The failed override last year has left our City with a budget that did not keep up with very high inflation, and cannot make it up without an override of the 2.5% levy increase cap mandated by Prop 2.5.  We want to make sure our City budget keeps up with inflation for the long-term health of our City and especially our youngest residents who can't vote on their own behalf.  If we don't restore the spending power of our budget, Newton is going to become a much worse place to live. 

The Mayor of Newton is the only person who can put an override on the ballot, but we all collectively either pass or don't pass an override.  This petition is for Mayor Fuller to put the following question on the ballot as soon as possible.

"Shall the City of Newton be allowed to assess an additional $55,000,000 in real estate and personal property taxes for the purpose of restoring the purchasing power of our City in the face of inflation?"

This override would allow our City to 

1) Pay our teachers according to their new contract

2) Meet our legal obligations to retirement benefits, which were not properly accounted for in previous generations

3) Fund legally required special education interventions that were not legally required 50 years ago and have been being gradually implemented since then

4) Maintain the level of city services we planned for in 2019-20 across all budget areas:

Schools
Water and Sewer upgrades
Early Intervention services
Trash, Recycling, Yard Waste
Fire
Parks and Recreation
Police
Gath Pool and Lake Services
Ambulance
Road maintenance
Climate Resiliency
Traffic calming
Trees
NewMo
Senior Services
Police Station
NewCAL/Senior Center
Newton Free Library
Pellegrini Field House
Historic Newton
Code enforcement
Veterans’ Services
 

Inflation has outpaced the 2.5% ceiling by 10.9% from 2021-23.  In other words, since 2020, every property owner in Newton has had a 10.9% cut in their inflation-adjusted property taxes.  Everything now costs 18.6% more than it did in 2020, but residents have only paid 7.7% more in property taxes. $55,000,000 would restore the real spending power that Newton's budget had in 2020.

With last year's proposed override, the span of incremental increases to property taxes would have ranged between ~$100-700, so this proposal would range from about $550-3850.  After the override, the annual 2.5% increase cap would go back into effect.  If you want to know how much this would mean for your household, last year's override calculator is here, remember to multiply by 5.5: Override calculator 2023

If we don't restore the spending power of our budget, Newton is going to become a much worse place to live.