Could other Massachusetts towns facing a Proposition 2 1/2 override drum up a “yes” vote like Arlington did yesterday? Doubtful, but it’s worth considering the reasons that barely carried the day in this northwestern Boston suburb of more than 42,000. Nearly half of registered voters turned out, with 7,726 voting yes (53 percent); 6366 voting no (47 percent), according to unofficial tallies. Homeowners’ tax bills will rise about $450 per year.
Like many other towns, Arlington closed budget gaps last year by cutting staff, increasing fees, and using stimulus funds. Going into to fiscal 2012 with a budget deficit of $3.8 million, the town did not have the same options. With very little land available for commercial development, running town services means being yoked to residential property tax revenues. There were no stimulus funds to fall back on. Though the Arlington teachers’ union and the SEIU’s Arlington chapter both agreed to increase employee health care contributions in recent contract negotiations, those costs continue to rise.
Lessons learned? During the last override campaign in 2005, town officials pledged not to ask for another levy increase for five years. They kept that promise and this time around, Arlington officials said they won’t ask for another hike for three years. They also committed to town and school operating budget increases of no more than 3.5 percent in each of those years. If expenditures exceed revenues, it’s back to the chopping block.
Amid the hand-wringing over the prospects of a pay-as-you-throw trash pick-up program, fewer police patrols and passes by snow plows, fears about a decline in the quality of the town’s schools is what sent many voters to the polls.
Many young families moved to Arlington in recent years, particularly for its well-regarded elementary schools. But that reputation was at risk. Arlington school officials had already stripped the budget down to the essentials, stopping short of drastic teacher cuts. Those were next. If the override had failed, average class sizes would have edged toward 27, with 40 teacher positions eliminated.
Kids or no kids, some residents certainly made the calculation that if MCAS scores started to skid, their property values (which stood up to the recession better than a lot of places) would start to slide. That meant no more top high school rankings and certainly no more “better than-ever burg” gushings from Boston magazine.
Override opponents argued that the school district could have been a better steward of taxpayer dollars. Last year, the district ran smack into a $1.5 million deficit before school even started and is still embroiled in lawsuits over the drama-laden dismissal of a middle school principal and a teacher several years ago.
For some, the “yes” vote is also reflects what’s been lost in the town’s transformation from a quiet, blue-collar haven into chi-chi destination of artsy shops and restaurants, increasingly populated by people from, gasp, Cambridge. Before the vote, anti-override campaigner Thomas Caccavaro told The Arlington Advocate. “Arlington has become a town for the rich, not the middle class that made it so great.”
–GABRIELLE GURLEY
BEACON HILL
WBUR’s David Boeri joins NECN’s Jim Braude to discuss the Sal DiMasi trial and the “pay to play” culture on Beacon Hill. A defense attorney tells the Boston Herald DiMasi’s defense is lacking in quantity of witnesses and quality.
More potential trouble for former probation commissioner John O’Brien, as the Globe reports that the state inspector general is looking into irregularities in the awarding of a multimillion dollar contract for electronic monitoring of offenders.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Monson High School’s senior class president learns an important lesson about his community in the aftermath of the tornadoes that ravaged the area, the Worcester Telegram reports.
The state Appeals Court ruled that property owned by the Bridgewater State University Foundation is not tax-exempt, opening the door for the town of Bridgewater to collect about $100,000 in back taxes dating to 2005.
North Andover Town Meeting rejects a meals tax by a vote of 171-164, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
In the middle of a couple of 90-degree days, Pembroke officials closed the popular Oldham Pond after two young girls swimming there got sick apparently from a toxic algae bloom on the surface.
A Gloucester city councilor says she has the votes to block a hotel at the site of the former Birds Eye plant. She says the fish smells in the area are just too much for tourists, the Gloucester Times reports. In an editorial, the paper says it’s “pathetic” that opposition has already solidified even though the project’s key investor, New Balance owner Jim Davis, hasn’t closed on the deal.
Education advocates in North Attleboro say they were muzzled at town meeting, and parents are appealing to the town’s legal counsel.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
WBUR’s Fred Thys goes to Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, to learn how the Republican takeover of the state legislature is playing.
The Weekly Standard says the number of government limousines increased by 73 percent during the first two years of the Obama administration.
The Pentagon Papers will be formally declassified, 40 years after their initial release and publication.
ELECTION 2012
Should Mitt Romney get credit for actually talking about climate change like a grownup? The Phoenix’s David Bernstein ponders the Romney campaign’s quiet period, which will attempt to keep the candidate away from reporters until Labor Day.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Hampden County has already generated $90 million in tornado-related insurance claims, with more likely to come.
National Grid agrees to a $1 million settlement with Attorney General Martha Coakley for poor performance after a late December snowstorm.
South Essex Register of Deeds John O’Brien refuses to record “robo-signed” mortgage documents, the Salem News reports.
Harvard economist Martin Feldstein unleashes a king-hell bummer of an assessment of where the economy is heading. But there is a Bay State bright spot: the Department of Commerce says the Massachusetts economy grew last year at the fourth highest rate of any state.
Hurry up and wait: The Globe updates us on how little progress there is to update anyone on regarding the Filene’s site.
EDUCATION
In the latest CommonWealth magazine Face to Face video feature, UMass trustees Phil Johnston, the one-time chairman of the state Democratic Party, and Mike Fox, the student appointee to the board, discuss the move to increase student fees by 7.5 percent and the need for broader support for public higher education in the state.
The Springfield Republican points out that children in tornado-affected areas may need counseling.
NONPROFIT
Massachusetts foundations are coming to the realization they would be affected by Attorney General Martha Coakley’s proposed restrictions on compensation for nonprofit board members.
HEALTH CARE
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Lahey Clinic are in merger talks.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will scale back his state’s clean energy targets in favor of a plan that is “responsible and achievable.” Christie previously pulled his state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a 10-state cap-and-trade cooperative.
Some meteorologists blame La Niña for this spring’s bizarre weather
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
The Bristol and Plymouth county sheriffs, both Republicans, said they would seek to join the federal Secure Communities program rejected by Gov. Deval Patrick. The program checks the immigration status of those arrested. The announcements set up an interesting showdown now that all the state’s sheriff departments are funded under the executive branch.
