After months of intense debate, unofficial election results posted at City Hall show that Mayor Ruthanne Fuller’s two debt exclusion proposals passed by wide margins while the proposed operating override failed by a similar margin. The operating override failed by 1138 votes, and the debt exclusions for Countryside and Franklin elementary schools won by 977 and 1034 votes, respectively. The debt exclusions received 52.5% and 52.6% of the vote respectively. The operating override failed 47.2% to 52.8%.
The two debt exclusion proposals that passed allow additional taxes to pay for borrowing to replace or renovate Countryside and Franklin elementary schools. The operating override that failed would have allowed the City to levy an additional $9,175,000 in real estate and personal property taxes to pay for a wide range of services and capital improvements, including expansion and renovation of the Horace Mann School, investments city sidewalks and streets, additional senior services, and $4.5 million to supplement the Newton Public Schools operating budget.
The “No” vote on the override was 10, 566 to 9,428. The two debt exclusions passed by almost exactly the same margin: 10,430 “Yes” to 9,453 “No” for Countryside and 10,461 “Yes” to 9,427 “No” for Franklin. Other observations:
- In Ward 2, Precinct 1 — the home of the Horace Mann School — the override passed 322-312, and that precinct voted “Yes” on the two debt exclusion proposals.
- Around Franklin, voters in Ward 3, precincts 3 and 4 voted against the override and the debt exclusion for Countryside, but both precincts voted in favor of the debt exclusion for their school.
- In Ward 8 precinct 3 — home of Countryside — voters rejected the override and voted for the two debt exclusion proposals favoring both school projects.
- All three questions failed in Ward 1, precinct 1; Ward 4, precinct 4; Ward 7, precinct 1; Ward 8, precincts 1, 2, and 4.
Mayor Fuller announced that 20,027 voters — 34% of the city’s 58,676 registered voters –turned out in inclement weather or cast early ballots in the election. In contrast, 17,882 voters (32%) turned out for the 2013 override vote.
Mechanical issues with the voting machines in Precincts 3-3 and 3-4 delayed the final tallies.
The maps below show how different parts of the city voted.
Jack Prior, Martina Jackson, and Bruce Henderson contributed to this article.
Corrections: This article originally stated that the override (Question 1) failed 48.2% to 52.8% and the Franklin School debt exclusion (Question 3) succeeded by 1054 votes. In fact, Question 1 failed 47.2% to 52.8% and Question 3 succeeded by 1034 votes. We have corrected those errors.
