LtE: Dockser urges YES for Reading Override
To the Editor:
Everywhere we look right now, costs have gone up. Each of us is seeing this at the gas pump, the grocery store and in our own health care costs whether through work, Medicare or other sources. And just as our households face these increased costs, so too does the Town of Reading. Huge increases in health care costs, inflation well above 2.5%, and general cost of living and operating costs that are up by more than 2.5%.
Reading delivers great services to the community, effectively and efficiently. Schools, public safety, elder services, the library, and community services all make Reading the community that it is, with great value to its residents. Having worked closely with town leaders and staff and our neighbors who help to run this town, I know they always are looking to find ways to deliver better service and for less money. If you want to continue to utilize these services and keep them vital and appropriately staffed, you need to VOTE YES FOR THE OVERRIDE.
WHAT ABOUT PROPOSITION 2 ½? Prop 2 ½ when it was passed back in 1980, understood that costs for running government would in fact go up by more than 2 ½ % in many years, so it created a mechanism to approach taxpayers to review the facts and vote to support additional increases. I encourage you to get the facts. The town has created a webpage that will allow you to do this. Go to the town website—www.ReadingMa.gov and click on “FY28 Override Hub”.
If we don’t bring in additional tax revenue with an override, the town will have to cut services. Cutting means substantial job and service cuts across the board, impacting the schools including the loss of many educators, reductions in public safety staffing, as well as in human and elder services and much more.
ARE WE ALONE WITH THIS NEED? Not at all. Most communities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts must go to the voters to request these “overrides” on a regular basis to provide the services their elected and appointed leaders believe are needed in their communities, and just to maintain existing services. We wish that the Commonwealth would provide better local support…but it has not offered the needed increased funding levels. 54 communities in Massachusetts have gone or are now going to the voters in 2026 requesting overrides.
READING : Reading last asked for and the voters supported an override in 2018, with the goal of it lasting 4-5 years before coming back for another override. The town was able to navigate this and hold on until 2026—Covid relief funds and strong financial management by the town allowed the last override to last 8 years. But we can’t continue the current level of service without an override now.
VOTE YES: Now it is time to support the services that we value and that define us as a community. Please join me in voting YES for the override on the November ballot—Vote YES on Question 10.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark Dockser
Beaver Road