By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — Early voting for the Presidential Election is in full swing at the Town Hall gymnasium, 235 North St.
Today, Oct. 24, marks the fifth session of the 12-day Early Voting schedule. When combined with the traditional Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5, all registered voters will have had 13 opportunities to cast their ballot for the next president of the United States.
There are also multiple down ballot races plus seven ballot questions for voters to weigh in on — five statewide ballot questions and two local ballot questions.
If you haven’t yet registered to vote, don’t panic! You have until this Saturday, Oct. 26 to do so. This deadline happens to coincide with Saturday’s Early Voting session taking place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Town Clerk’s office will be open on Saturday to accommodate town residents who wish to register to vote in person. This is also the deadline to make changes to your party affiliation or record a change to your name and/or address.
Voters can check their voting status on the Secretary of State’s website and as long as they register or make changes by midnight this Saturday at sec.state.ma.us/ovr they can vote in this Presidential Election.
On Monday night, Town Clerk Sue Duplin provided an update on Early Voting, the election process and all the online resources related to the election on her website to the Select Board, which also voted to sign the election warrant. She thanked her staff, the North Reading Police Department, the Department of Public Works and all of the poll workers who she said are well trained and able to deal with any situation that arises. “You don’t know what is involved in preparing for an election until you do it. It is the same amount of work whether you have a 5 percent turnout or a 90 percent turnout,” Duplin said.
For those who choose to vote by mail, Tuesday, Oct. 29 is the deadline to apply for an Early/Absentee by mail-in ballot. Mail-in ballots may be dropped off anytime during in-person Early Voting at the Town Clerk’s Office or in the 24-hour specially marked red, white and blue locked ballot box located outside Town Hall.
A specimen ballot is also viewable on the Town Clerk’s website (www.northreadingma.gov/town-clerk).
REMAINING TOWN HALL EARLY VOTING DATES:
• Thursday, Oct. 24– 8AM-8PM
• Friday, Oct. 25– 8AM-1PM
• Saturday, Oct. 26– 9AM-5PM
(Oct. 26 is also the deadline to register to vote or make changes to one’s party affiliation or record name and/or address changes.)
• Monday, Oct. 28– 8AM-4PM
• Tuesday, Oct. 29– 8AM-8PM
(Oct. 29 is also the deadline to apply for an Early/Absentee by mail-in ballot)
• Wednesday, Oct. 30– 8AM-4PM
• Thursday, Oct. 31– 8AM-8PM
• Friday, Nov. 1– 8AM-1PM
(Deadline to vote Absentee Over the Counter at the Town Clerk’s office is by noon on Monday, Nov. 4.)
Please note that on the traditional Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, the in-person voting venue will change to the Parish Hall at St. Theresa Church, 63 Winter St., where all four of the town’s precincts have cast ballots for years. The Town Hall does not have the infrastructure and parking available to facilitate the volume of Election Day voting.
BALLOT QUESTIONS
An overview by Beacon Hill Roll Call of the first two of the five statewide ballot questions is published inside today’s Transcript (Q1: Whether the State Auditor can audit the state legislature and Q2: Whether the MCAS should be eliminated as a graduation requirement). Next week’s Transcript will include an overview of Q3 (Whether ride share drivers should be allowed to unionize), Q4 (Whether psychedelic substances in mushrooms and plants should be legalized for those 21+) and Q5 (Whether the hourly wage of tipped workers should be increased over the next five years until it matches the current state minimum wage by Jan. 1, 2029 at which point all tips could be pooled and distributed by management to all tipped and non-tipped workers).
The summary below on local Questions 6 and 7 comes from information provided by the town. The local questions will appear on the ballot as follows:
QUESTION 6
Shall the Town of North Reading be allowed to exempt from the provisions of proposition two and one-half, so-called, the amounts required to pay for the bond issued in order to reconstruct the Chestnut Street bridge over the Ipswich River?
QUESTION 7
Shall the Town of North Reading be allowed to exempt from the provisions of proposition two and one-half, so-called, the amounts required to pay for the bond issued in order to purchase a ladder truck for the Fire Department?
Summary of Q6 and Q7:
“Questions 6 and 7 propose temporary Proposition 2 ½ debt exclusions to reconstruct the Chestnut Street Bridge and to replace the Fire Department’s ladder truck. Prop. 2 ½ is a state law that caps the overall property tax ‘levy limit’ on existing property to 2 ½ percent increases per year, plus tax revenue from new growth that adds to the town’s tax base…The increase is for the amount of the annual debt service payments for approved projects, and it lasts only for the life of the related borrowing.
“As borrowing costs for previous debt exclusion projects wind down in FY26, the amount of property taxes attributable to debt exclusions will drop off by $0.15 per thousand dollars of valuation, or $121.65 for the average single-family home in town valued at $811,899.
“At October 2024 Town Meeting, North Reading voters approved two capital projects by two-thirds majority vote: a $4.5 million bridge on Chestnut Street, and a $1.9 million Fire Department ladder truck. The annual debt service is estimated at $307,688 for the bridge and $142,000 for the ladder truck. The combined project costs are $6.4 million, with an estimated $449,688 borrowing costs per year in the highest years.
“The Select Board sought authorization for borrowing regardless of the outcome of the debt exclusion vote so that these projects could proceed in a timely fashion. The outcome of the vote on Questions 6 and 7 will determine if the borrowing costs for these projects can be paid with property taxes beyond the Proposition 2 ½ limit.”
A yes vote would mean: If voters approve a Proposition 2 ½ debt exclusion on Ballot Question 6, the estimated annual household cost for the Chestnut Street Bridge would be $0.08 per thousand dollars of valuation in the highest borrowing cost years, or $65.96 per year for a single-family home valued at $811,899.
If voters approve a Proposition 2 ½ debt exclusion on Ballot Question 7, the estimated annual household cost for the Fire Department Ladder Truck would be $0.04 per thousand dollars of valuation in the highest borrowing cost years, or $31.04 per year for a single-family home valued at $811,899.
Each project is considered separately on its own Ballot Question, but if both were approved, the estimated annual household cost of the combined debt exclusions would be $0.12 per thousand dollars of valuation in the highest years, or $97 per year for a single-family home valued at $811,899.
A no vote would mean: Town Meeting approved seeking authorizations for borrowing regardless of the result of debt exclusion votes. If debt exclusions fail on election ballot Questions 6 or 7, the debt from these projects would need to be absorbed into the existing tax levy. The projects could also be funded via another source at a future Town Meeting or a future debt exclusion vote.
There is a calculator to estimate how this would impact your property tax bill based on your home’s assessed value, if it’s above or below the average value of $811,899. Visit “Property Tax Impact Calculator” on the MA Dept of Revenue, Division of Local Services online: https://dlsgateway.dor.state.ma.us/reports/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=Analysis.TaxImpactCalc. The annual adjustment / borrowing costs for both projects combined is estimated to be $449,688 per year.
The Massachusetts Division of Local Services offers short video clips explaining Proposition 2 ½ at https://www.mass.gov/info-details/proposition-2-12-and-tax-rate-process.”