Override Ballot Question On Baldwin, Driscoll Will Be 1 Question

BROOKLINE, MA — A controversial ballot question for the May 7 election that will ask voters to weigh in on whether to raise taxes temporarily to two major school projects will be asked as one question.

Town Meeting Members, Brookline's elected legislature of 240 representatives, previously approved moving forward with funding the Driscoll School renovation and the Baldwin, ninth School, project. In May, voters will have a chance to vote on funding them through a debt exclusion override. But the question was; should voters be looking at separate questions for the separate projects?

Those in favor of combining a ballot question asking residents to approve a temporary tax increase above the state ceiling of 2.5 percent for the two projects say they are part of a three-pronged solution to overcrowding in schools and should be considered together. They also argued that "unbundling" the question could put the controversial - if long-suffering - ninth school project at risk.

Watch the meeting:

And dozens of people came out last week to tell the Select Board which made sense to them, including an organized group of those opposed to combining or "bundling" the overrides into one question. Those in favor of having separate questions argued they wanted to pick and choose which projects to fund.

"I think both camps stated very articulately the arguments for or against bundling it together," said Select Board Chairperson Neil Wishinsky in a phone interview before the Tuesday decision.

"I hear the argument with the pro-bundling folks, the argument that the voters should have the ability to vote on each solution and piece of the solution," said Wishinksy.

But he also said he understood the other side.

"We're trying to solve a problem and if one of the legs fail, especially one of the early legs, Driscoll or Baldwin, we have an incomplete solution to the problem. And Baldwin is the piece that gives us the biggest bang for the buck. And, yes, I understand there are issues with traffic, and it's controversial, but there are issues with traffic around every one of our schools. Go to the Lincoln School during the morning rush hour. It's difficult to get through there, too. So [if part of the question fails] we're left with an incomplete solution, and then what do we do?"

It takes four votes out of five select board members to put a debt exclusion on the ballot, the board voted four in favor of putting the questions together as a single plan. Select Board Member Heather Hamilton voted to keep the questions separate, and said she supported both projects, but felt by keeping the questions separate it would leave no more questions.

The Baldwin total project is estimated at $82.9 million. Driscoll School's total projected cost is $108.8 million. Both projects are expected to be finished by September 2022 and the Pierce School project, which is expected to be funded at least in part by state funds, is expected to be finished by 2024, according to a presentation at the March 5 Select Board. The new school at the Baldwin site is projected to add 27 classrooms to the town, and the Driscoll School project will add 10 new classrooms.

This override question comes a year after the town voted to raise taxes on homes by 3.1 percent via an "operating override" over three years to go for ongoing expenses at Brookline Public Schools and then a "debt exclusion override" to help fund renovation of the high school and the aquatic center, and several other buildings via a temporary tax increase over four years.

Related:

Brookline Elections Results 2018: Override & Who Won

Brookline's Driscoll, Baldwin School Projects Move Forward

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Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).