Orange residents cast their ballots on Proposition 2½ override

Orange election workers Sue Tandy and Jeff Cole greet and check in Rice Flanders at 62 Cheney St. on Monday.

Orange election workers Sue Tandy and Jeff Cole greet and check in Rice Flanders at 62 Cheney St. on Monday. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

Orange residents leave 62 Cheney St. on Monday after voting.

Orange residents leave 62 Cheney St. on Monday after voting. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

By DOMENIC POLI

Staff Writer

Published: 06-23-2025 5:49 PM

Modified: 06-23-2025 7:10 PM


ORANGE — Voters flocked to the polls at 62 Cheney St. on Monday to have their say on a Proposition 2½ override.

Orange faces a deficit of roughly $1.7 million heading into fiscal year 2026, and even if $300,000 in free cash is used, the town will still need to find $1.4 million somewhere, Town Administrator Matthew Fortier has said previously. State law requires voter approval before a municipality can increase its property tax levy by more than 2.5%.

Some in town point to the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District as the culprit for why an override was needed. The Mahar School Committee voted in April to approve a 4% budget increase for the next school year despite being repeatedly asked to make more significant cuts in light of Orange’s financial situation. The assessment to Orange is increasing by 12.8%.

Voters leaving the polls on Monday said they want Mahar to have the funding it needs, but several could not justify further tax hikes.

Bruce St. John said he voted against the override.

“Taxes are quite high already,” he said.

Several department heads spoke at the June 18 Selectboard meeting, appealing to voters to support the override so no cuts would have to be made to public safety. Police Chief James Sullivan said failure to adopt an override would result in the elimination of five officers and the overnight police shift, and Fire Chief James Young said his department would have to lay off three firefighters and lose the ability to run a second ambulance.

But St. John, who grew up in Orange, feels those types of threats have been made countless times in the past.

“When I was a kid we didn’t have any bigger [of a] population and we had three cops. One cruiser, three cops,” he said. “Same thing with the Fire Department — they had maybe four full-time Fire Department people, the rest were all volunteers. And the town ran fine.”

Ryan Belliveau also voted against the override because he feels he is taxed enough already and the town needs “a different plan of action.”

“This town likes to overspend money like it’s water and there needs to be some budget reconciliation,” Belliveau said.

Moderator Steven Garrity decided at the June 16 Annual Town Meeting to withhold a vote on the town’s budget until the day after the Proposition 2½ override vote at the ballot boxes. A few other articles were also postponed at Finance Committee member Kathy Reinig’s recommendation and voters will convene inside Ralph C. Mahar Regional School’s Kermit Cook Auditorium at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The scheduled continuation has been moved from Orange Town Hall due to the intense heat and humidity forecasted.

Resident Tania Novak, the mother of a 10-year-old boy in the Orange public school system, said she voted in favor of the override because she does not want to lose any public services.

“I’m concerned about the police and fire [departments] having enough staff,” she said, adding that she is afraid of losing the overnight police shift “because that’s when things happen.”

She added, “It’s scary, not having enough coverage. You just don’t know when something’s going to happen.”

Mike Magee, on the other hand, objected to the ballot’s wording and said he felt the election was “totally bogus” because Orange will have to pay its Mahar assessment regardless of how residents vote on the overall FY26 budget. New Salem, Wendell and Petersham — the other towns in Mahar’s regional agreement — have already adopted the figures, with Orange being the last town to vote. According to Town Counsel Donna MacNicol, a two-thirds majority of towns is required for ratification.

The ballot read, “Shall the town of Orange be allowed to assess an additional $1,477,500.00 in real estate and personal property taxes for the purposes of funding the regional school assessment for the fiscal year beginning July First, 2025.”

“This should have been written as, ‘To fund the general budget,’” Magee argued.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.