Winchester Select Board Talks Override As Decision Time Nears

WINCHESTER - It's probably more than $9 million. It's probably less than $10 million. And don't forget the roughly $2 million to replenish the capital fund.

The Winchester Select Board continued its discussions Monday night on the 2020 budget, a process that will lead to the March 26 town election and the first override vote since 2008. With School and Finance Committee members present, the board heard greater details on school enrollment figures, class sizes, potential expansion of the world languages program, and how much of the town budget goes to schools (about 2/3rds).

In the middle of it all, quietly listening and focused on her laptop, was new town manager Lisa Wong. As Select Board chair Lance Grenzeback said, "We've asked our new Town Manager to go from 0 to 200 miles per hour and do two budgets."

If you weren't at Town Hall - and most of you weren't - you'll have two opportunities in the days ahead to hear specifics about the override and those two budgets. The first is this Thursday at 11 a.m. at the Jenks Center. The second is at a special Town Meeting Monday, Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m. While the focus of that meeting is presenting an override budget along with a no-override budget to Town Meeting members, residents can attend and listen to the presentation. It will also be televised.

After that meeting the Select Board must decide on an override figure and by law Wong must present the budget(s) to the Finance Committee by Friday, Feb. 15.

School Committee members in attendance expressed an interest in knowing what the override figure was so they could begin informing voters what could be cut if the override failed. But all Grenzeback would say is "right now it's a narrowing range." Again, probably more than $9 million, but probably less than $10.

The Select Board meeting started with a proclamation of appreciation for retiring police lieutenant Carl Fuller. Fuller retired on Super Bowl Sunday after almost 39 years of service. Fuller has received many commendations over the years and in 2006 as part of a regional SWAT team he was honored at the state house with the George C. Hanna Award.

State Senator Jason Lewis was also present and he discussed with the board a Senior Tax Relief program that neighboring Reading instituted in 2016 and Wakefield started and is awaiting approval of from the state legislature.

The goal of the program is to ease the financial pressures on low-income seniors and allow them to continue living in the town they grew up in. The state already has a senior circuit breaker that involves an income tax credit for those seniors who qualify. The senior tax relief program applies the same concept but to a senior's property taxes. The savings for seniors is significant with the additional taxes spread out over the remaining town population.

Board members also heard an update on the Master Plan by Jennifer Goldson. The update concentrated on key challenges and opportunities for Winchester including balancing preservation and development, protections for historical buildings, new housing options, the revitalization of North Main Street, and less cars and safer streets.

There will be an interactive public forum on the Winchester Master Plan on Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the Jenks Center. The public forum is the first of many events where Goldson and the Planning Board are hoping to get resident input on the town's future.

Photo by Bob Holmes