Elliot Whipple wrote last week, commenting on my letter of the previous week, and, contrary to my recommendation, advising the residents of Westport to “Vote NO on the Proposition 2.5 override because we “are already sufficiently generous.” We “have already made significant investments in police and fire services…and addressed these needs.” The old problem of “loss of eighth grade students” to other schools “has not been resolved with the opening of the new $90 million school.”

My responses to Mr. Whipple are:

• While, according to the Mass. Department of Revenue, the average per capita property values of Westport residential property owners are 13 percent above the state average, and the average per capita incomes of Westport residents are equal to the state average, the average single family property tax bill for Westport families is 36 percent below the state average and 23 percent below the average for 13 nearby towns. Is that what he means by “sufficiently generous?”

• As I pointed out in my letter, we have made major investments over the past decade — when interest rates were very low — in our fire and police stations and in our new Middle/Senior High School. Now we need to assure that those great new facilities are adequately staffed and equipped. A significant portion of the override funds will help to do that.

• As I also pointed out in my letter, the demands for many town services, such as police, fire and emergency medical services, have increased dramatically while the number of employees providing these services has not increased commensurately. Such disparities cannot be resolved by increases in productivity, as Mr. Whipple suggests, but more realistically by spreading existing staff more thinly, and, as recently occurred, temporarily removing a school safety officer.

Town officials and members of key committees, who have been struggling with these challenges for several years, have concluded that the only responsible solution is a sizable override of $3 million drawn upon over the next three years. If you wish to read more about these issues, please visit voteyeswestport. And please vote YES on July 25th.

David C. Cole

Westport