Large turnout as Lakeville soundly defeats override

LAKEVILLE -- Lakeville voters strongly rejected a Proposition 2 ½ override Tuesday, May 19 that would have added $1,000 to the average tax bill over three years.

Nearly one in three Lakeville voters turned out to have a say, with 3,043 voters casting a ballot out of 9,782 total voters, for a total of 30 percent.

In the end, the override was defeated across all three precincts, with 1,191 voters supporting the measure and 1,650 rejecting it. This totals about 40 percent in favor and 56 percent opposed.

Those were the totals for year one of the override. Questions related to the second and third year were also defeated by similar margins.

Passing the override would have allowed the town to spend beyond state-mandated limits.

With the override voted down, the school and town are looking at cuts to personnel and services.

The schools have said they could lose about 50 positions, with some programs also vulnerable.

The town side of the budget would also face reductions, including the potential loss of a vacant town planner position.

The town may also be forced to make the assistant town collector and assessor posts, both also vacant, part-time and , Town Administrator Andrew Sukeforth has said..

The human resources director and assistant and the assistant town accountant are scheduled to have reduced hours without the override, Sukeforth said.

Lakeville is hardly alone in facing budget challenges. A number of communities across the state are facing override votes or significant cuts to services and personnel.

Costs of  health insurance and pensions have “skyrocketed,’’ Sukeforth said. State aid, he noted, “doesn’t keep up with inflation.''

One issue more specific to Lakeville is the lack of new growth, such as industrial development, which provides revenue to the town. He said new growth has fallen “off the cliff’’ in town.

While growth was never particularly strong given the town’s rural nature, this year’s is the worst in 25 years, he said.

If the override had passed, the first year would have add $2,615,700 to the budget. Voters were asked whether to support $1,300,000 in the second year and $1 million for the third year.

Based on an average home value of $625,000, this would translate to an estimated tax increase of $525 for the first year, $256 for the second and $194 for the third year, for a total of just under $1,000.

Passing an override would bring the town’s overall budget, including the Freetown-Lakeville school district, to $40,566,129. Without an override, the budget would decrease to $38,640,207.