Opinion: My Choice, My Vote after 14 Years

April 18, 2023 By Liza O’Reilly

To balance a budget for any organization, one must either cut costs or increase revenues. This goes for a family, non-profit, corporation or government. Hingham finally has a choice this year on a new revenue source to balance the budget to fund town services. I served on the School Committee for nine years from May 2013 until May 2022. Allow me to provide some historic context on how we got here and what may come.

Since 2009, Hingham School Committees have advocated to the various Select Boards and Advisory Committees for an increase in revenues using either the full 2 ½% levy OR the opportunity to present an override to the voters.  The last override in 2009, when East School opened, only included half of the funds requested by the School Committee. The schools were left with a deficit of desired services.

From 2010 to 2022, the School Committee and Town proposed Level Service budgets necessary to meet student and citizen needs, address state and federal mandates and meet legal obligations including the rise in the State minimum wage, Family Medical Leave Act laws, curriculum changes, special education services, public safety needs, and more. The Select Boards and Advisory Committees restricted revenue increases to new growth, reserve fund transfers and federal grants. The revenue was never enough to meet service requests so School Committee and Town budgets were balanced by cutting costs. (See Sustainable Budget Task Force report.)

In fact, town citizens never actually received Level Services during those years. The Reports of the Advisory Committee each year states this fact in addition to the last few years stating the need for an override. I encourage you to read the Reports chronologically. The Town Meeting Warrants 2010 to 2022 are on the Town webpage if you don’t have your old copies. This might be the first year that we actually have a Level Services budget as requested by the town departments.

As for the future, our current boards have a Memorandum of Understanding for the next four years to be fiscally responsible. The deficit grows in the outer years and there is talk of another potential override. Future deficits are not a new factor in budget forecasts but now the current boards are being realistic with options to address a deficit if there are no new revenues or reducing expenses does not make sense. They are not guaranteeing another override but they are leaving the options open to address needs or wants just as other Massachusetts communities have. Keep in mind, Hingham needs to provide full day kindergarten and Needham recently passed an override to fund full day kindergarten. Hingham funded state-required Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) retirement costs in 2009, which took a large portion of the operating budget, in contrast to Wellesley passing a bond override to fund its retirement cost responsibility. Overrides are tools to manage a town budget. Hingham has not used these tools in many years which resulted in overworked public safety staff, lack of resources to address student and staff needs during COVID, deferred maintenance of facilities and the list goes on. Let us not get backlogged again!

“A budget is a moral document. What we fund is what we value.” attributed to Martin Luther King, Jr. The Hingham Select Board decides whether to present the choice of an override to Hingham voters. The Select Board, School Committee and Advisory Committee were unanimous in supporting this year’s proposed FY24 budget and the morals and values that it represents.

For the first time in 14 years, we have a choice. Hingham voters must consider our own morals and what we value. If four years from now the Select Board presents an override, we can decide then. What will we value in four years – addressing climate change, supporting our seniors, providing mental health services, affordable housing, managing inflation, etc.? We need to keep an open mind. What might happen in four years should not prevent us from supporting what we have now.

I choose to vote YES for the override budget for the Schools and the Town. My morals and values do not match with the pain to be inflicted on our town services, town employees and citizens if the override does not pass.

Liza O’Reilly:
32-year Hingham resident and voter, parent of three Hingham Public School graduates, elected to three terms on Hingham School Committee 2013-2022, active member of the LWV Hingham.