When four long-term contributors to town government opted out this spring, they paved the way for a new brand of leadership to step in.
As the promise of growth hovers, anxiety about the additional stress on the schools floats like a sheath, blanketing the town and coloring decisions.
This may be why so many supported a property tax hike that will take money out of their own pockets. The override of Proposition 2 ½ will raise $1.6 million over three years to fund a 6 percent increase in teacher salaries.
Proposition 2 ½ is a state law that limits property tax increases plus new growth.
“I voted ‘yes’ for the override because I have two children in Westford Schools and I’ve seen how hard the teachers work,” said Marcia Macres.
Voters approved the permanent increase by a small margin. A strong push by seniors to deny it failed.
Robert Boutin, 82, worried that the tax hike would start a domino effect with the other collective bargaining groups.
“It opens the door for all the other unions to ask for a raise,” he said.
A Westford resident since 1971, Boutin said he and his wife Joanne came out on election day primarily to cast a vote against the tax increase.
“I got the impression all the candidates but one were in favor of the override,” he said.
The winning candidates
After three terms Kelly Ross stepped off the Board of Selectmen. He was joined by Don Siriani, who served one term of three years.
Winners Tom Clay, who got 2,389 votes and Elizabeth Almeida, who got 2,567, both said that they would support a well-researched and substantiated tax hike, if necessary. As a School Committee member, Clay led the push for the increase, this past year, providing residents with significant research and statistics to support an argument in favor. Colorful signage and a website called “westford for equitable teacher pay” got the message across. All seven members of the School Committee voted in favor of the override, noting that in 2010 the teachers went without any increase due to a constricted municipal budget.
“My opinion,” said Almeida, “is that if the School Committee or another board that has that authority comes to the selectmen and tells us that ‘the only way we can solve this problem is with the 2 ½ override, will you allow us to go to the community and ask the community if they would like to increase the taxes for this purpose,’ then I would say ‘yes,’ because I think that’s the selectmen respecting another board in town.”
Dennis Galvin who lost his bid to join the Board of Selectmen with 2,075 votes said he would support an override under limited circumstances.
“The situation would have to be imminent and it would have to be critical…,” he said “…we have an obligation as a town that before we try taxation that we try to expend every effort to achieve the goals we’re looking for…”
The New Progressives
But a younger population of parents with careers and high earning power are viewing things differently.
As School Committee members David Keele and Erika Kohl took their leave after nine years each, a new crop of involved citizens recruited three new candidates. Gloria Miller and Megan Eckroth won the two seats over Alicia Mallon, and now represent a set of parents whose children are in all levels of the Westford public schools from kindergarten to high school.
“I’ve know Gloria for six years,” said Tara Scanlon. “She brings a skill set to the School Committee that is needed. The outgoing members have high school students. The others have students in lower levels or (children who are) out of school. She’s actively involved in both the middle school and high school levels.”
The 4,113 votes cast for and against the permanent property tax hike offered a glimpse inside a transforming town once again verging on growth and becoming overrun by families with school age children. The margin between the ayes and the nays was only 225 votes, but it was enough to propel Westford teacher salaries on a par with the likes of Wellesley, Winchester, and Needham – three communities deemed by the School Committee to be comparable to Westford in size and numerous other characteristics.
Pending Growth
The School Committee members maybe looking to the future and anticipating a need to attract more of the brightest and best teachers. In December, Director of Land Use Management Chris Kluchman announced that the town would be facing “an unprecedented number of units” to be built over the next two years.
Kluchman said the town would be absorbing at least 500 residential Chapter 40B affordable housing units along Route 110:
- Residences at Westford West would be located behind the Red Hat building at 314 Littleton Road. Proposed are 282 rental units.
- Sugar Maple Lane would offer another 28 townhouses and condominiums at 4 Powers Road.
- At Two Robbins Road, Princeton Properties would build 180 rental units.
Chapter 40B is a state law that requires 10 percent of all housing stock in each Massachusetts community to be priced at below market rates for renters and buyers. The law gives great latitude to developers who want to build residences in communities with less than 10 percent of affordable housing inventory. Westford’s stock is at 8.32 percent.
Westford’s population is expected to grow to 25,105 by 2040 from the current 21,951, according to a town production plan, with the number of households expected to increase from 7,498 in 2010 to 10,437.
This is not unlike a period between the late 1980s and early 2000s when development exploded and Westford’s student population doubled from about 2,500 to 5,000. Between 2002 and 2003 the town completed three new school buildings.
With growth comes stress on town services and schools. The districts in the Robinson and Crisafulli Schools will be in the most flux in terms of new arrivals, said Superintendent Everett “Bill” Olsen. The student population is projected to grow along with the town’s population, said Olsen, who presented his enrollment projections to the School Committee on Nov. 7.
In addition to the Nashoba Valley Technical High School, Westford has six elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school, and a pre-school. The Robinson and Crisafuli elementary schools located off Carlisle Road would absorb most of the increased student population from the upcoming developments because the three proposed projects are all located in the same part of town.
Looking Back and Forward
What’s clear is the apathy depicted by the diluted total voter turnout in Westford town elections since 2009 ended this year. Out of 17,049 voters, 24.1 percent cast votes, according to the Town Clerk’s office. With the exception of the 2016 Presidential election, such a high turnout has not been seen since 2006 when 23.3 percent voted.
The November presidential election drew 82 percent or 13,912 Westford voters to the polls. Donald Trump’s surprising win gave way to the national rise of Indivisible, a group created to resist the Trump agenda.
With that a whole new level of progressives was born, and with this latest election, Westford may have just beared witness.
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