Voters defeated a measure at last night’s special Town Meeting that would have used millions of dollars in town reserves to fund a one-time tax break this year. After over an hour of presentations for and against the proposal, brought forward by the Acton Voters Group, and a brief period of questions from the Town Meeting members, voters defeated the motion 947 to 640. Several initial voice votes in the Acton-Boxborough Regional High School gym and auditorium were too close to call so tellers counted the votes. A motion for members to cast their votes via secret ballot was easily defeated early on in the meeting. If approved, the proposal would have used $2.4 million in town reserves to prevent a projected 4 percent property tax increase this year. Despite losing the vote, voters group members — who gathered more than 1,500 certified signatures to call the special Town Meeting — were generally pleased with the meeting and said they will continue to advocate for more conservative spending in town. “They don’t feel really disappointed at all,” said voters group Chairman Clint Seward. “We’re not going to give up and go away. … Certainly we’re going to keep looking at what’s happening and making suggestions. Members of the voters group urged residents to use about half the money leftover from the town’s participation in the Northeast Solid Waste Consortium, or NESWC, to keep this fiscal 2008 property taxes nearly the same as last yea ...
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