Comparison of Underrides

Further examination of towns that opted for an underride makes for interesting comparisons to the one our town is now considering. Those towns that did pass underrides in excess of 1,000,000, Lancaster and Plymouth, were in very different situations than Amesbury is currently. In 2003, the year Lancaster passed its $1,000,000 underride for FY 2005 by 1 vote, the town had $293 in excess capacity. Between 2003 and 2004, their levy limit increased by almost 47%, from $6.66 million to $9.53 million, with an excess capacity of $1.2 million. Plymouth had almost $2.3 million in excess capacity when they passed their $2 million underride in 1995, for FY 1996. In 1997, the year following the underride took affect, Plymouth’s excess capacity was almost $4.2 million!

Unlike the underride proposed for Amesbury, it appears that the underrides in Lancaster and Plymouth were in response to foreseen increases in excess capacity. In neither Plymouth nor Lancaster did the town vote an underride which would completely eliminate their excess capacity, as could be the case in Amesbury when the underride takes effect in FY 2009. Barring significant new growth, Amesbury would only be able to increase money raised through property taxes by 2.5% if the underride passes. To understand the potential impact, if the underride went into effect for FY 2008, new revenues from property taxes would have been limited to approximately $720,000. When compared to the school’s special education costs increase of $1.1 million in FY 2008, it is clear that the complete elimination of excess capacity can easily lead to dramatic cuts in municipal services.

All sources are from the DOR online databank,