Boxford Town Meeting sends three overrides to Tuesday's town election

Boxford’s annual Town Meeting last night approved three spending requests contingent on passage of overrides at the town election Tuesday.

The overrides are $68,228 to help fund the town's assessment to the Masconomet Regional School district; $57,966 to help fund its assessment to the North Shore Regional Vocational School District; and $275,732 to fund part of the elementary school budget.

The Masconomet override vote will determine if the regional school district’s budget is approved. At least two of the district’s three towns must approve their assessments for the budget to be authorized.

Middleton, which did not opt to place a Masconomet override on the ballot, approved its assessment when it passed its overall budget at town meeting last night.

Topsfield’s annual Town Meeting on May 1 appropriated an overall budget that included that town’s full Masconomet assessment. But it made $78,277 of that spending contingent on passage of an override, and the tax hike was defeated at the town election May 3.

Should the override in Boxford prevail Tuesday, the district budget would be approved, and Topsfield would have to pay its full assessment, including the $78,277. If the Boxford override fails, the budget will have been rejected, and as a result will be sent back to the Masconomet Regional School Committee to be recertified.

-- John Laidler