Short of cash, towns turn to overrides

WRENTHAM -- Spring brought blooms of yard signs to the broad lawns of Wrentham, where a vote Monday on raising property taxes is dividing the town. On one block were signs of revolt -- ''No $1,100,000 tax override" -- while signs in nearby yards scattered with small bikes and toys urged their neighbors to vote yes.

''People that got kids in the school want the override and those that don't, don't," said Richard Campbell, 56, who lives along a row of modest homes tucked into the woods off Wrentham's Creek Street. ''We get all these people making all this kind of money and they want everything they want, and they want everybody to pay for it."

With another season of tax overrides in cities and towns, anxieties over property taxes are front and center in this year's race for governor, as candidates tap into voters' worries about rising taxes and high expectations for schools, police and fire service, and public works projects.

Already, candidates for governor are debating the merits of cutting the state income tax rate or using replenished state revenues to return more aid to local government, so they can offer homeowners some property tax relief. The towns say that they are starved for cash because of aid cutbacks by Beacon Hill and that their only outlet is an override vote under Proposition 2 1/2. The law limits the annual increase in taxes and requires voters' approval for extra tax hikes.

An improving state budget picture may mean money for cities and towns in the future, but for now some cities and towns -- Wrentham, Millis, and Needham among them -- are asking voters to pass overrides this spring. Driven by reduced state aid and skyrocketing healthcare costs for municipal employees, the number of tax cap override efforts nearly tripled between 2000 and last year. There were 164 override attempts last year, almost half the state's cities and towns, but only 87 succeeded. The total this year has not yet been compiled by the state.

Many of the overrides have been proposed not for glitzy new construction projects, but simply to pay the bills. In Millis, where voters last year defeated a small, $142,000 override to restore jobs in the Police Department and in public works, officials are trying again, pitching a $1.1 million override to help fund the schools, public safety, the library, and health and human services.

''The need for overrides is greater than ever in order just to protect the existing level of services," said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Beacon Hill is taking notice. Governor Mitt Romney's proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins in July calls for an additional $197.9 million for communities by lifting the cap on the state lottery, a proposal echoed last week by House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi.

Aid to cities and towns from the state budget has gradually increased since the state budget crisis of 2003. Despite the increase, the governor's proposed budget for next year would add just $16,000 to the Wrentham town budget, because other state aid is being cut, said town administrator Steven C. Boudreau. ''I don't think the town of Wrentham is going to shut down, but we're not going to be able to do the same things as this year, next year," Boudreau said.

In Wrentham, a town of about 11,000 people that is home to the sprawling Wrentham Village Premium Outlets, the debate in the shops and front yards is about the value of town services and the cost to home finances. On Monday's ballot, Wrentham officials will ask voters to boost real estate and personal property taxes by an additional $1.1 million to pay for routine municipal services.

The tax override would add about $264 to the average single family tax bill of $4,579, based on data from the state Department of Revenue's Division of Local Services. On the same ballot, voters will decide whether to add another 2 percent on their property bills to protect land under the Community Preservation Act.

Voters have very personal opinions about whether the tradeoff is worth it to them.

''I'm not as worried about my tax bill as I am about the class sizes going higher than they are," said Kelly Foxx, a mother of three who supports the override.

''I don't think anyone wants to pay more taxes," Jack Unger, 43, who has two children in the schools, said as his son ate ice cream at Tootsie's Ice Cream in the town center. However, he added, ''If there's no other options and that's been looked at, you don't have much choice."

But other town residents think they are being dealt a false choice and blame local officials for poor financial planning.

Chip Faulkner -- associate director of the statewide antitax group, Citizens for Limited Taxation, and a Wrentham resident -- said he believes the argument voiced by Romney's former budget chief, Eric Kriss, that municipalities have still not learned to live within their means.

''Because they can't control the runaway spending, they're asking us for a tax hike," Faulkner said. ''That's ridiculous. Keep your budget under control."

Angry Wrentham taxpayers point to a flurry of construction projects that the town launched in recent years: a major renovation of Town Hall, two new schools and a high school addition, and a new public safety building that one selectman described as lavish.

''We have got the best of everything, and we can't afford the best of everything," said John Zizza, one of two selectmen who voted against putting the tax override before voters and who urges greater fiscal restraint. ''I have a saying I've been using for years here: The best services in the world are meaningless if you can't afford to live here anymore. But there are people who don't care."

Mary Ann Nardone sees things differently. A mother of twin second-grade boys, who lives in a stately home in newer development, she likens the need for new town buildings to shopping for her family. ''When you have children, they all need shoes at the same time," she said. ''We can't wait for another year."

Nardone was so motivated by her love for Wrentham teachers that she and a friend paid for 50 lawn signs urging their neighbors to vote yes on the tax hike. With fliers warning that ''your child will be affected by the override," she and other parents say that a defeat would spell doom in the classroom: Bigger class sizes, teacher layoffs, and the loss of programs like Spanish education and computer technology.

''I keep telling them, I agree with you; I don't want more taxes," Nardone said. ''However, if you want police, if you want fire, if you want Wrentham on the map, you have to pay."

Matt Viser of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at ebbert@globe.com.