WELCOME

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Why Vote Yes?

Westport's Town Government provides many valuable services to our residents. Yet in recent years the shackles of Proposition 2 1/2 have placed those services from our schools to our public safety and many other services under duress due to staff and equipment shortages.

The VOTE YES WESTPORT campaign is a beacon of unwavering faith in our Town's potential. We appeal to the better angels of your nature to stand with us in preserving this rural farming/fishing coastal community we hold dear.

The Big Picture:

Westport is emerging from a challenging decade that started in a recession and ended with Covid and inflation.

Despite those challenges, the People of Westport bit the bullet and voted for debt exclusions, funded by time-limited increases in the property tax, to pay for:

A new Fire Station - to replace an old wood building that was turned into a real estate office.

A new Police Station - to replace a moldy old structure that has since been demolished.

A new Middle/Senior High School - to replace a contaminated Middle School and a deteriorating High School.

These were all critical investments in the Town’s future by the People of Westport.

Despite time-limited increases in the property tax to fund these three capital investments, Westport still has one of the lowest tax rates in the State.

The challenge for the current decade is to fund the operating expenses of the Town Employees working in these great new facilities and in other Town Departments so that they can supply the services needed and desired by Town Residents.

Over the past few decades demands for Town services have increased significantly while the number of Town Employees has either declined or risen only marginally. This disparity can only be addressed by increasing property tax revenues through an override. To learn more about the override process, click here.

These mismatches between needs and available services in key departments are described in the following sections.

Exploring the Mismatches

Our Schools:

Westport Schools struggled through a very difficult decade but are now emerging from those travails and are on the road to a new era that depends heavily on the override to reach ambitious objectives.

What were the problems confronted in the past decade?

PCBs in the Middle School.
Deteriorating and outdated facilities at the High School.
Closing of the Middle School and squeezing students into the other three schools.
Loss of Westport students to other public and private schools with associated payments of tuition to those schools.
Increases in students with disabilities and other special needs that required large increases in staff and special facilities.
Reduction in State Aid as a result of the recession that never fully recovered.
COVID that forced drastic adjustments in all school programs and adversely effected educational achievements.

What have been key features of the recovery?

Outstanding effort by the School Building Committee to assess the needs, seek State assistance, build community support for the new MSHS and oversee completion of the new school ahead of time and below budget.
Moving into the new MSHS and redistributing students and teachers among all the schools.
New programs made possible in the new facilities and by the visions of Administrators, Teachers and Students.
Return of students from other schools to the new facilities.

How will the override help?

Westport Public Schools in recent years have been allocated 54% of additional funds so the proposed override of $3 million to be used over 3 years is expected to add something like $1.5 million to the School budgets over the next three years in addition to the normal 2.5% increase and a share of the revenue from “new growth.”
These funds will be used to fill staff vacancies and add new staff to cope with increased enrollments, growing special needs programs, and new instruction programs focused on newly emerging career opportunities.
They will also be used to purchase equipment for these new instruction programs.
All these measures will help the Schools improve their performance and continue their progress toward providing the high quality education programs that our youths deserve.

Our Public Safety Services:

Police Department:

In the 2 decades from 2001 to 2021, calls for police services increased by 65% and citations by 20%, while the number of officers declined from 34 to 31 or by 10%.
In 2022 the Westport Police Department, with 31 full time officers, responded to 362 accidents, issued 1,967 motor vehicle citations, made 343 arrests, and issued 76 restraining orders.
The first segment of the override would fund one additional School Resource Officer at the Elementary School.

Fire Department:

The Westport Fire Department responded to 650 fire related emergencies in 2022.
It also responded to 2,500 EMS calls in 2022.
- That is 1 visit per every 3 residences per year.
Thirty years ago the WFD responded to 1,390 fire and EMS calls with a staff of 20 members.
Today they are responding to nearly 3,200 fire and EMS calls per year - an increase of 130% - with a staffing level of 21 members an increase of 5%.
For over a decade the Department has been indicating the need for three additional line staff members to reach their optimal goal, but without success.
The first segment of the override would fund one additional Firefighter Paramedic.
The Fire Department has a long list of equipment needs that have gone unfilled for a number of years.
To see more information on FD services click here

Book circulation at the Free Public Library has increased by 18% over the past 20 years or roughly in proportion to the growth of population.
Hours open to the public has increased by 16% and the number of staff hours per week is up by 40%.
There has been an 83% increase in the holding of meetings in the library primarily attributable to the addition of the Manton Meeting Room that was given to the library by the Manton Foundation.
Computers that are available for public use at the Library are very popular and have recently been connected to the new fiber optic network resulting in much faster communication speeds.

