Newton voters will go to the polls on March 12 to consider three tax override ballot questions totaling an estimated $11.4 million. How will you vote? (Cast up to three votes below)
Note: This poll has been revised from the prior version, if you voted before please vote again.
[polldaddy poll=”6856642″]
Hmm – I think the poll is still not right. As I understand it, there are three separate questions on the ballot. So on say the first question of the 8.4 M override, I could vote yes, no or undecided. If you total the results for those three answers (22%, 11%, and 6%) it comes to 41% instead of 100%.
I’m guessing that the poll widget just can’t deal with three interrelated questions in a single poll.
@Jerry: Yep. As you know, these things are not scientific.
@Jerry, the “widget” is looking at the total votes cast for each of the seven voting options and comparing this number to the total votes cast for all seven questions. Not really helpful!
So you’ll have to do your own widget. Here’s mine: Discard the four undecideds and look at the total votes cast for each ballot question. At the time of my writing the operating override question has received 56 Yes votes and 16 No votes — so 78% are voting Yes. 79% are voting Yes for Angier, and 77% are voting Yes for Cabot.
Although not a scientific poll, it is interesting to note that voters here appear to be all-in or all-out, rather than picking and choosing which among the three questions they will support.
That’s what I noticed as well Steve. Although a mere fraction of folks here appear to be splitting their yes votes, I’d be interested in hearing from those who favor the operating override but oppose one or both of the school building debt exclusions.
I may vote for the operating override but will almost surely not vote for the other two. I can almost see my way clear to supporting the fire and police. I have no interest in supporting the construction of elementary schools. As a Zervas parent for what will be 12 years by the time my youngest moves on to Oak Hill, the city had its chance to pick my pocket for these projects. Instead, it built Newton North. Sorry folks, but with rising taxes from the Feds and likely a hefty increase from the state, I am not likely to voluntarily give Newton any more. Fundamentally I do not trust the ever-climbing Mayor, the BOA or the the SC (sorry Steve and Matt, but you are only two) to manage or invest wisely. The only reason I am even thinking about the operational override is out of respect for the fire and police folks.
@Eric Miller – I’m sorry to hear that you’re planning on bailing on the next generation of students after your own kids have got their education.
I just tried out the on-line override calculator . My family’s total contribution for all three overrides comes to an additional $13.93 in our monthly mortgage payment. The portion dedicated to rebuilding the two schools comes out to $3.66/month. While I certainly don’t look forward to any increase in my monthly bills, this modest increase seems like a bargain to me.
While we do have a daughter in elementary school at the moment, I think and hope that we’d still feel the same even if we didn’t.
Hi Eric,
Can I ask you a few of questions? I appreciate that there are Newton voters including you, who, for a variety of reasons will not voluntarily choose to raise their local tax payment. But your reasoning surprises me.
Regardless of the mayor’s aspirations, he managed in conjunction with the School Committee negotiating team to settle a contract with our five school department unions (employing most of our city employees) to slow their compensation growth rate to that of the growth rate of city revenues. This was a huge budget course correction, and coupled with other cost cutting and efficiencies implemented by the Mayor, has eliminated our “structural deficit”. Our city finances and projections are so good as compared to five years ago that even the leaders of the last “Vote No” campaign are strong override supporters this time around.
In addition, we are partnering with the Mass School Building Authority to design and construct Angier, and likely Cabot too. To be eligible for their financial assistance, we have had to agree to follow their rules regarding project planning and budget, and have granted them significant control of our entire Angier process. The process is public, carefully prescribed, and highly transparent. The MSBA process came out after the NNHS fiasco, and its attributes specifically address the issues that allowed the NNHS process to spin out of control. This is a new game, and one that has already resulted in well managed school building projects in other MA districts.
So…. Is any of what I have just shared news to you? In light of it, where is your lack of trust rooted? And if you are still untrusting, what specifically would you need to see or what circumstances could compel you to support all three override questions?
Thanks! — Steve
I’m surprised to read that from you Eric. Can’t wait to throw this around over a few beers! LOL
Anyway, I will be voting yes for all 3. We need it. There is no way around it.
As of 8 on Monday morning, when the Yes tally on the operating override is up to 70 votes, I notice a couple of things: It seems that the No side is getting out their vote, as the bulk of voting since yesterday has added to the No totals. I wouldn’t expect this surge on one side to be random. Yeses are still ahead on all three questions, but with 63%, 65%, and 63%.
And I’d say that the votes still appear to be coming in blocks — all yesses or all nos, without a marked splitting of votes (although Eric suggested he split). That means that most of the yesses are buying (pun intended) the outline the way that Mayor Warren has presented it — one plan, paid for with three votes.
Jerry, I am not “bailing out.” Indeed I continue to pay for the mismanagement of Newton North. Moreover I continure to have three kids in the system, one at Zervas, one at Oak Hill, and one at Newton South. I’ve many more years of participation in Newton Public Ed. The city could well have had a decent high school and a number of renovated elementary schools. It chose differently. I now choose to use my hard earned wages to benefit my family. Your absurd characterization of my decision to vote how I see fit speaks volumes not only for you as a person but for a sadly broad class of people who support these overrides.
