Voters will face two numbers when they consider a proposed override and resulting tax increase on the ballot this year, but town and school officials are worried most about the third choice - no override at all.
"It would be devastating to what we are trying to do and what we have been able to accomplish," said John Brackett, superintendent of the Sudbury Public Schools. "Not only does it not allow us to move forward, but it takes us away from programs and service levels that we know are successful."
"It will be painful," said Selectman Lawrence O'Brien, "and on the school side, you will definitely see personnel reductions; on the town side, personnel and service reductions."
Resident Paul J. Marotta, however, has another take on the proposed tax increase.
"This may be the straw that breaks the camel's back," said Marotta, who lives on Pelham Island Road. "The town has to better manage [its] finances," he said. "I'm a retired person, 63 years old, and basically the overrides are running me out of town."
Sudbury voters have OK'd three tax increase overrides in the past six years. Last year, they approved $2.5 million in extra property taxes; in 2005, $3 million; and in 2002, $3 million.
The vote to be taken on March 31 offers proposed tax increases totaling $1.8 million or $2.8 million. Voters can vote yes or no on either or both proposed overrides of the state's Proposition 2 1/2 tax-limiting law, which requires approval at the ballot box for any tax increase higher than 2 1/2 percent plus tax revenue from new growth in town. If both overrides are approved, the larger one will take effect.
The average tax bill in Sudbury in fiscal year 2008 is $9,760. A $1.8 million override would raise taxes 7.6 percent and push that number to about $10,500. A $2.8 million override, or a 9.2 percent increase, would result in bills averaging $10,650.
Even with no override, property taxes in Sudbury will rise 4.6 percent, or about $450 per household, to an average of $10,210.
A $2.8 million tax override would provide level staff budgets across the board, avoiding town employee and teacher layoffs and any major town service reductions, O'Brien said. The $1.8 million option would increase operating budgets in town by about 3.5 percent, but lead to some cuts townwide, including teacher layoffs and increasing class sizes.
Proponents of the tax increase say that without it, hours would be cut for town services and offices, four to six town employees would lose their jobs, and even more teachers in both the Sudbury and Lincoln-Sudbury school districts would be cut. In the K-8 schools alone, 26 teachers and support staff would be laid off.
A failed override also would push class sizes up in Sudbury's schools from a preferred range of 20-24 students to 28-32, Brackett said.
But some residents have had it with overrides.
"It's just very discouraging," said Marotta, a resident of Sudbury for 25 years who said he was looking at condos in nearby Hudson. "I don't get those types of increases in my annuity as a retired person. There has to be some place where the bubble's going to break."
Nearly half of the requested tax increases are earmarked for schools. The Sudbury schools had a budget of $27 million this past year. Without an override, officials would cut $1.3 million. Even with a $1.8 million override, Brackett said the schools still would have to cut $500,000 from next year's budget and lay off 10 teachers and support staff.
Sudbury is also responsible for about 85 percent of the $20 million Lincoln-Sudbury Regional School District operating budget. The district would have to cut $1 million from its projected 2009 budget without an override.
The Sudbury Finance Committee last month voted, 9 to 0, in support of the $1.8 million override and voted, 8 to 1, against the $2.8 million option.
According to its members, the committee is looking to slow growth in town to avoid year after year of extremely high override requests.
"We are not looking to cut jobs; we are looking to slow growth," said Finance Committee member Chuck Woodard, who voted in favor of the $1.8 million override and against the $2.8 million override. "There will be layoffs, even with the smaller override. We are looking to cushion the blow between large overrides and the draconian cuts that would be made without an override."
O'Brien said the $2.8 million number was allowed to stay on the table because of an impassioned plea from Sudbury's schools and other departments that have cuts and job losses looming without a large override.
"The $2.8 million is a number that was argued by the schools, especially by Sudbury Public Schools, as to the effect that not having the larger override pass would have on them," O'Brien said. "The larger override really keeps the town and districts at level staffing; $1.8 million doesn't accomplish that."
