Milton’s First Override

In 1989 the Warrant Committee took the town’s first override recommendation to the Town Meeting. Proposition 2 ½ had been passed 8 years prior. After reviewing favorable factors which had allowed the town to avoid an override scenario during those 8 years, the committee’s report stated:

“However, the Town has reached a point where there will be an annual conflict between providing an essential level of service versus complying with the provisions of the Proposition 2 ½ tax levy limit.”

The Committee then presented the possible personnel cuts which would be necessary should an override not pass. These possibilities included 4 or more cuts in Fire Department staffing, 2 cuts in the Police Department and 12 positions in the School Department.

The Town Meeting, and the citizens in a town-wide vote, passed the override, as they did the following year.

It is interesting to note that in the first instance of a possible need to reduce staffing to meet the levy limit of Proposition 2 ½, staffing cuts to all major departments were envisioned.