Copyright The Boston Globe
“It was awful,” said Tsapatsaris, co-chair of Save Our Stoneham, a group that supports a property tax increase to fund school and town services. “We had to have a lot of long, hard talks that week. At one point, she was like, ‘I don’t want to go to school if I don’t know who my teacher is.’” Across Massachusetts, municipalities are increasingly asking voters to raise their property taxes above a state limit ofno more than 2.5 percent a year, with mixed results as local officials grapple with inflation and rising costs for utilities, health insurance, pensions, special education, and other items. Over the last three years, the number of votes to raise property taxes over the state limit, established in the 1980s under Proposition 2½, has increased sharply, with more than 170 override votes held, according to a Globe review of state data. By comparison, roughly two dozen override votes occurred each year during the six previous years, except in 2018 when there were more than 40. Communities that sought overrides are scattered across Massachusetts, representing less than half of the state’s 351 municipalities. Many of them held more than one vote. At least two more big votes are on the horizon. On Tuesday, Melrose voters will consider three override options to support school and town services: $9.3 million, $11.9 million, and $13.5 million. Stoneham will also try for another override on Dec. 9, providing voters with two choices, $9.3 million and $12.5 million. For the average single-family home in Melrose, assessed at $817,630, the annual tax bill would increase between $948 and $1,374, under the override proposals, according to the city. In Stoneham, the annual tax bill for a home with an assessed value of $750,000 would go up between $1,050 and $1,417.50 under its proposals, according to the town. Should Melrose and Stoneham voters green-light the largest amounts, they would be the biggest overrides approved in Massachusetts in at least 35 years, according to a Globe review of state data. Brookline holds the record with a nearly $12 million override passed in 2023. Securing override approval is difficult, often dividing communities. Since the state’s override spike began in 2023, voters have rejected more than 40 percent of the requests. Stoneham officials know the challenges too well: Over the last 35 years, voters have never approved an override. “We are now at the edge of the cliff,” said Jason Eppskrier, president of the Stoneham Educators Association, who has worked in the schools for 24 years. “I’ve never seen it like it is right now in terms of the feelings of instability and chaos.” Town officials have indicated a failed override will likely require deeper cuts in the schools, public safety, and public works, and could jeopardize the operations of the library, senior center, recreation department, and ice arena. Many Stoneham residents, however, remain opposed to a tax hike. April’s vote failed by just 511 votes. Jerry Calisi, the chairman of Keep Stoneham Affordable for All Committee, said “many Stoneham residents simply cannot afford” a big tax increase. “Homeowners are already facing sharp rises in property assessments, water and sewer rates, and the overall cost of living,” he said. “Adding millions in new, permanent taxes will only make it harder for seniors and working families to stay in town.” His group also is troubled by the town pitching the tax hike so soon after the April tax measure, saying it “undermines voter trust.” Massachusetts’ override spike will likely continue as the fiscal pressures facing local communities show no signs of letting up, especially with the potential loss of federal aid and a possible recession looming, said Adam Chapdelaine, executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association. He said state aid has increased only nominally since the Great Recession of more than a decade ago. Adding to the challenges: The costs that municipalities and schools are grappling with, such as special education, health care, and utilities, have frequently increased more than 2.5 percent a year, creating problems with developing budgets under the state’s tax-raising limits. “More and more communities are going to be faced with either pursuing overrides or making significant service level reductions,” he said, noting that many communities are already experiencing a slow erosion of local services. About three-quarters of Massachusetts communities are at 95 to 99 percent of their “levy limit,” which is the maximum amount of property tax revenue they can raise under the state limit without voter approval, according to a report the association issued in October in partnership with Tufts University’s Center for State Policy Analysis. Yet overrides appear to be out of reach for most communities, especially rural areas that lack the tax base and many cities that have high poverty rates, the report found. Since 2010, nearly 200 out of the state’s 351 communities have not pursued an override. In Melrose, Mayor Jennifer Grigoraitis said she expects a close vote, but she emphasized the city needs the financial stability that the override could provide. “In this current environment, where every day it’s becoming more clear the federal government is no longer in the business of supporting communities, particularly in states like Massachusetts, we really have to make sure residents understand that we are going to need to save ourselves and be captains of our own ship,” she said. Like Stoneham, Melrose also has struggled with overrides. City voters last year rejected an override for $7.7 million and have approved just two out of 10 override requests since 1990, according to a Globe review of state data. The city’s limited finances are apparent in state education data, which shows Melrose spent just $15,248 per student in 2023 for in-district expenditures compared with a state average of $21,256. Leslie Means, president of the Melrose Educators Union, said years of budget cutting run so deep that even if that city’s override passes, the school system will not fully recover. “We are so cut to the bones as it is,” she said. “Everything that goes next, I think, will be catastrophic.” But Melrose opponents, led by the group Keeping Melrose Affordable To All, counter that many residents simply can’t afford higher tax bills and could force them to leave. “Don’t tax us out,” reads a message on the group’s website. Another posting reads: “Voting No on the Melrose tax override means standing up for homeowners and residents who already face high living costs.” In Stoneham, Tsapatsaris’ daughter ended up with a teacher on the first day, who she adores, but Tsapatsaris is worried about further instability and reductions in the schools and other town services without additional revenue. “We have reached a point where there’s literally nothing left to cut without going to essentials,” she said. “This override, hopefully, will give Stoneham a foundation to plan responsibly instead of lurching from crisis to crisis.”
