News

School override aces second test: Ballot votes await in Hamilton, Wenham

By Steve Landwehr
Staff writer
Published: May 6, 2008

HAMILTON — Hamilton voters echoed their Wenham neighbors last night, showing overwhelming support for a $1.9 million Proposition 21/2 override to supplement the regional school district's budget for the coming school year.

Hamilton's share of the override would be $1.3 million and would permanently increase the average homeowner's annual property tax bill $393 a year. Like all overrides, this one will now be tested at the ballot box, with both towns weighing in May 15.

School overrides have become yearly battlefields in the two towns in recent years. Supporters of this request actually coalesced two years ago and now call themselves Support Our Schools. This year, opponents organized under the slogan Enough is Enough.

As one school supporter retorted, no it isn't.

"There's a corollary," Moulton Street resident William Scofield said. "Not enough is not enough."

Richard Low was the only selectman who voted not to support the override. He said it was because of the size of it, and because yearly overrides are not sustainable. School funding is a problem statewide, he said, and should be addressed by the state.

Support Our Schools member Tracy Mayor countered that she's been carrying that message to Beacon Hill with little result.

"They are not receiving messages this year," she said. "A 'no' vote won't send any message."

Low replied that was exactly his point. If the state won't be coming to the rescue and property tax increases are not the way out, then approving the override only deferred dealing with the problem.

The override was the eighth article on the warrant, and it was as far as the meeting had advanced by Salem News press time.

It was the best-attended meeting in recent history, with the overflow crowd forced to find seats in the high school cafeteria and in Miles River Middle School's multipurpose room, where the proceedings were broadcast live.

But the entire evening was marred by serious technical and procedural problems that caused numerous, sometimes lengthy, delays.

Shortly after Town Moderator Bruce Ramsey gaveled things to order at 7:37 p.m., it became clear viewers in the remote locations couldn't hear what was going on. After a 20-minute delay, that issue had been dealt with, but another awaited.

Article 2-2, a usually standard request to approve the town budget, was mysteriously deferred until after action was taken on Article 2-6. The only explanation provided to the meeting was that the budget hadn't been put together the way the state Department of Revenue wants it.

It turned out the problem was the department budgets Ramsey was about to enumerate included sums that were part of a municipal override scheduled for a vote later in the evening. The DOR nixed that approach, and the override amounts had to be blacked out before Ramsey read them. That led to another near 20-minute pause.

The municipal override for $177,000 was eventually passed with little opposition.

Typically, Hamilton does not continue Town Meeting past 11 p.m. and is expected to resume at 7:30 tonight in the high school auditorium. Still to be decided are expenditures from the Community Preservation Act fund and a senior housing district bylaw that is likely to cause more rancor.