CLT UPDATE
Thursday, June 17, 2010
All 10 Marblehead Prop 2½
overrides defeated;
Revolution 2010 is in the air!
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Fearful Marblehead voters rejected all 10 debt
exclusion overrides in Tuesday's special election....
Voter turnout was high - 5,880 or roughly 32 percent....
Tuesday's ballot featured a record-setting 10 debt exclusion
overrides with a total value of $56.9 million....
The Lynn Daily Item
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Marblehead voters reject all overrides
The Marblehead rejection follows
similar news in Belmont on Monday, where residents rejected a $2
million Proposition 2½ override that would have allowed the town to
restore police and fire positions and avoid some significant cuts in
the schools next year....
Marblehead voters in recent years had been
supportive of Proposition 2½ tax increases, approving six debt
exclusions and an operational override between 2005-2009.
The Boston Globe - North Edition
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Marblehead voters reject all 10 ballot measures to hike taxes
"It's a loss for the town," School Committee
Chairwoman Patricia Blackmer [who also chairs the Glover School
Building Committee] said of the outcome. "It's a missed
opportunity." ...
If all 10 overrides passed, it would have cost the average
Marblehead taxpayer roughly $500 more a year. Voters, however,
clearly had no appetite for a tax increase.
"Maybe there was too big a menu, too many items," said Phil
Sweeney, chairman of Marblehead's library trustees....
The Glover project has to be funded with an override, Blackmer
said. "We don't have the money in the operating budget," she
said....
"We'll be back before the town," Blackmer said.
The Salem News
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Voters lack inclination to override Prop. 2½
Vote Totals
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
If it can happen here in Marblehead, it can
happen anywhere.
Longtime CLT member Jack Buba did an incredible
job organizing the opposition to a $500 (average home) tax hike with
signs, bumper stickers, yard signs, and robo-calls to turn out the
vote. This incredible success for Marblehead taxpayers wouldn't have
happened without his remarkable, tireless efforts -- and that of so
many others in his "Not Now, We're In A Recession" committee.
[Barbara's Salem News column:
Seeking a cure for override fever in Marblehead]
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Bumper sticker on my
SUV |
"Marblehead voters in recent years had been
supportive of Proposition 2½ tax increases, approving six debt
exclusions and an operational override between 2005-2009," the
Boston Globe North edition's John Laidler reported, and that's the
truth. Barbara and I hoped for the best but prepared for the usual
-- the Beautiful People and Trustafarians who have controlled town
meeting for years outvoting the stretched and struggling oldtime
Townies, as usual.
For a Boston Globe "Override Central" blog on May
7, 2008, regional editor David Dahl asked Barbara to write a short
column, which was titled "From
Barbara Anderson, a little history." In it she described a scene
from a recent Marblehead town meeting we'd attended:
"This year, forced to recognize that some people
can’t afford to pay more, override proponents are stating their
sympathy before arguing for the override anyhow. Clearly they don’t
care that a tax increase is a pay cut for people on fixed incomes,
or who are unemployed; sometimes they suggest that such people might
want to live somewhere else that is more affordable for them. At a
Marblehead Town Meeting several years ago, a woman responded to a
senior citizen’s concern that 'if you can’t afford this,
perhaps you aren’t managing your portfolio properly.'"
After the recent stock market plunge, perhaps
that woman -- and many of the other Beautiful People and
Trustafarians -- have discovered that neither have they!
When the voting returns came in on Tuesday night,
we were stunned: Ten defeats, every override shot down in flames --
here!
"Disappointed" School Committee and Glover School
Building Committee chairwoman Patricia Blackmer vowed that, despite
the voters' decision, "the effort to get the school built will
continue."
"We will regroup and do what we need to do to
gain support for the project," she said . . . "We'll be back before
the town."
Unfortunately, "Eternal vigilance is the price of
liberty" and of course tax-and-spenders -- like The Terminator --
will be back, until they wear taxpayers down or get lucky with a low
turnout when nobody's looking or away on vacation.
This is why CLT filed a bill in 2007 (S-1702)
to require a year's interval between similar overrides; again in 2009 (S-1232)
to restrict overrides to biennial state elections -- not incessantly
as soon as one is defeated. Neither has become law.
