Doreen Deletetsky wandered into the Fuller Meadow Elementary School after the polling place had closed on Monday, cellphone to her ear. On the other end of the phone was her friend Martha Ager, who like Deletetsky is a mother of three.
Deletetsky was seeking results.
"I wanted to have a wonderful night's sleep, knowing that my children will be getting a great education," she said.
Deletetsky, Ager, and other parents were thrilled by the results of the election, as Middleton supported a $16 million Proposition 2 1/2 debt-exclusion override to build a new elementary school. Combined with matching funds from the state, the cost will be $31.5 million.
"This is the 21st century, and we need a 21st-century school," Deletetsky said.
With nearly half the voters in town turning out, the override passed by 132 votes.
The vote ran 1,311 in favor and 1,179 opposed, with eight blanks. The 2,498 total votes represented 48 percent of Middleton's 5,171 registered voters.
The vote was the second favorable vote for a Proposition 2 1/2 exclusion in the North region in recent days. Wenham voted in favor of a capital exclusion at a special election last week.
Sarah George, Middleton town clerk for 20 years, said the turnout was the largest she could recall for a town election, in terms of both numbers and percentage of voters.
It was the third version of an elementary school building project placed before voters since 2002.
"As chair of the [elementary] School Committee, I'm very happy the town came out and supported this, because we do have a need," said Teresa Buono, who was also a member of the Middleton School Building Committee. "This process has been going on for nine years. Both of our elementary schools are 60 percent over capacity, so it will be nice to be able to provide students with the educational space they need."
For the 2008-09 school year there are 813 students in grades K-6 in two Middleton elementary schools, with an additional 67 preschoolers in a limited enrollment program.
Buono said that the $31.5 million will cover all project costs, including furniture for the completed school. The state has promised to cover $15.5 million of the project, with the town responsible for the remaining $16 million.
Borrowing at a 4.5 percent interest rate over 20 years (the model used for estimates), town officials say that the typical Middleton homeowner - with a home valued at $450,000 - will pay an average of an additional $128 in taxes annually, beginning in 2011.
The new building will replace the Howe-Manning Elementary School, and be built on the same site. After the new building goes up, the old one will be torn down. Plans call for construction to begin in 2010, with the building to be occupied in time for the 2011-2012 academic year.
Although the proposal carried overwhelmingly at Town Meeting the week before, there was a very public division in town, with signs lining roads that carried both "yes" and "no" sentiments.
William Mugford, a former three-term selectman who opposed the project, said he had received several calls the day after the election from former constituents who were upset and angry over the result.
In his opinion, the town would have been better served by rehabbing the existing building or purchasing the building that currently houses North Shore Regional Vocational School.
"The bottom line is the ability to pay," he said. "We cannot afford any more taxes."
Meanwhile, at a special election on Thursday, May 14, residents in Wenham supported a Proposition 2 1/2 one-year capital exclusion for the purchase of computers, catch basin work, a plow, and a DPW truck for a total of $64,500. The vote ran 159-125 in favor.
John Clemenzi, Board of Selectmen chairman, said that there were few other options.
"I don't think so," said Clemenzi, noting that the town's fiscal year 2010 budget is lower than the budget for fiscal year 2009. "It's so small, and you've got to get a new plow. The old one was 40 years old or something like that."
Sarah Johnson, finance director, said that the median home value in Wenham is $551,900 and the one-year capital exclusion will cost the average taxpayer about $42.
There was also a question on the ballot for a $1,241,000 10-year debt exclusion for capital improvements in the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District.
It had received the required two-thirds majority vote at the Wenham Town Meeting, but did not receive adequate support at the May 4 Hamilton Town Meeting in order to move forward. With that issue off the table, the turnout for the town's special election was just 286 of Wenham's approximately 2,700 registered voters.
