SHREWSBURY With nearly 30% of the town s registered voters casting ballots, residents approved a $9.5 million override of tax-limiting Proposition 2½ Tuesday.
The measure passed, 4,323-2,769, according to unofficial results provided by the town clerk s office late Tuesday night.
The clerk s office noted that 29% of the town s 24,812 registered voters turned out.
The vote allows the town to raise the baseline tax level which, Town Manager Kevin Mizikar has said, will address a structural deficit.
Selectmen said in a message to voters that the existing structural deficit was caused in part by economic impacts of COVID-19. The final say on spending will come at town meeting May 22.
OPINION: Letters to the Editor
Wicked Local
To the Editor:
Shrewsbury needs an operational override. Without this revenue, class sizes will skyrocket, school libraries will close, and programming will be cut. Our community is counting on us.
As a fourth generation life-long resident, I cannot dismantle our basic services. We must refuse to cut Shrewsbury’s safety and education, when we are only contributing at the bottom 11% per pupil, while our income is in the top 20%.
Did you know Shrewsbury has only passed one operational override? Every single vote matters. Please join me in voting yes for our town on May 4!
Telegram & Gazette
As a seven-year member of the Shrewsbury Finance Committee, I support the $9.5 million operational override question on the May 4 ballot as the fiscally responsible decision. Our town leaders have worked hard to remedy the structural deficit that has challenged our community for many years. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding economic fall-out have exacerbated our fiscally tenuous situation, with revenue shortfalls and higher costs leaving a gap that can only be closed with passage of an override or substantial cuts to services, most keenly impacting students. Please join me in voting yes on May 4.
State Rep. Hannah Kane, Shrewsbury