A Short History of the Westport Council on Aging

For nearly a decade, seniors in Westport pushed to have a place they could call their own. It took a federal grant of $450,000 and money from the Hazel Tripp trust fund to fully renovate the 105-year-old Head School building at 75 Reed Road, Westport.

The ribbon cutting ceremony that officially opened the Westport Council on Aging on December 7, 1996 marked two significant milestones. It was the first dedicated and permanent home for the Council on Aging, which had occupied several locations during its early existence. And its beauty, design, amenities, and rooms re-purposed the restored old Head schoolhouse.

The ribbon cutting was completed by Margo Boote, Alice Manchester, and Nellie Moura at the 1 pm ceremony. In attendance at the ribbon cutting were Director Mary Ellen Gomes, Advisory Board Chairwoman Lois Spirlet, Chairman of the Board of Selectman Marjorie Holden, State Representative Michael Rodrigues, Westport Selectman Steven Tripp, and Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs representative Emmett Schmarsow.

Twenty-seven years later, the elder community gratefully celebrates almost three decades in its historic schoolhouse. Our elder population has grown from 2,730 seniors in 1996 to the current 5,727 over 60 population, representing a 110% increase in the number of senior and an increase from 21% to 38% of the town’s population. Additionally, there are 9 % of Westport’s residents between the ages of 55 – 59 years old. By 2025, almost 50% of Westport’s population is projected to be over 60.

To meet the need of the Westport seniors, we have expanded our staffing, mostly funded by grants, as follows:

· The Outreach Department has 1 full-time Outreach Coordinator and 2 part-time Outreach Specialists

· The Supportive Day Program has a full-time Director, a part-time Assistant Director and 7 Aides.

· The Transportation Department has 1 dispatcher and 5 drivers,

· We have added a Volunteer Coordinator and a Nutrition Meal Site manager. (both positions vacant currently due to decrease in grant funds).

Since the COVID pandemic and reopening in June 2021, the senior center has seen a steady rise in attendance almost to pre-pandemic numbers. In FY 2023, the senior center has provided 9931 activities and events to 930 seniors, including Exercise classes, Art, Knitting, Technology instruction, and Supportive Day Program. We also provided Dental Hygiene clinics, Podiatry clinics, and AARP Tax preparation.

The Outreach Department has provided 3088 services to 541 seniors needing assistance with various issues, including Medicare Counseling and medical insurance application assistance, Food Pantry delivery and SNAP application and Fuel assistance applications.

Our medical equipment loan closet is used almost daily. We provide free, gently used equipment that has been donated to the center.

Additionally in 2023, the Transportation Department provided 2058 rides for medical, personal, banking, and other errands. Transportation services are the fastest growing need in our community. Our recurring grant funds from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation ended in 2018, and we have since struggled to fund the transportation services. Our Supportive Day Program continues to be strong, however with space limitations, we are only providing SDP three days per week.

How will the override help?

The funds from the override will be used to fund van driver salaries and transportation expenses. They will also be used for maintenance and utility expenses, as we have seen a decrease in these line items and expenses are on the rise with inflation.

Space at the senior center has been an issue as we have expanded the activities and programs we offer. We have been unable to offer new programs, as we are at full capacity. We hope to explore some rental space options in the next few years, possibly the old High School.

As we continue to grow, we will need the support of the town and its residents to be able to provide exemplary services to our most valued senior population.

