Voters across Massachusetts will be facing four statewide ballot questions when they head to the polls on Tuesday. But in a few dozen communities across the Bay State they’ll also be facing a fifth question.
Local referendums will take place in small towns like Hatfield and the Bay State's biggest city, Boston; from way out west in Lee to the Cape Cod community of Orleans. Still, nearly every one of these ballot questions asks voters the same thing: Is it OK if we raise your property taxes?
Of the 28 local questions, half address the adoption of Sections 3-7 of Chapter 44B of the Massachusetts General Laws—better known as the Community Preservation Act.
"Voters that vote to adopt it are voting to add a small assessment to their property tax bills that will go into a special community preservation fund in their communities," explained Lisa Capone, a spokesperson for the Community Preservation Coalition.
The revenue generated by this property tax hike is earmarked for four specific purposes: affordable housing, historic preservation, local parks and recreation, and conservation of open space.
The money is also matched by the Commonwealth, in recent years at a rate of around 30 percent of the total revenue raised.
Of the Bay State’s 351 cities and towns, 161 (46 percent) have signed on since the Community Preservation Act took effect in 2000. Voters in 16 communities will weigh in on Tuesday, an unprecedented number in a single election cycle according to Capone. Among those deciding are voters in Boston, Chelsea, Watertown, and Norwood.
Most of the remaining local questions are overrides of Proposition 2½, the state law that generally caps annual property tax hikes at 2½ percent – unless local voters approve an override. Since the early 1980’s, when Prop 2½ was adopted, cities and towns have put override questions on the local ballot to pay for specific projects thousands of times. This year is no exception.
For example, in Newbury, the money would be used to build a new police station and make repairs to city hall. In Orleans, it would fund a new water quality management plan for the town. In Douglas, they’re looking to raise taxes to buy a new fire truck, something Douglas Fire Chief Kent Vinson is hopeful he'll be able to do.
"Well I’m hoping that on the day that people go vote for the president, that they vote for our article," he said.
Vinson decided to put the town’s one tanker truck out of service in recent years for safety reasons, and he says their rescue truck is almost 30 years old.
"Nobody likes to see their taxes go up but what I’m trying to do is be cost effective," he said. "Not going out and spending a million dollars on two trucks. We’ll get one that can do both jobs."
Two communities are looking to improve local schools. In Needham the money would go to a new elementary school on the old Owen’s Poultry Farm property. And in Somerville, the tax hike would help pay for a proposed $257 million reconstruction of the public high school that would make it the most expensive high school ever built in Massachusetts.
"These questions tend to be complex so it’s important everyone reads all the information and data – don’t just rely on the ads and the sort of political rhetoric," said Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone, who has campaigned vigorously in favor of the ballot measure, which he believes is a sound investment.
"I’m hoping for a win," he said. "I’m predicting we’re going to win. But I’ll feel better once all the ballots are cast and counted."
The one local ballot that is not about property taxes comes courtesy of Massachusetts 3rd Hampshire District—which includes Amherst, Pelham and parts of Granby—and it certainly is an eye-catcher: a yes or no on lowering the drinking age for beer and wine to 19.
That effort is led by Matthew Malone, a 48-year-old actuary for the federal government who was born in Massachusetts, but now lives in Maryland.
"Even though it doesn’t personally affect me anymore, I feel like people need to be woken up that their rights are being taken away from them," he said. "Over the years, seeing youth rights—people 18 to 20 losing some of their rights—that’s basically been the catalyst for it."
To be clear, the vote is nonbinding and will not change the law, but instead simply urge the district’s legislator to support the cause in the Massachusetts State House. Malone’s real hope is that a yes vote will inspire a serious push to get the question on the statewide ballot by 2020.
"Statewide ballot questions have helped contribute to a change in the laws twice," Malone said. "In 1930 a repeal of prohibition passed in Massachusetts, and in 1972 there was a statewide ballot question to lower the drinking age to 18 and that was enacted in 1973.
We’ll find out on Tuesday if enthusiasm for Malone’s dream of lowering the drinking age is just being tapped, or if his effort is simply a single shot in the dark.
