The Boston Globe reported this morning that four towns in Massachusetts had property tax override votes yesterday, but that three of them rejected the increases. (See 3 of 4 towns say no to override for details.)

As I mentioned back on March 14 in the post Override Vote in Brookline, my town is having an override vote next month, and now I'm getting a little worried about its prospects. It's true that things are tough for individual citizens as well as for towns, but I worry that voters are going to reject the override without having a clear understanding of what such a rejection would mean. As an elected Library Trustee, I'm particularly interested in making sure that our townspeople are fully aware of what steps the library is considering taking should the override fail.

So if you're a local citizen, please don't go into the override voted uninformed. Tomorrow (Thursday) evening the Public Library of Brookline is holding a meeting on Library Budget Cuts and the Override. The meeting starts at 7 pm and will take place at the Coolidge Corner Branch. We want to make sure the citizens of the town know what our options will be in the event the override fails. As I noted last month, the list of possibilities includes cutting back on evening hours, closing the Coolidge Corner branch on Sundays, scaling back on children's programs, and eliminating the book discussion groups. Many other options will be presented at the meeting.

So please consider attending. And let me apologize in advance for my own absence from that meeting; I'm attending a training session for my job and so can't be there myself. Don't take my lack of presence as a lack of support; I'd rather not spend the monthly Trustees meeting in May figuring out what goes on the chopping block.

Tags: boston, brookline, politics