MILTON — For the second time in 10 years, voters have approved a $9.5 million tax increase to solve a deficit in next year’s town and school budgets, avoiding cuts in jobs and services.
The Proposition 2 1/2 override ballot question was approved by a vote of 5,566 in favor to 3,215 against, town officials announced just before midnight Tuesday, capping the annual town election.
Of the $9.5 million, $5.7 million is for the public schools, leaving a little more than $3 million for the town and $700,000 for a stabilization fund, which will be used to help plan future budgets.
The next step is for a new town’s proposed $149 million budget proposal to be submitted next Monday at the annual town meeting.
The passage of the override “is excellent news for our whole town and especially our schools, which had so much at stake in this ballot question,” Milton School Committee chair Elizabeth Carroll said in an email Wednesday.
“With the support of our community, Milton Public Schools will now be able to continue providing excellent academic and extracurricular opportunities for our students,” Carroll said.
The School Committee thanks Milton’s voters “for sending this powerful message of support to our students and educators, as well as all Town departments,” Carroll’s email said.
Other town officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Town officials said a combination of low revenues, rising costs, and the end of federal pandemic-era funding created the need for a permanent tax increase.
One of the biggest expense increases is for health insurance, which is due to increase by 20 percent, according to a budget presentation.
Proposition 2 1/2, the state’s tax cap law, limits the amount of property tax revenues a community can raise to 2.5 percent of the value of taxable property.
Because the override passed, the tax bill for an average single-family home, which is currently assessed at $1,028,457, will increase by $1,063 for a total estimated tax bill of $12,857, according to town estimates.
Throughout the day, voters expressed mixed views on the tax increase, which comes at a time of high inflation.
Lindsay Bigby, co-chair of Milton United, said she voted yes to preserve the town’s services and maintain its quality of schools.
She said the 2.5 percent tax cap every year fails to keep up with growing inflation, meaning the town can’t afford minimum services.
“This is a vote that impacts every single human in our town because of all the services that it will impact,” she said.
Specifically, she said she was concerned about the number of positions within the school system that were on the chopping block and funding of other town services such as pothole repair and plowing.
Failing to pass the override would have resulted in a $141,000 net budget cut for the town’s library, which would likely lead it to close on the weekends, which is when most children visit it, Bigby said.
Jay Fundling, a member of Milton’s Warrant Committee, also said he voted yes, mainly to preserve the school and health insurance budgets.
“It’s always tough to ask people to raise their own taxes,” Fundling said. “But if we want the services the town provides at the level the town provides them, we need to pay for them. There‘s no way around that.”
Fundling said the argument that the school budget is growing out of control is a misconception and that it’s always been a big part of the town’s budget, making up about 40 and 50 percent.
“People feel like the schools are growing out of control, but in reality, they’re about the same size of the total town budget that they’ve been for decades,” he said.
But Megan Walsh, who has two daughters in the school system, had a different take on the town’s financial picture.
She said she voted no because of the town’s lack of transparency with its budget.
She said there‘s been “a lot of unnecessary spending” over the past several years that has contributed to the budget shortfalls.
“I don’t think there was a lot of thought that went into the overall spending. I would’ve liked to see some cuts or accountability and transparency over why we’re in the position that we’re in,” she said.
Walsh also said she’s worried a tax increase is going to drive people, and specifically young families, out of the town.
“It’s counterproductive what’s taking place because we want to bring in young families, but these young families are already paying overprice for housing,” she said.
“We’re going to tax people out of this town, which is not what we want to do.”
Her biggest concern? The town has a lack of financial discipline and accountability with what it spends, she said.
“They keep spending, spending, spending, as if they assume the taxpayers will cover it. We can’t have that mindset going forward,” she said. “Everyone is for the schools — my daughters are there, I love the teachers, I love the schools — but we need accountability before anything.”
Tonya Alanez and Kathy McCabe of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Emily Spatz can be reached at emily.spatz@globe.com. Follow her on X @emilymspatz. Rita Chandler can be reached at rita.chandler@globe.com.