If any aldermen are really concerned about the impact of the override on the least wealthy in Newton, they should propose an amendment to add to the override with an earmark for a program or programs that are more distinctly wealth transfers than the general increase spending on school services. I’m not sure what that would be. I’m sure that there are cuts that have fallen harder on the poorer. Restore those programs. Feel free to nominate some possibilities in the comments.
Make it so, yes, the override will add an additional burden on those with the least, but will be offset by spending that most benefits the same families.
Sean, the mayor has developed improvements to the programs available to seniors with limited incomes and assets, programs like property tax exemptions, tax deferrals, senior work-off programs, and broadening the limits to include more folks. And I’m quite sure these changes will be actively promoted. Often, seniors either don’t know these programs exist, or don’t know how to go about taking advantage of them. Just by getting any one of these, they would more than offset the impact of increased taxes due to the override.
Dan,
I didn’t touch on any of the programs specifically designed to reduce the impact of a tax increase on those who can least afford it, mostly because I’m not aware of them. But, I’m proposing something entirely different, though complementary: additional services to those who have the least.
Sean,
I don’t see how the override proposal could possibly be amended to add services?
Adding services is not part of a Proposition 2 1/2 override. I’m sure you’ve thought this through, so tell us what you’re thinking.
The rub, though, Sean, is that the senior programs offered by a municipality is enabled by state legislation. With those broad guidelines, municipalities can be more or less generous in waht they make available to seniors.
I can’t state this categorically, but I believe to do as you suggest would require the state to put something in place, so that cities and towns could then offer up what makes sense to them.
@Gail: several overrides that have passed in recent memory do indeed add services. Brookline passed one to add elementary foreign language instruction (K-4) a few years back–part of a three-part override.
@ad: Oh yeah, I remember that. Of course overrides add services; that’s often their purpose. Now that I look at what I wrote, I’m not sure what I was thinking!
Perhaps a better way to frame my question (which is now moot, since the board approved the special override election) : In keeping with Sean’s point about adding school services that would help families that are struggling, how could the Board of Aldermen have determined which services to restore? That would have been a School Committee decision and should not have been an amendment to the override.