Wakefield Voters Overwhelmingly Approved New Voke

WAKEFIELD, MA — Even in a paltry turnout, voters in Wakefield overwhelmingly approved the construction of a new vocational school in town.

Of the 1,069 Wakefield voters who showed up to vote in Tuesday's special election, 919 said yes. Wakefield voters broke in line with most of the cities and towns that send students to Northeast Metro Tech, with nearly 86 percent of the total 9,054 voters who showed up voting in favor of constructing the $317 million project.

Chelsea (38 percent) was the only community to vote no, while Saugus (62 percent) was the only other community to show anything less than enormous support. The city council and town meeting of those respective communities disapproved of the project, citing high costs. The cost for each town is the same on a per-student basis, but more students means higher costs, and Chelsea and Saugus send the second- and third-most students, respectively.

As of October numbers provided by the district, Wakefield sends 100 students to the school and would be responsible for only 7.81 percent of the total costs after accounting for a $141 million Massachusetts School Building Authority grant. That has the town's residents on the hook for more than $13.7 to paid over the next 30 years, pre-interest.