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1. “Save our Schools” – While we have excellent schools and all want to protect them, many of the “cut positions” were net new. The vast majority of class sizes K-12 will remain below the recommended levels without the override. Since the last override in 2012, student enrollment is down yet FTEs have increased by 26.6 FTEs!
2. “The override is only a 7% increase and will cost about $856 a year” - The override is almost a 10% increase (2.5% + 7%)! Since it increases the base used to calculate future increases, it will cost the average taxpayer an additional $4,600 in taxes over 5 yrs.
3. “Your property values will decrease without an override” – Many factors contribute to property values, and not all overrides are equal. Anyone telling you that an override will increase or decrease your property value is guessing.
4. “Your tax rates are going down” – Tax rates are going down because property values are going up. The Norwell average tax bill is still going up and is much higher than every surrounding town with the exception of Hingham, which is comparable to Norwell.
5. “Norwell voter registration is increasing. Our population has grown 7% in the past 10 years ” – Voter registration is not a good proxy for population growth. Norwell population has increased by 4% (2014 population of 11,002 à 2023 population of 11,464 per registrar’s report in Town Report).
6. “The town couldn’t cut any more spending without impacting service” - The town has one of the most expensive health plans in the region. We could have saved money by choosing a lower cost plan. We could have also chosen to defer or stagger large pay increases for management. The inconsistency between capital spending for police cruisers (operating budget) and dump truck (free cash) creates doubt regarding how the town is managing our money.7. “The tax calculator tells you the impact of the override” - the tax calculator only includes the increase of 7%, not the additional 2.5%. It does not provide the multi-year effect of the permanent increase, which is critical to understanding the nature of a permanent increase.