Override up, then down in Nahant

NAHANT – A $260,000 override to fund Johnson School passed dramatically at Town Meeting Saturday but was rejected by voters at the town election, leaving the school department to search for alternative sources to fund the anticipated deficit.School Superintendent Philip Devaux said that he was disappointed with the results of the election.”I think all of us in the school department are disappointed,” said Devaux, adding that school officials will proceed forward according to a budget that the School Committee approved in March in the event that the override did not pass.School officials said that the override would have filled a budget shortfall due to a $113,000 reduction in state and federal funds coupled with a dramatic increase in special-education costs.Now, 21 line items – including everything from funds to pay substitute teachers and offer art, music and physical education classes to health supplies in the nurse’s office – will have to be eliminated in order to meet minimum state requirements.”We made it quite clear what would happen if the override didn’t pass,” Devaux said. “We voted both budgets, apparently (the budget without an override) is an acceptable outcome for the majority of people that voted.”The School Committee, Finance Committee, Town Administrator Mark Cullinan, and the Board of Selectmen all indicated support for the override. The proposal would have added approximately $189 or $3.50 per week to the average tax bill, according to numbers from Town Accountant Deborah Waters and based on a median home valuation of $540,000. In order to be enacted, the override had to pass both the town election, which would authorize raising the money through an override, and Town Meeting, which would allocate the raised funds to the school.Town Meeting passed the measure 184 to 43. The ballot question was defeated by 52 votes, however, 417 to 365.The discussion at Town Meeting revealed support for the schools, but reluctance to enact an override, despite Devaux’s insistence that in his five decades as a superintendent, “I have never been involved in a more frugal town when it comes school finances. We’ve definitely lived within our means.”In debating the 2012 budget as well as sub-articles concerning projects to be funded through the Community Preservation Act, voters questioned whether money to fund the schools could come from other sources than an override. These attempts were ruled out of order, however, according to Town Meeting procedure and Massachusetts General Law by Town Moderator Dave Conlin as well as Town Counsel Charles Riley.Supporters on the School Committee, Finance Committee and Board of Selectmen also addressed concerns that an override – which annually increases the amount that a town can raise by taxes – was, as Advisory and Finance Committee Chair Joyce Maroney said, “a permanent solution to a potentially temporary problem.”Devaux mentioned that the town could vote for an “underride” to effectively negate the proposal should the schools not need the money in the future and both Selectmen Richard Lombard and Mike Manning voiced support for this concept.On the other hand, some voters questioned whether this year’s override would necessarily prevent a similar but more expensive request in the future. They noted that school officials attributed the budget shortfall to unforeseen special-education costs that can drastically impact a budget.”Part of this (request for an override) is how can we guarantee that we aren’t playing catch up,” said Selectman Lainey Titus, in explaining that an override would enable the town to build a reserve fund that would prevent the schools requesting overrides in the future.The most contentious debate, however, involved whether the town should, in effect, put its most powerless citizens at risk.Resident Brian Olmstead said that the debate pitted elderly landowners “who are going to pay for (the override),” against the community’s children.”I’m not here to argue against chil