Others were general overrides, permanent increases above the limits of Proposition 2 ½, the state’s property tax cap law. These increases are often earmarked for the day-to-day cost of providing local services.
In Saugus, local leaders are asking voters to approve a one-time tax assessment for fiscal 2012, which begins July 1, to cover the town’s snow and ice deficit from this year’s harsh winter. Because the measure is neither an exclusion nor an override, special legislation had to be passed by Beacon Hill lawmakers and approved by Governor Deval Patrick for the proposal to be put to Saugus voters. After clearing those hurdles earlier this spring, a special election will decide the question on Tuesday.
Regardless of what form the proposals took, a bigger tax bill is a burden that many voters refused to accept. Of the 24 questions decided so far this spring, 13 were rejected. Voters in five communities — Essex, Lynnfield, Marblehead, North Andover, and Saugus — are still debating the issue.
The defeats ranged from a proposed $130,000 override in Rowley to help fund the town’s fiscal 2012 assessment for the Triton Regional School District to a request for a $9.1 million debt exclu sion in Chelmsford to fund construction of a new fire headquarters.
“It’s back to the drawing board,’’ said Chelmsford Town Manager Paul Cohen. “At this point, there are no further plans for a new Central Fire Station. I wouldn’t expect another plan to be put together until next spring. Until then, we will continue to limp along.’’
Had the Chelmsford question been approved, the property tax bill for the average single-family home assessed at $324,573 would have increased $7 in the upcoming fiscal year. The temporary tax rise would have lasted 20 years — the life of the debt — and reached its apex in fiscal 2013, at $13, Cohen said.
