Malden residents struck down a Proposition 2 ½ tax override, according to unofficial results from the special election on Tuesday.
Voters were faced with two options on the ballot: a $5.4 million or an $8.2 million override. The $8.2 million option would have been implemented if both questions passed, but now, neither will go into effect.
“It’s a very disappointing result. It was a very close vote, only 2% across the city,” said Malden City Councilor Carey McDonald. “But the outcome of this vote means we’re going to have to make some really painful cuts… So we will find the path forward.”
With a turnout of 15% of registered voters, the $5.4 million override option fell short by just 124 votes, with 2,812 “yes” votes (48.5%) and 2,936 “no” votes (50.7%).
The $8.2 million override option also failed, with 3,224 votes against (55.6%) and 2,523 votes in favor.
Malden is the first Gateway City in 17 years to bring a tax override to vote, and if the proposition had passed, would have become the first such city in 35 years to pass one.
The override was first proposed by Mayor Gary Christenson and the Finance Committee. It was approved to appear on the ballot by the Malden City Council in December.
Now, roughly 60 service positions are expected to be cut across city departments, including Malden Public Schools, public works and local government.
McDonald said there is no other way for the city to make ends meet.
“We have certainly looked at non-staff cuts, operating expenses. The mayor had committed to reducing those by a few million dollars as part of this campaign, even if it did pass,” she said. “We have been clear throughout the override campaign that these are jobs for members of our community and there will be service cuts that will impact how much and what we can offer to our community.”
Malden resident William Spadafora said while he’s concerned about the impact of the vote, these issues didn’t happen overnight and decisions could have been made to prevent it.
“One of our former city councilors has been raising the red flag for years that Malden needed to focus on commercial development to bring in commercial tax dollars, which pays a higher tax rate than our residents,” said Spadafora, who is the founder of Keep Malden Affordable, a campaign against the override.
In a statement, Christenson said even though this is not the decision the city had hoped for, he respects the decision of the community.
“Our finance team will now begin the difficult task of identifying necessary reductions to balance the budget,” he said. “These decisions will require careful, thoughtful prioritization of the services our residents rely on. Our community has faced challenges before and we will find a way to move forward together.”
