, the best route to success in Lakeville is to get out of town.
The richer buisness-type commuters to Providence and Boston make Lakeville their home thanks to the low taxes, yet are the first to sell themselves and the townsfolk short on local services. It is the same old sad story.
Lakeville voted overwhelmingly in favor of Republicans at all levels in the previous several elections, local, state, and national. You can see this on the map provided elsewhere on this website. Where is it? Look to the South West of Plymouth for the blue of its inland waters and the deep red of its politics. You pass through Lakeville on your way to the Cape and Newport.
Lakeville needs to develop a better business sense, beginning with a tax over-ride. It will hurt, but smaller homes, and a sustainable local economy can be built. Despite it's excellent location and resources, temperance and a wise use of its assetts is a reality which Lakeville has thus far failed to face.
Only fools pass Prop. 2 1/2 Overrides. Unions will eat up any money you give them and then come back for more.
keep increasing taxes until the majority of voters say reform.when the majority vote reform then the tax increases will stop.
Being a Lakeville resident, I can honestly say that this is a stress-inducing vote. On the one hand, you want to do right by the citizens and restore the services we've come to enjoy and take for granted; on the other hand, taxes are already pretty high and adding more to cover a single year's budget is a bitter pill to swallow. On the bright side, it's prompted me to have conversations with my town representatives and created a desire to get more involved instead of just letting "someone else" make all the decisions and then complain about them later on if I don't like them. I also found out that an over-ride isn't necessarily permanent; there is a *possibility* of voting for an under-ride in the future. I would never have known this if I hadn't called my town hall and asked questions.
DON'T VOTE FOR A TAX INCREASE . DEAR GOD, CAN'T YOU SEE WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO US HERE IN CALIFORNIA .THIS COULD BE YOU IF YOU DON'T WAKE UP. iT'LL HURT NOW BUT NOT LIKE TOMORROW IF YOU PASS IT. CINCH YOUR BELTS AND TO VOTE TO STOP THIS MADNESS BEFORE WE ALL GO DOWN THE DRAIN. WHAT FOOLS WE MORTALS BE!
Do not override your Prop2.1/2 or you will regret this. Your police and fire departments will suck the lifes blood out of the taxpayers. The town can
lay off a few of them without any change.
Lakeville Voters- don't do it! Di you know thatr a 2 1/2 overide is a permanent tax increase- yes forever and forever you will pay! Don't let the naysayers scare you- you will be just fine without it- Government needs to adjust to a loss of income just like everybody else
Lakeville town employees need to take a paycut ...20%-33% that's everyone. If they don't,lay some of them off. This may help them get the message.
Never do an overide, make the town manager make a few cuts. I know the town has over 18 people earning over 100K so get rid of some....
no more taxes
Well frankly it's about time the overpaid police, teachers and fire fighters felt a bit of the pain we have all been feeling. I can tell you who has second homes on the Cape with a boat sitting out front, and it isn't the average working Joe from Lakeville....it's the union workers living on the taxpayer dime. I'm sick of it and I'm not the only one in Lakeville who feels that way believe me.
A couple of weeks ago the override attempt got its response at the polls -- a very stern "NO" from the voters on BOTH questions. Go to the Lakeville website to see the numbers, since you won't find them in Override Central. They are amazing. My hunch is that if either one (or both) of the questions had passed three or four to one, it would have been front page news. Next, we should wonder how this result happened.
Install 403B savings programs for all new hires to the town. Have you joined the GIC? Until these are done no overides.
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