Town Meeting Hands Tied By Override Wording

A Letter to the Editor from Bill Brown:

In my opinion, if the override that the voters will be asked to approve on April 3, 2018 does pass as written, Town Meeting will not be able to vote the school portion of those funds.

The school portion of the ballot question states "for the purpose of the general operation of the Public Schools for Classroom teachers ($1,802,484); Teaching, Learning and Classroom Support ($821,429) and Athletics ($31,056).

Mass General Laws Chapter 59 Section 22C A. Use of additional taxing authority (earmarking) states, "Thus, while the additional dollars are still part of the community's general unrestricted revenues (levy) and are not a separate funding source for the purpose of making appropriations, those funds are considered "earmarked" because they cannot be raised in the tax levy unless the community appropriates them for the purpose stated in the question.

MCL 71 S 34 states "in acting on appropriations for education costs, the city or town appropriating body (Town Meeting) SHALL VOTE ON THE TOTAL AMOUNT of the appropriations requested and SHALL NOT ALLOCATE appropriations among accounts or place any retraction on such appropriations,

Thus, in my opinion, while the voters may require Town Meeting to vote as the ballot states, by State Law Town Meeting cannot do so under 71s 34.

William C. Brown, Martin Road