Selectmen vote in favor of override
By Melissa Muntz Community Reporter

Shrewsbury - The Shrewsbury Board of Selectmen has voted in favor of placing a $1.5 million Proposition 2-1/2 override on the ballot this May.

Of the override amount, $1 million would be used to balance the municipal budget and $500,000 would be used to eliminate or reduce athletic, activity and transportation fees for Shrewsbury students.

The impact of the $1.5 million override would be $.30 per $1,000, and the average home in Shrewsbury, estimated to be $400,000, would see an additional $119.57 in taxes per year.

"We are running so close that we are seeing important services degrading and we have a responsibility to ask the voters if they're willing to allow that to happen or if they want us to take steps to prevent it," Selectman John Lebeaux said.

The board voted, 3-2, in favor of the override question, with Selectmen Bruce Card and James McCaff rey casting the dissenting votes. Both men were in favor of an override, however McCaff rey wanted the amount to be $1.4 million, with $400,000 being designated for fee reduction.

"I'm very concerned about the number being too high," McCaff rey said. "We have a responsibility as a board to put the lowest number before voters, especially if we know or are anticipating this to be an annual event."

Some board members refused to support the cut from $1.5 to $1.4 million because the impact on individual taxpayers would be insignificant over the course of a year.

Card had wanted a tiered question that would allow people to vote on municipal funds and fee reducing funds separately, which he thought might make the chances of success higher.

"[Adding the fees] will cause a problem as far as getting an override to pass," Card said.

The rest of the board said they believed a tiered question would not only confuse voters, but would appear that the town was pitting one department's needs against another.

Chair Maurice DePalo said he felt the school community was already unfairly targeted through the amount of fees required to pay for athletics, activities, music and transportation, and that he believed the question should absolutely include funds for fee reduction.

"To hear people complaining about an $85 trash fee and think nothing of their neighbor with two kids in school paying $420 in fees just for busing is wrong," DePalo said. "People just aren't caring about each other as much as they used to … and until people realize that we're all in this together, it's not going to look up."

Parents with one child in Shrewsbury schools can pay more than $1,000 in schoolrelated fees per year.

The School Committee has not yet determined to what extent each fee would be reduced if the override passes, however it is expected to come up with a formula in the coming weeks.