This thoughtful post on a Cape Cod town’s rejection of a Prop. 2-1/2 override is well worth a read. The stakes were pretty high – the failure of the override will mean that town employees will lose their jobs and town services will be cut back. People apparently knew this, yet the override failed. The reasons why, as set out in the post, are worth pondering.
Local boy and Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously declared that "taxes are what we pay for a civilized society." Now there’s someone who knew how to frame an issue! Don’t get me wrong: I’m not for every tax increase that comes down the pike, and I understand that there can be good reasons to vote against a Prop. 2-1/2 override (one good example in the Cape Cod post: older people who have been in their homes for a long time but who live on fixed incomes may find that their homes are valued at many times what they paid for them and that they simply cannot afford to have their property taxes go up again). But – as we’ve said on several occasions ’round these parts – Deval Patrick’s approach to this issue is exactly right. Tell me what you want government to do and how you will pay for it, and then let’s talk about how much tax we should be paying.
I live in the next town over from Harwich and was somewhat surprised that the override in Harwich was defeated. I would be curious about how the proponents of the override did their get out the vote organization, given the disparity between the Town Mtg vote and the Town election.A couple of years ago, we in Brewster had an $850,000 override. Brewster is a fairly conservative town, particularly outside of Presidential election years. One thing I know we did not do was assume just because we got our Town Meeting vote, that the town vote was fait accompli. I’m not suggesting that this was the case in Harwich, just that it seemed, based on the Town Meeting vote, that this was a winnable override.That said, I do not support the position that defeating the override was necessary to drive home the message that Town Finances are being mismanaged. If that’s the case, then the actions needed to remedy that are different than the immediate firing of so many people that have been dedicated to providing service in Harwich. It’s simply cruel and insensitive, an easy way out from tackling what is alleged to be the real issue. Sometimes, the only way change occurs is through painful transition. Those that voted against the override did not win anything. Harwich has chosen to have, for at least the time being, poorer services and a diminished education for their children. Some people may make the choice that Harwich is not the community they ought to raise their families.