Ballot test for 'Lyon's plan'

ARLINGTON -- For the second time since 2003, Arlington voters will determine the fate of a proposed tax increase. This time the proposal is part of a five-year plan to unravel the town's fiscal problems.

In a June 11 special election, voters will decide whether they want to increase their property taxes in order to bolster the town's annual tax revenue by $6 million.

The tax increase, which would be used to fund the operating budgets of the town and schools, has been proposed as part of a five-year financial plan known around town as ''the Lyons plan."

Charles Lyons is a 24-year selectman who proposed the plan this winter as an attempt to close a projected $50 million budget shortfall in Arlington in the next five to seven years.

In recent weeks, the School and the Finance committees have declared their support for the plan and the tax increase. But the leader of a taxpayers group that spearheaded the defeat of a $4 million tax increase in June 2003 said he expects there will be opposition to the current proposal.

The tax increase has been proposed as an override of Proposition 2½, the state law that restricts increases in local property tax levies to 2.5 percent a year, plus any additional revenue brought in by new development. If approved, the proposal would increase the annual tax bill on a $415,000 house, the average in Arlington, by $415 to $4,615.

Selectmen voted Monday to put the override proposal before the voters.

After Monday night's vote, Lyons said he would work to ensure that the plan is a success. He said the Arlington budget for fiscal year 2006 has a projected deficit of $9.5 million, due to increases in costs and decreases in state aid. He said, if the tax increase passes, the additional $3.5 million in deficit would be made up by budget cuts.

''We've got a $9.5 million problem, but we're only asking for a $6 million override," Lyons said.

The fiscal plan proposed by Lyons in January calls for increasing taxes, while also limiting town and school budgets to 4 percent increases each year, for four years beginning with fiscal year 2007. Because the school and the town have already been working on their fiscal year 2006 budgets, those budgets are not included in the plan, Lyons said.

The plan calls on town and school managers to limit health benefit costs to 7 percent increases each year. It asks town officials to maintain at least 5 percent of the town's revenues in its reserve fund and allows tax exemptions for senior citizens who are living on fixed incomes.

The plan promises that if the June override vote is successful, local officials will not ask voters for an additional tax increase for the length of the plan and will petition the state for more aid.

Lyons, who is up for reelection in April, helped defeat the proposed $4 million tax increase in June 2003. Now, 21 months later, he is saying that an override is necessary to save the town from fiscal chaos. He has said the town's fiscal situation has changed since 2003.

As with many Massachusetts communities, Arlington is having difficulty making ends meet. State aid is still below levels of several years ago while at the same time, communities are asked to pay ever-increasing health insurance costs for employees and retirees and make up for investment losses in their pension systems.

In Arlington, local aid has dropped about 19 percent since 2002.

A few months ago, Town Manager Brian Sullivan predicted a potential cumulative budget shortfall of $50 million in Arlington over the next five to seven years.

Though town officials were pleased with the plan and Monday's vote, Shaun Cooney, whose citizens group, Take Arlington Back, helped defeat the proposed tax increase in 2003, said Tuesday that there's already talk of opposition to the override.