By Joseph Elie, Community Reporter
Shrewsbury – A week before Shrewsbury voters go to the polls in a special election to approve funding for the proposed $18 million expansion of the public library, Town Manager Daniel Morgado took a moment at the outset of the Oct. 11 Board of Selectmen meeting to clarify that the vote was for a temporary debt exclusion and not a permanent Proposition 2-1/2 override.
Before moving to the scheduled agenda items, Selectmen Chair James Kane opened the meeting by saying that there has been uncertainty among Shrewsbury residents as to the type of tax increase they were being asked to approve on the Oct. 18 ballot. Kane said that there were some lawn signs around town that said the override was permanent. Morgado then stipulated that while there two types of levies that pertained to Proposition 2-1/2 under Massachusetts General Law: Chapter 59, Section 21C – temporary and permanent – the funding for the library project fell under the category of temporary.
Although the amount Shrewsbury would be required to fund doesn's appear in the wording of the ballot question, a copy of which was recently mailed to voters, both Morgado and Library Director Ellen Dolan expressed confidence that the state would make good on its promise to provide the $8 million from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, leaving the town responsible for the remaining $8.8 million through the issuance of municipal bonds with a 20-year maturity. Approximately $1.7 million is expected to be raised privately in support of the project.