The League of Women Voters of Salem endorses a “Yes” vote on the high school debt exclusion ballot question, to be voted in a special election in Salem on May 5, 2026.
A “Yes” vote on this ballot question will allow the City of Salem to levy property taxes to pay for bonds that the City will issue to fund construction of a new high school. The exact question, in English and Spanish, is found on the sample ballot. The question refers to a time-limited exemption from Proposition 2 ½ to cover the period of bond repayment. Proposition 2 ½ limits the amount of revenue a city or town may raise from local property taxes each year to fund municipal operations. This ballot question allows the city to increase taxes to cover the bond repayments.
To arrive at this endorsement of a “Yes” vote, the League arranged for a presentation on March 29 by the City and the School Building Committee, made widely available on Salem Access Television, and then the League polled its membership by email to assess whether there was a consensus on this question. The member responses were unanimous in supporting an endorsement of the “Yes” position.
The League of Women Voters of Salem has reached consensus to endorse a “Yes” vote because:
Construction of a new and newly-designed high school is a good investment in the future of Salem. The new high school will provide modern, flexible spaces for academics, state-of-the-art spaces for career and technical education, updated and expanded fine arts and athletic spaces, and substantially improved spaces for theater and music performances.
The debt exclusion override will allow the City of Salem to accept a grant from the Commonwealth through the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) to pay for a substantial part of the total cost of new construction. The funds from MSBA come from taxes that Salem residents pay to the state; the match allows Salem to benefit from these funds.
Building a new high school will cost taxpayers less than the alternative if the budget override proposal is rejected by voters. The new high school will cost Salem taxpayers about $250 million because of the MSBA match. Not building the new high school will require expensive renovations to the current high school to meet code and state accreditation requirements, and the City would have to pay for that on its own, at a cost of about $354 million. (Please see presentation video at minute 50:00 for details.)
Please make a plan to vote YES on this ballot question. You can vote in person on May 5 from 7am to 8pm, or by mail if you request a mail-in ballot by April 28 at 5:00 pm. Voter participation is essential to democracy.