Override on Southampton town election docket next week

By CAITLIN ASHWORTH

@kate_ashworth

Published: 06-19-2017 10:25 PM

SOUTHAMPTON — Voters will decide next week whether to support a $110,000 override to fund additional staff and necessary supplies at the William E. Norris School.

A town election to decide on the override is set for Thursday, June 29, from noon to 8 p.m. at the senior center at Town Hall, 210 College Highway.

If approved, funds from the Proposition 2½ override would be used to hire a special education team leader and a math interventionist, and to help buy curriculum supplies and materials at Norris.

“These are things that we are lacking and it’s costing us,” Principal Aliza Pluta said.

The Norris School Committee is urging Southampton voters to support the override.

The committee said the school’s fiscal 2018 budget of $4 million — 3 percent more than the current year — will enable administrators to keep current staffing and services and fund an additional paraprofessional. But the committee said in the school’s newsletter, Tiger Talk, that little money is left for curriculum.

The override would mean an increase of 16 cents per $1,000 assessed property values. A home valued at $250,000, for example, would mean an extra $40, the committee said in the newsletter.

Town clerk Janine Domina said absentee ballots are available and can be filled out anytime.

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“It’s very simple. It takes two minutes,” School Committee Chairwoman Erin Couture said. “I’ve already done mine.”

At Town Meeting in May, voters supported the tax levy increase and committee members say the are hopeful the measure will pass at the ballot box.

“I have my fingers crossed,” Couture said.

Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.

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