Overrides facing higher hurdles in tough economy
Eight towns hold votes for funding
Voters are starting to deliver their verdicts on proposed tax increases in the region - with mixed results - in what is shaping up as a quiet year for the perennial local issue.
In the last week, residents in Groveland, Hamilton, Merrimac, and Wenham have taken first steps or final action on tax-raising requests.
Because of the harsh financial winds buffeting cities and towns, debate over local taxes seems relatively subdued this year, with many communities reluctant to ask cash-strapped taxpayers for more money.
"I think what you find is the climate is not there for an override. People are really hurting in their personal lives," said Robert Mercier, Burlington town administrator, whose town is not taking up any tax-raising proposals this year.
Ipswich officials decided against seeking an override this year "based on the recognition that this is a tough time for everyone," said Robert T. Merkel, town manager. "We said the right course for us is to live within our available funds."
Merkel said among area municipal managers, there is also a sense that "voters are not going to be amenable to an override" this year.
But residents in at least eight other area communities have been asked to consider overrides, debt exclusions, or capital exclusions. An override allows a municipality to permanently exceed its property tax cap of 2.5 percent plus new revenue from growth. A debt exclusion allows it to temporarily exceed the cap to repay debt for a project. A capital exclusion allows higher taxes for one year to fund a specific need.
Merrimac residents Monday voted, 404-392, to approve a $315,000 override, providing $215,000 to help fund the town's fiscal 2010 assessment to the Pentucket Regional School District, and $100,000 to cover part of the town's assessment to the Whittier Regional Vocational Technical School District. Merrimac's April 27 Town Meeting had authorized that the spending plan be passed along to a townwide vote.
In Groveland, residents by a 473-284 vote rejected a proposed $100,000 override to help fund the town's Pentucket assessment. An April 27 Town Meeting had approved the spending, subject to a successful townwide vote.
Despite the override's defeat, Groveland faces the possibility of having to cover the $100,000 in its budget. School district rules require that if two of Pentucket's three member towns agree to their assessment, the budget is approved and all three towns have to pay their full shares. West Newbury's Town Meeting last night was set to consider its school assessment, which is not tied to an override.
Also on Monday, Hamilton's Town Meeting defeated a $1.2 million capital spending proposal by the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District that was conditioned on passage of debt exclusions in both Hamilton and Wenham at the towns' annual elections next Thursday.
The proposal received 301 votes of 480 cast at the Hamilton meeting, 19 votes short of the two-thirds margin needed. Wenham's Town Meeting last Saturday approved its $1.2 million proposal by a 167-56 vote. The debt-exclusion votes will go forward at the upcoming elections, but the outcome is moot because of the Hamilton Town Meeting vote.
Laurie Wilson, chairwoman of the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School Committee, said her committee is disappointed with the outcome.
"We have to regroup. There are projects that need to be taken care of. If they have to be done out of the operating budget, we will have to reduce other areas of the budget," she said.
Wenham Town Meeting members also approved a $64,500 capital exclusion to pay for computers, catch-basin work, a plow, and a truck; that will go to a townwide vote next Thursday.
Winthrop voters will take up 10 proposed overrides totaling $2.6 million at a May 19 special election. They would fund a variety of operating costs in fiscal 2010. Three questions would provide the money needed to keep open the library and senior center and continue trash collection.
Middleton's annual Town Meeting Tuesday will consider authorizing the town to borrow $31.5 million to build a new elementary school, subject to passage of a debt exclusion at the May 18 town election. Authorization would be contingent on the state providing reimbursement for its share of the cost.
The state's School Building Authority has agreed to provide $15.5 million, or 51.5 percent, of the eligible costs of the project.
At its annual Town Meeting Tuesday, Boxford will consider two measures contingent on passage of debt exclusions at the May 19 town election.
One would provide $470,000 to design a new library on the site of the current library on Elm Street. The project also involves renovations to the original library building, whose future use has yet to be determined, and the razing of an existing addition, according to Kathleen Benevento, the town's finance director.
The other proposal is for $250,000 to design a new senior center at the west branch library, which was closed to the public for budget reasons on April 1.
Topsfield's Town Meeting was set to act on $130,059 in proposed spending Tuesday, conditioned on passage of an override at the annual election scheduled for tonight. The funds would be used to help pay general government and school operating costs in fiscal 2010. 