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Chip Ford |
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The Boston Globe - North Edition
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Marblehead voters reject all 10 ballot measures to hike taxes
By John Laidler
In a sweeping rejection of higher taxes, Marblehead voters on
Tuesday defeated 10 ballot measures to exceed the town’s property
tax limits for various capital projects.
Among the defeated tax proposals were measures to fund the $28.8
million cost of building a new elementary school, and the $22.2
million cost of capping the former town landfill and building a new
transfer station on the site.
All of the questions were soundly defeated except for the school
construction measure, which lost by 2,953 to 2,882.
The Marblehead rejection follows
similar news in Belmont on Monday, where residents rejected a $2
million Proposition 2½ override that would have allowed the town to
restore police and fire positions and avoid some significant cuts in
the schools next year.
Marblehead Board of Selectmen chairman James E. Nye said he was not
surprised by the outcome, attributing it to the difficult economy.
"I work at a bank and I know things are tight," said Nye, who is
president of the National Grand Bank, in Marblehead.
If all 10 ballot questions had passed, they would have added $423 to
the tax bill of a median home valued at $512,000 this fiscal year.
The annual town meeting in May authorized funding for the projects
contingent on passage of the ballot questions, eight of which were
debt exclusions, or temporary tax increases to repay debt, and two
of which were capital exclusions, or one-year tax hikes.
Marblehead voters in recent years had been supportive of Proposition
2½ tax increases, approving six debt exclusions and an operational
override between 2005-2009.
The proposed new elementary school would be built on the site of the
Glover School and serve as a consolidation of the Glover and Eveleth
schools. The proposal assumes state reimbursement, tentatively set
at 40 percent of the cost.
School Committee chairwoman Patricia Blackmer said the committee is
disappointed, but that the effort to get the school built will
continue.
"It’s still a 90-year-old building that has significant deficiencies
and is not handicap accessible," she said of the original section of
the Glover. "We will regroup and do what we need to do to gain
support for the project."
A residents’ group calling itself, "Not Now, We’re in a Recession,"
campaigned actively to defeat all 10 ballot questions.
"The people of Marblehead sounded a resounding "Not now, we’re in a
recession" to our town leaders today. Many residents, including
those on fixed incomes, those who have lost their jobs or are
worried about losing their jobs, will rest a little easier tonight,"
Jack Buba, a spokesman for the group, said in a statement released
after the outcome was announced Tuesday night.
The Lynn Daily Item
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Marblehead voters reject all overrides
By Jack Butterworth
MARBLEHEAD - Fearful Marblehead voters rejected all 10 debt
exclusion overrides in Tuesday's special election.
The one that came closest to passing was the new $28.8 million
Glover-Eveleth School, which garnered 2,953 "No" votes and 2,882
"Yes" votes - a 71-vote loss.
All the other questions, including the state-required $22.2 million
landfill cap and transfer station construction project, failed by
margins of about 2-1.
Voter turnout was high - 5,880 or roughly 32 percent.
Tuesday's ballot featured a record-setting 10 debt exclusion
overrides with a total value of $56.9 million. A simple majority was
required to pass each of the questions. Funded by bond issues, the
borrowing required for all 10 questions would have added 83 cents to
the town's $9.57 tax rate, or $423.27 to the $4,900 annual tax bill
for a $512,000 median home, an 8.6 percent hike for the first year.
"It's back to the drawing board," Director of Public Health Wayne
Attridge said about the landfill and transfer station plan. "I'll
have to talk about this with the Board of Health."
School Committee Chairman Patricia Blackmer, who also chairs the
Glover School Building Committee, called the school vote "incredibly
disappointing" and "a loss for the town."
Obviously emotional, she declined to rule out a request for a
recount.
"We have to retrench," she said. "We will come back and ask again.
We can't do nothing so we will be back."
The $28.8 million new building cost included $11.18 million in
Massachusetts School Building Authority reimbursement, or 40
percent. The town was grandfathered in at 40 percent because the
state is no longer offering that much.
The school figure would have been funded with a 20-year bond issue,
adding 24.7 cents to the tax rate and $126.55 to the annual median
home tax bill.
Blackmer admitted that the 10-question ballot "could feel
overwhelming."
"But I would hope that people could take a look at each question and
vote on them individually," she said.
