Natick voters OK override, keep 'Redmen'
Tuesday's election in Natick produced a curious mix of future-looking and nostalgic political sentiments. Voters approved a $3.9 million tax increase to keep police, school, and library services intact, while also insisting that the School Committee consider keeping the town's anachronistic sports nickname.
The balloting also returned a former selectman to the board in come-from-behind candidate John Connolly, whose unapologetically rough-around-the-edges approach to politics was in stark contrast to his rival, incumbent three-term board member Charlie Hughes, who lost his seat by fewer than 300 votes.
The Proposition 2 1/2 override question - Natick's first since 2001 - helped draw a high turnout of close to 46 percent of the town's 21,270 registered voters, said Town Clerk Judi Kuhn. Roughly 57 percent of the voters approved the tax increase, with the tally 5,356 for and 4,219 against, according to unofficial results.
The override is expected to cost the average homeowner an extra $290 in property taxes, officials said. Proposition 2 1/2 limits annual increases to 2.5 percent of a community's total tax levy without the approval of voters.
The extra tax money will cover municipal budget shortfalls for the 2009 and 2010 fiscal years, and forestall cuts in public safety services, library hours, and teaching jobs, Natick officials said.
"We are really, really honored that in particularly tough economic times, people recognized the need for the override. We are profoundly grateful to everyone who volunteered and voted," said Mari Barerra, an organizer of the Vote Yes! campaign.
The effort to preserve the Redmen nickname for the high school's sports teams exposed a cultural fault line. Natick is increasingly attracting art galleries and affluent families while retaining much of its traditional blue-collar identity.
It was by a nearly 2-to-1 ratio, 6,085 voting yes and 3,291 voting no, that townspeople supported the nonbinding ballot question asking the School Committee to reconsider last year's decision to scrap the Redmen moniker, a name many feel is insensitive and demeaning to Native Americans.
A task force of students, school officials, and local Native American tribal representatives have proposed other names, including the Hawks and the Red and Blue.
Boosters for retaining the name say Redmen is not meant as a smear against any racial group, but as a celebration of Natick's storied sports heritage and a tribute to its red-jerseyed athletes.
"Redmen represents tradition in Natick," said Jimmy Brown, who helped collect 1,800 signatures to get the question on Tuesday's ballot.
Erica Noonan can be reached at enoonan@globe.com.
