SOUTHAMPTON — Faced with three overrides in Tuesday’s special town election, voters passed all of them by comfortable margins.
The three Proposition 2½ debt-exclusion overrides will fund a $1.6 million bond for the East Street Bridge to be paid off in 20 years, as well as a $250,000 bond for a new town plow truck and a $97,800 bond for repairs to Norris Elementary School, both to be paid off in 10 years.
The East Street Bridge question passed with 496 in favor and 323 against. Voters approved the plow truck purchase by a m argin of 467 to 352. And 474 voters said “yes” to the Norris School work, with 345 against.
With all three projects passing, the total annual tax increase for the average Southampton single-family home, valued at $300,000, will be $63.77 annually.
The replacement of the East Street Bridge, which was built in the 1930s, will cost $2.6 million in total. The town will use a $1 million MassWorks grant it received in 2017 to cover the remainder of the cost. The average Southampton single-family home will see a yearly increase of $46.66 in taxes over the 20-year life of the bond.
Construction is set to begin on the bridge next spring or summer, and is expected to take six to nine months to complete.
The bond for a new plow truck will be paid in yearly installments of $30,844.
The approval of the bond for repairs to Norris Elementary means that the school will be able to replace sinks in science labs and classrooms, install new carpeting in several classrooms, replace and repair exterior doors, fix roof gutters, drains and drain scuppers, and restore masonry work on the school’s front pillars.
The bond will be paid in yearly installments of $12,066.
In total, 820 of the town’s 4,470 voters, or 18 percent, cast ballots in the election.
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.