Override Vote Coming

Selectmen are proposing a $989,000 operating budget override of Proposition 2 ½ that would add roughly $260 in prop­erty taxes to a home valued at $400,000. But even a tax hike in that range would result in some reduction of local-govern­ment services, town officials say. The non-override budget — which would go into effect if Town Meeting ap­proves

it and the voters at the polls reject an override — would lead to significantlydeeper cuts in local services, selectmen say:

— Two police officers would be laid off June 30, bringing the police force down to 15, while it’s already below the number recommended by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a town of Norfolk’s size

— Norfolk Public Library would re­duce its hours to 41 per week, down from 48 currently Town officials would also eliminate allowances built into the budget for un­anticipated expenses in the facilities and Department of Public Works budgets. Cleaning would be cut back for all town buildings.

The Fire Department wouldn’t lose any firefighters and would be able to con­tinue paramedic services known as Ad­vanced Life Support, but the town would lessen overtime pay and would eliminate money for training. “Some of these cuts are fairly devastating,” said Selectman Jim Lehan, board chairman, during the Norfolk Advisory Board meeting this past Wednes­day night.

The Advisory Board, which is comparable to fi­nance committees in most other towns, makes rec­ommendations to Town Meeting on the town bud­get and other measures. The selectmen’s proposed no-override budget calls for a 4 percent reduction in Norfolk’s elemen­tary schools budget, or some $392,000 less than what the town schools are receiving this current fis­cal year. Norfolk Superintendent Don LeClerc told the Advisory Board this past Wednesday night a cut in that range would mean the loss of perhaps four classroom teachers and some reading teachers. LeClerc said under that scenario he might try to save the reading program by hiring a reading direc­tor and relying on reading tutors instead of certified reading teachers. He predicted average class sizes in the grades rising to 23 to 26.8, up from closer to 20 now.

The Norfolk School Committee hasn’t yet voted to recommend any budget number for the Norfolk’s kindergarten-through-sixth-grade school system, so it’s unclear whether the committee might tinker with LeClerc’s recommendations.

But LeClerc’s level-funded budget recommen­dation (which assumes a 0 percent increase, as op­posed to the proposed 4 percent decrease) already calls for a doubling of bus fees to $180 per child (up from $90 per child now) and the implementation of new $10-per-month band fees. The effect on King Philip schools is less clear, and depends in large measure what the other two towns in the regional grades-7-through-12 school system, Wrentham and Plainville, decide. King Philip’s bud­get

is set by whatever total figure two of the three towns agree upon.

But King Philip’s interim superintendent, Rich­ard Robbat, told the Norfolk Advisory Board this week that under recently floated budget scenarios he can envision King Philip losing between 30 and 50 so-called “regular-education” teachers.

“With the current numbers, you’re looking at a range of 30 to 50, easily,” Robbat said.

The budget numbers aren’t a done deal — se­lectmen and the Advisory Board have been known in the past to fiddle with the numbers before Town Meeting as estimates for revenue and expenses be­come clearer and out of political considerations. The Norfolk School Committee and the Board of Selectmen have yet to meet together in public session to hash out budget scenarios, and the two boards could negotiate changes.

But the override figure is the current official po­sition of the Board of Selectmen, and it’s the first time selectmen have set a number to the long-ex­pected override request.

The override request would restore the two po­lice officer’s jobs, keeping the department at its cur­rent level. The town library would lose only two or three hours a week, as opposed to seven. The Fire Department would have money for training, and the town would have a modest maintenance budget for buildings and roads, said Norfolk Town Adminis­trator Jack Hathaway. The override request would include $297,000 for Norfolk’s elementary schools, which would still amount to less than school system is spending this current school year. Beth Gilbert, chairman of the Norfolk School Committee, said some School Committee members have suggested that the override request should be higher. “There was some immediate reaction ‘Why can’t we ask for what we really need rather than just the minimum?’” Gilbert told the Advisory Board this past Wednesday night.

But Lehan, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, suggested asking for a higher override is unreason­able given the tough economy. “I don’t know what the community can afford, and what they’re willing to support, with the pain everybody’s in right now,” Lehan said. “… Times are hard, and we’re trying our very best to sustain these services in the conditions that we’re in.”