Cheshire Decisively Passes Override to Fund School Budget
 Override supporters were out with signs across the street from the polling station in Cheshire. |
CHESHIRE, Mass. — The second try at a $90,000 override to support the regional school district was decisively approved in heavy voting on Wednesday.
The vote was 499-325 with more than a third of the town's registered voters casting ballots.
The passage of the Proposition 2 1/2 override affirms the $19.1 million Adams-Cheshire Regional School District budget approved at town meetings this spring.
"We're pleased with the turnout, I think it's a pretty impressive turnout for the month of August," said a relieved School Committee member Darlene Rodowicz.
Cheshire town meeting had passed the school budget, with the funding for its assessment dependent on the outcome of the override vote a week later. But voters rejected overriding the 2.5 percent cap on raising the levy limit by 63 votes, leaving the school system facing a possible $360,000 in cuts because Adams' assessment would be proportionately reduced as well.
Adams-Cheshire had initially proposed a $19.4 million budget in an attempt to keep programming and staffing level, but Adams had budgeted nearly $400,000 less for its assessment. School officials came back with $300,000 in cuts and the town offered up another $92,000 toward its assessment.
Cheshire town officials had backed the compromise budget and the override, feeling it was important to support the school system.
"If we don't educate our children, you may as well put a lock on the door of the town," Chairwoman Carol Francesconi said at the time. "The town will die."
School Committee members approached the Selectmen on doing a second override vote, calling the 18 percent turnout not representative of voters' intent.
"I don't think people really understood the process or as much as it was communicated," said Rodowicz. "I think we got the parents out that needed to come out for it the first time."
School and town officials held two joint meetings within the last two weeks in an attempt to ensure that voters understood what was at stake and that the budget approval was a two-step process. Few people attended, leaving the outcome of Wednesday's vote unclear.
"I think in the end, people already had their minds made up and they didn't need to hear anything more from us," Rodowicz said.
She and other committee members and supporters lined up across the street from the polling station, holding signs asking voters to support the school system. The members had also started a Facebook page to get the information out.
"If it's decisive, we'll know," said School Committee member Edmund St. John IV.
School officials were hopeful as the minutes ticked down to the end of voting.
"I saw a lot of young parents going in," said Rodowicz.
One voter drove up beeping the horn and waving. "I made it before 7," she yelled out.
Another rushed in right after Town Clerk Christine Emerson gaveled the election closed and was turned away.
In all, 824 of the town's about 2,248 registered voters cast ballots. That's about 37 percent, and double the 411 who showed up at the first override vote. The spread was 174, exactly the number of people who voted for the override the first time.
"It's amazing," said Emerson, who was pleased with the turnout.
Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco, who had been working with School Committee on planning for districtwide vote should the override have failed, said the towns were "moving in the right direction."
"With the passing of the override this year alone, Adams said yes to education, yes to economic development, and yes to the arts," he said. "For communities that turn around and go from a tough position to a successful position, those are the three components that you see and we certainly said yes to all three this year and we are moving aggressively in those three directions."
Emerson, however, read a note that one voter had placed with his or her ballot, calling on "the bureaucrats" to get some industry in town so the tax burden wouldn't fall all on the homeowners.
The $90,000 override will cost the average Cheshire taxpayer about $60 a year, say town officials, on an average tax bill of $2,400. The vote permanently raises the town's levy limit by $90,000.
Tags: ACRSD, override, school budget,
