The Westport Finance Committee voted Thursday to not support a proposed $6.876 million override, and will recommend at next month's Town Meeting Town Meeting that Article 5 be "passed over."

Though the override would have included approximately $1.84 million in municipal spending, the major sticking point in the committee's unanimous vote was the Westport Community Schools' request for $4.44 million in override funds — chairwoman Karen Raus said that amount is just not palatable. She said that if the override passed all required steps, the owners of the average single family property in Westport would pay an additional $855 in taxes per year.

On the warrant, Article 4 asks voters to appropriate funds for the town and schools' proposed budgets, with no override funds included. Then, Article 5 seeks to go further, asking voters if they want to appropriate specific funds via the override. Though the recommendation is that the override be passed over, residents are under no obligation to dismiss it. If approved at Town Meeting, that override amount would then go to voters as a ballot question at a later referendum.

Though Raus and select board members have repeatedly supported an override in recent months, she said the numbers were just too much to support.

"The town absolutely needs an override and we support it. But not this," she said.

The school's proposed override contains 33 separate funding requests, including the hiring of 42 new full and part time staff members. Those hires alone would add $2.7 million worth of new salaries, and fringe benefits would also have cost an additional $600,000, she said.
"We felt that's not something that would be acceptable for the residents," she said.

Assuming Article 5 is passed over, Raus said there remains a real need for discussion on an override, and she hopes to work with the select board in the coming months to come up with a reasonable amount, and propose it at a special town meeting that would eventually be held.
Select board chairwoman Shana Shufelt said she supports the committee's decision:

"The quick answer is that I think the finance committee made the right decision and I look forward to working with them to further refine the numbers for a future override."

While the finance committee could have reduced the override amount requested by the schools, "we would have had to come up with a rationale" for that number, Raus said.

"We don't want to present something arbitrarily without thinking through it."