Voters reject override

Shrewsbury voters overwhelmingly defeated a $1.5 million tax increase, forcing schools to eliminate more than a dozen positions and institute new fees.

Turnout was 36 percent Monday as the Proposition 2 1/2 override was defeated, 4,797 to 2,451.

That compares to 2004, when the town's only other budget override request was defeated, 4,291 to 2,300. Turnout that year was lower, 33 percent, even with a selectmen's race on the ballot.

''Asking people to voluntarily raise their taxes is like asking them to put their hand in boiling water," Superintendent of Schools Anthony Bent said on Tuesday.

The school system will eliminate 30 current staff positions, including 13 teacher positions, several teacher's aides, and a technology specialist. Bent said several retiring teachers' positions will not be filled, and about five teachers will receive layoff notices.

The School Department will also impose a $190 annual bus transportation fee for students who live within 2 miles of school (capped at $380 per family), increase class sizes in the middle school and high school, cut high school course offerings, and eliminate the freshman sports program at the high school.

School officials had requested the override in response to growing enrollment. Bent said the system had grown to 5,700 students, up more than 2,000 since he became superintendent in 1994, yet taxes in the town have remained among the lowest in the region, he said.

A group called Senior Citizens for Tax Reform opposed the override, accusing the system of wanting to be ''a nanny for the kids." Leaders of the group picketed along Route 9 last week with signs that stated ''Stop the Override" and ''We're for Education and Against Waste."

School Committee member Deborah Peeples accused the group of mailing fliers that were misleading and said the group was trying to inflame passions by highlighting a student health survey that included questions about sex.

Ben Tartaglia, a 64-year-old consultant and resident who helped organize the group, said Tuesday that school officials should stop talking about the vote and ''get back to work. That's what we pay these guys for."

Tartaglia downplayed the victory, saying that he had already moved on. ''You can't dwell on these things; you go on with your life."

If the override had passed, the tax bill for a single-family house, assessed at an average of $320,000, would have increased $122 more next year.The average taxpayer is already paying $110 more under the budget approved by Town Meeting last month.

In the last 10 years, voters have approved three debt-exclusion overrides to pay for school construction projects, according to Town Manager Daniel Morgado.

This year's vote was to fund both school and town programs. About 60 percent of the $1.5 million would have gone to the schools and the rest toward municipal services, including two additional police positions, five building maintenance workers, and a portion of next year's funding for snow removal.

None of those services will now be funded. The library will operate on reduced hours, and a plan to hire another parks and recreation employee has been scrapped.

''We're going to have to deal with the situation," Morgado said. ''We're going to do our darndest to make sure no one notices the changes."