Millville to vote on override – again
MILLVILLE – If a $1 million Proposition 2½ tax override is approved at the ballot box next month, it would means a total tax increase of $1,514 over a period of eight years for the average single-family household, or roughly $189 a year.
Those are the latest override tax impact projections that have been released by the town as voters get ready to decide whether to support the operational override at a special election on June 19.
“Basically, what it amounts to is that in the first year (2019) the increase for the average real estate taxpayer would be $621,” Selectmen Chairman Joseph G. Rapoza said at a meeting Monday. “The total impact or cost over an eight-year period for the average taxpayer would be $1,514.77, which averages out to approximate- ly $189.35 a year.”
Town officials say the financial impact of an override on property owners would vary according to the assessed value of property owned.
“This (latest projections) was not conceived of as showing each individual person’s overall tax increase,” said Town Administrator Jennifer M. Callahan. “What it is looking at is what that average would be and how much more it will be then versus what it is now.”
Polls at the St. Augustine Church Hall, 17 Lincoln St., will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The question on the ballot is as follows: “Shall the Town of Millville be allowed to assess an additional $1 million in real estate and personal property taxes for the purpose of funding the operating expenses of the schools and
other town departments for fthe fiscal year beginning July 1, 2018?” e The proposed $1 million eoverride is $800,000 lower sthan the override rejected by special town meeting voters last month. Voting in favor yof calling for the special election were Rapoza and Selectswomen Jennifer Dean-Wing nand Erica Blake. Casting the dissenting votes were Seslectmen Andrew Alward and dThomas Houle.
Originally, the selectmen gand Finance Committee had eproposed a $1.8 million tax override, which was rejected by special town meeting yvoters 121 to 88 on April 30. The $1.8 million took into account the Blackstone-Millville Regional School Committee’s projected school
budget increase of nearly 18 percent and a town structural deficit of nearly $1 million.
The selectmen and Finance Committee went back to the drawing board to make additional budget cuts to lower the deficit and are now proposing the $1 million operational override, which is based on a 2 percent increase to the regional school budget and a structural deficit that now stands at $382,183.
The Finance Committee proposed two town operating budgets at the annual town meeting on May 14 – an override-contingent budget of $6,3343,733 and a $6,183,222 budget with no override – depending on the outcome of the vote on June 19.
If voters support the new override at the polls next month, there will still be deep cuts and loss of service, including elimination
of trash pickup. The $1 million is a bare minimum that will allow the town to at least keep the doors to the library and senior center open.
A no vote on the override, means town officials go back and cut even deeper, including public safety and other town departments.
The town is facing a massive structural deficit due to continued use of one-time revenues to fund increases to the school budget. Town officials say that without an override, the town may not be able to meet its legal requirement of providing a balanced budget will have exhausted most of its one-time revenues.
The override is being proposed as part of a strategic financial plan to right-size the budget and reset the tax rate to address ongoing operational deficits and balance the budget. Town officials
warned residents at two community outreach meetings last month that failure to approve an operational override could lead to a state-appointed fiscal overseer and place Millville into state receivership for the second time in its 100-year history.
Since Proposition 2½ was approved by state voters in 1980 (the law went into effect in 1982), Millville has never had an operational override measure on the ballot. The property tax cap essentially limits municipal governments to a 2.5 percent increase in assessed property taxes each year, but officials can bust this cap if they can get a majority of voters to agree.
Meanwhile, Callahan told the board Monday that the state has reached out to the town and that representatives of the Department of Education and Division of Lo--
cal Services will meet with Blackstone and Millville town and school officials for a two-town meeting tentatively scheduled for June 5
to discuss a possible plan to address the fiscal crisis.