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Change has come to Westford town government.
With two outgoing selectmen and two outgoing long-term School Committee members, the May 2 election guaranteed a shift.
But the most significant outcome is the passage of a permanent tax hike to bridge a gap in the teachers salaries as compared to comparable communities. The vote was 2,141 votes to 1,916 votes.
This year’s election marked the most ardent in recent history and one that drew a line between parents of school-age children and seniors on fixed incomes. The preliminary results were issued by Town Clerk Kaari Mai Tari about an hour-and-a-half after the polls closed.
Elizabeth Almeida was the top vote getter in the selectmen’s race with 2,567 votes. Tom Clay won the second seat with 2,389 votes. Dennis Galvin received 2,075 votes. Outgoing are Kelly Ross, after nine years, and Don Siriani after one three-year term.
Gloria Miller was the top vote-getter in the School Committee race with 2,256 votes. She’ll be joined by Megan Eckroth who got 1,937 votes. Alicia Mallon garnered 1,811 votes. Miller and Eckroth will replace nine-year veterans David Keele and Erika Kohl.
With the retirement of Ellen Harde as the town moderator after a quarter century, the town moderator’s post was widely watched. It will be filled by Susan McNeil Spuhler who beat out newcomer Tom Severo and outgoing Selectman Siriani. The votes were 1,329 for Spuhler, 1,246 for Severo, and 1,176 for Siriani.
A contested unexpired one-year term for the Board of Health was won by Joanne Belanger who received 2,036 votes to Shunhe Xiong’s 1,563 votes.
Uncontested races
Dylan O’Connor won a five-year seat on the Planning Board with 2,947 votes.
In a curious outcome, Gary Lavelle, who withdrew on April 18 from running for a three-year Planning Board seat got 1,718 votes to candidate Tom Spuhler’s 1,614 votes.
Robert Price and Hajo Koester will both return to the Library Trustees Board with 2,943 and 2,919 votes.
Incumbent Diane Holmes will spend another five years on the Housing Authority with 3,042 votes.
Zac Cataldo and Michele Pitoniak-Crawford will return to their three-year Board of Health seats with 2,965 votes and 2,754 votes, respectively.
More about the override
With the passage of a Proposition 2½ override, property taxes will increase by $181 on an average assessed house of $490,700. The increase will raise $1.6 million over three years. Proposition 2 ½ is a state law that limits property tax increases to 2.5 percent plus new growth.
Many of the town’s senior citizens voiced opposition to the tax increase noting that fixed incomes and rising health care costs were stressing them.
“They’re slowly trying to drive the seniors out,” said Robert Boutin as he exited the polls on May 2.
But a new sector of voters appears to have awakened. In May 2016 there were 16,266 registered voters in town, and 9.5 percent turned out for the town election, according to the Town Clerk’s office. Today there are 17,049 registered voters in Westford and 24.1 percent turned out on May 2.
UPDATE – The May 2016 number of registered voters and percentage was corrected on May 3, 2017.
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