Jack Buba, leader of the group "Not Now, We're in a Recession" that
opposed all the overrides, offered a prepared statement Tuesday
evening:
"The people of Marblehead sounded a resounding 'Not now, we're in a
recession' to our town leaders today. Many residents, including
those on fixed incomes, those who have lost their jobs or are
worried about losing their jobs, will rest a little easier tonight."
"I hope the town leaders will listen to the voice of the people. The
Board of Health should go back to the drawing board and come to the
voters with a much more modest and total solution to the dump issues
so we can comply with the state mandate."
"I also hope that the town leaders do not show disrespect to the
citizens who voted today and begin a tedious round of 'do-over
overrides.' Our selectmen should ensure that the will of the people
is heard and wait at least until next year's Town Meeting before
reconsidering any other articles."
The other questions included a $706,961 landfill monitoring program,
the $899,955 purchase of a landfill-contaminated home at 57 Stony
Brook Road, $100,000 for additional sidewalk repair, purchase of a
vacant 195 Pleasant St. gas station, the $1.64 million Pleasant
Street traffic safety program (including a $400,000 Massachusetts
Highway Department grant), $292,394 for access improvements at Abbot
Public Library, $1.5 million for Astro-turf at the Marblehead High
football field and $450,000 for furniture and technology purchases
for the new Marblehead Village School.
The Salem News
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Voters lack inclination to override Prop. 2½
By Matthew K. Roy
MARBLEHEAD — Voters yesterday rejected all 10 Proposition 2½
overrides on the ballot here, including a proposal to fund
construction of a new Glover School.
The $29 million school project failed by 71 votes, 2,953 to 2,882.
"It's a loss for the town," School Committee Chairwoman Patricia
Blackmer said of the outcome. "It's a missed opportunity."
The state promised to reimburse the town for 40 percent of the
school project's costs, and school officials last night were hoping
the result at the polls did not put that in jeopardy.
If all 10 overrides passed, it would have cost the average
Marblehead taxpayer roughly $500 more a year. Voters, however,
clearly had no appetite for a tax increase.
They shot down a plan to cap the old landfill and build a new
transfer station. They said no to the installation of artificial
turf at the high school's Piper Field, and no to technology upgrades
and new classroom furniture at Village School.
Proposed renovations of Abbot Public Library; the redesign,
including traffic light upgrades, of the Pleasant Street corridor;
and the purchase of two properties, 195 Pleasant St. and 57 Stony
Brook Road, failed. Voters also would not support a tax increase to
fund continued environmental testing at the old landfill or $100,000
to repair sidewalks throughout town.
"Maybe there was too big a menu, too many items," said Phil Sweeney,
chairman of Marblehead's library trustees.
With all the choices before them, Blackmer was counting on voters to
be "discriminating consumers."
"I think if you invest in your schools and your community, you
invest in your property values," she said.
The Glover project has to be funded with an override, Blackmer said.
"We don't have the money in the operating budget," she said.
"It's a project that needs to happen," former School Committee
member Amy Drinker said.
That means voters will likely have their say again next spring.
"We'll be back before the town," Blackmer said.
By question, vote totals were
as follows:
Question 1: Landfill Closure and Transfer Station
YES: 1,956
NO: 3,875
Question 2: Monitoring, Assessment, Engineering Old Landfill
YES: 2,424
NO: 3,372
Question 3: Stony Brook Road Land Acquisition
YES: 2,386
NO: 3,383
Question 4: Sidewalk Repair and Reconstruction
YES: 1,639
NO: 4,184
Question 5: Pleasant Street Land Acquisition
YES: 1,869
NO: 3,896
Question 6: Pleasant Street Corridor Improvements
YES: 1,867
NO: 3,930
Question 7: Abbot Public Library Renovations
YES: 2,097
NO: 3,705
Question 8: Artificial Turf, Piper Field
YES: 1,723
NO: 4,097
Question 9: Glover School Construction
YES: 2,882
NO: 2,953
Question 10: Village School Technology and Furniture
YES: 2,375
NO: 3,432
(Source: The Marblehead Reporter, "Marblehead
voters say 'Not Now,' reject all 10 overrides") |
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Citizens for Limited Taxation ▪
PO Box 1147 ▪ Marblehead, MA 01945
▪ 508-915-3665
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