Other Town Departments

The Town has 21 other Departments that provide many important services to the people of Westport.
For a record of the numbers of full-time employees over the past 22 years, click here.
Among the most important are the Highway Department and the Board of Health which includes the Town Nurse and the Transfer Station.
In 2000 these 21 departments had 52 full-time employees.
In 2022 they had only 46 employees: a decline of 8.5%.
Between 2000 and 2020, Westport's resident population increased from 14,183 to 16,339, a 15% increase.
That means the ratio of Town Employees in these 21 Departments relative to the number of Town Residents decreased by 30% between 2000 and 2022.
The deepest reduction was in the Highway Department which went from 17 employees in 2000 to 6 in 2022.

How Have Our Town Services Fared?

For 30 years Westport has not passed an override.
Town Employees have done their best to provide needed services for a larger resident population as well as more summer visitors and seasonal residents.
In recent years these problems have been compounded by lack of funds to employ needed staff and replace aging or obsolete equipment.
In many instances, if staff members are sick or otherwise unavailable, there is no backup to replace them.
In some Departments, such as the Fire Department, we don't meet State Standards.
In many others, services have been slowed down by lack of personnel.

We should do better!

We can do better!

On July 25th:

Vote Yes Westport!

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Once posts are published, you’ll see them here.

WELCOME

Why Vote Yes?

Westport's Town Government provides many valuable services to our residents. Yet in recent years the shackles of Proposition 2 1/2 have placed those services from our schools to our public safety and many other services under duress due to staff and equipment shortages.

The VOTE YES WESTPORT campaign is a beacon of unwavering faith in our Town's potential. We appeal to the better angels of your nature to stand with us in preserving this rural farming/fishing coastal community we hold dear.

The Big Picture:

Westport is emerging from a challenging decade that started in a recession and ended with Covid and inflation.

Despite those challenges, the People of Westport bit the bullet and voted for debt exclusions, funded by time-limited increases in the property tax, to pay for:

A new Fire Station - to replace an old wood building that was turned into a real estate office.

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​A new Police Station - to replace a moldy old structure that has since been demolished.

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​

​

​

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A new Middle/Senior High School - to replace a contaminated Middle School and a deteriorating High School.

​

​

​

​

​

These were all critical investments in the Town’s future by the People of Westport.

Despite time-limited increases in the property tax to fund these three capital investments, Westport still has one of the lowest tax rates in the State.

The challenge for the current decade is to fund the operating expenses of the Town Employees working in these great new facilities and in other Town Departments so that they can supply the services needed and desired by Town Residents.

These mismatches between needs and available services in key departments are described in the following sections.

​

Exploring the Mismatches

Our Schools:

Our Public Safety Services:

Police Department:

In the 2 decades from 2001 to 2021, calls for police services increased by 65% and citations by 20%, while the number of officers declined from 34 to 31 or by 10%.

In 2022 the Westport Police Department, with 31 full time officers, responded to 362 accidents, issued 1,967 motor vehicle citations, made 343 arrests, and issued 76 restraining orders.

The first segment of the override would fund one additional School Resource Officer at the Elementary School.

Fire Department:

The Westport Fire Department responded to 650 fire related emergencies in 2022.

It also responded to 2,500 EMS calls in 2022.

That is 1 visit per every 3 residences per year.​

Thirty years ago the WFD responded to 1,390 fire and EMS calls with a staff of 20 members.

Today they are responding to nearly 3,200 fire and EMS calls per year - an increase of 130% - with a staffing level of 21 members an increase of 5%.

For over a decade the Department has been indicating the need for three additional line staff members to reach their optimal goal, but without success.

The first segment of the override would fund one additional Firefighter Paramedic.

The Fire Department has a long list of equipment needs that have gone unfilled for a number of years.

To see more information on FD services click here

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Book circulation at the Free Public Library has increased by 18% over the past 20 years or roughly in proportion to the growth of population.

Hours open to the public has increased by 16% and the number of staff hours per week is up by 40%.

There has been an 83% increase in the holding of meetings in the library primarily attributable to the addition of the Manton Meeting Room that was given to the library by the Manton Foundation.

Computers that are available for public use at the Library are very popular and have recently been connected to the new fiber optic network resulting in much faster communication speeds.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

A new Police Station - to replace a moldy old structure that has since been demolished.

That is 1 visit per every 3 residences per year.

That means the ratio of Town Employees in these 21 Departments relative to the number of Town Residents decreased by 30% between 2000 and 2022.

For 30 years Westport has not passed an override.