Steve: I am well aware of all the issues you raise. They make no difference to me at this point. While I acknowledge the Mayor’s successes I also feel that he is, to an extent that makes me more than a bit uncomfortable, looking to secure his progressive bone fides so as to move up and out. While he will stick around to get the overrides passed, he leaves me with little confidence that he’ll be around to complete the job. As for the MSBA issue, again it does not mean much to me unless you come up with a firm budget for these two projects and a guarantee that you will not be back to the voters with half completed projects looking for more money. Begging for $$ for partial-done projects is a an old strategy; read the Power Broker for some real interesting examples.
Finally Steve, while I have the greatest respect for you and Matt, I have not a shred of confidence in the BOA or the balance of the SB to manage these projects. I spent a lot of time tuning in to NewTV when Newton North was going on. I would not trust these people with one more thin dime than I am obligated by law to turn over to them.
@Eric Miller – Sorry Eric. I wasn’t trying to mis-characterize what you said or insult you. I think I just misunderstood what you wrote.
I thought the gist of your message was “my kids are now out of elementary school so I won’t support new elementary schools”. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Hi Jerry. Thank you. No my kids are very much in school. It’s a great system and I know it needs and deserves the money. I just will not volunteer to give it to this group of town leaders.
Hi Eric, Thanks for responding. I’ll offer a few more pieces of information, not assuming I’ll persuade but just so you have as full a picture as I do.
First, the Mayor says he plans to stay through a second term. I happen to believe him but of course I know no better than you. If he does stay his time here will cover much of the project work targeted by the override.
The Angier project is in early schematics. Budgeting has been figured using recent (historic) MSBA values for school construction in eastern MA increased for Newton-specific issues of constrained site, residential neighborhood, and more. With a project on the boards these values are being tested against an emerging building. Newton’s CFO has been very conservative in her estimates and Newton’s numbers have been approved by the MSBA. The cost of Angier is pegged at up to $37 million and the MSBA is expected to pick up between 25 and 30% of that value.
Cabot has not entered preliminary planning yet so the Cabot budget has been developed purely on MSBA square footage costs, bumped higher for the same reasons as Angier and increased further for inflation since construction will be a couple years past Angier’s.
Finally, whether you find this comforting or concerning, the point I am making about the MSBA’s role is that the BOA and SC won’t be running the Angier and Cabot projects. Our building commissioner, owner’s project manager, project architect, and the MSBA are the real powers behind project management. The BOA and SC are partners but follow the MSBA’s direction and rules, even if we are the ones you hear speaking the most!
Maybe worth voting for Angier to see how the process works.
It is my heartfelt wish that we both will be very impressed with the outcome.
Thanks for the conversation, Steve
I’m a senior on a fixed income (more or less) and I have no children in the schools; but I plan to vote yes on all three measures.
I voted no on the last two overrides and I’ve voiced my feelings in the past about the cavalier way certain aspects of the Newton North construction were handled. I think my credentials on this are pretty solid.
This time, I feel different. I simply won’t allow my pique at past decisions to influence what’s at stake here. I’m not going to hold today’s students and teachers hostage for past actions they had no part in creating. I’m also not going to undermine what the Mayor and his administration have tried to do to fix our schools and other infrastructure and provide reasonably solid services, while keeping the City’s finances on a sound footing.
I am as mad as anyone about Newton North – I voted against it tho my kids will go there. Colossal waste of money. I’m also mad about the closing of the elementary schools 20+ years ago, under the asinine assumption that our school population would never rise again. I’m also disgusted by the unsustainable and unaffordable personnel contracts that previous elected leaders negotiated time and time again, robbing maintenance budgets which led to deterioration of our buildings.
So I GET IT when people say they are mad, because I share their frustration.
But I do not believe the answer is to vote no on this override. I view it as similar to if you hire a contractor to work on your house, and he screws something up, but you’ve already paid him, and he skips town. You’re stuck with a rotting foundation. What are you going to do, let your house rot out of spite that you were ripped off? No, you will spend the money to fix up your house, even though it’s not fair that you have to overpay, and you will do it because it’s your home and you have to preserve it for the future. Newton is our home and while it’s stinks that past leaders did such a crappy job that we are in this position, I believe the right thing to do is invest in our city – in our buildings and in our roads that have been neglected for so long.
And whether we like it or not, our school population *is* growing and we have an obligation to not only teach those children but provide them the excellent education they expect and deserve, and that means going to schools with heat, with functioning water faucets, and in appropriate spaces. Newton school children should not be receiving an education in closets or hallways. The operating override will allow short term space expansions until the permanent construction at Angier, Cabot and Zervas are complete, and it will also allow for the hiring of teachers to teach all these additional kids.
Is it fair? No. But I believe it is a truth universally acknowledged that life is not fair…
I’m with Emily on this.NNHS should never have cost what it did, particularly given the state of so many of our other school facilities. For what we paid for North, we should have been able to cover the cost of North AND 2 elementary schools. But North is over and done.
Setti and his administration did not create this problem, but he is facing up to it, and we should too.