Members of the Westport Select Board took a clear step toward proposing a general budget override to voters at this year's Town Meeting, when they decided against placing several capital spending projects on the April ballot.

At issue was the recommendation of Westport Town Administrator James Hartnett to reclassify three previously approved capital projects — the Westport Camping Grounds, police station and middle school PCB remediation projects — as excluded debt. Under state law, excluded debt is removed from the operating budget and does not count toward the state's 2.5 percent yearly tax levy increase limit.

If it had gone on the April ballot and was approved by voters, the plan would have freed up $446,000 in next year's operating budget and in every future budget through at least 2029.

In the midst of one of the most difficult budget cycles in years, Hartnett had proposed the excluded debt option as a way to ease the town's fiscal crunch, and several select board members said that his idea made some sense. But unlike a general override, it wouldn't be a complete fix, members said.

Since late last year, officials have discussed an override as a way to address the town's structural deficit and ease a tough budget that saw department budget requests slashed nearly across the board. While the projects could have been placed on the ballot, and an override also presented at Town Meeting, members including chairwoman Shana Shufelt said they worried about the optics, and she suggested that asking for a series of exclusions could threaten the chances of the override passing.

"I worry about having a bunch of small things (on the ballot) that might make it more harder to get the bigger things. These (debt exclusions) are going to help us, but they will not help us solve our structural deficit. I think it's a decent idea to open up more operating revenue, but I'm not sure we can explain it in a way that it doesn't seem like a money grab," she said.

Shufelt said the town could present an override of $3 million or more, though she stressed afterwards that that is just an estimate. As the savings represented by placing the projects into excluded debt wouldn't come close to that amount, member Brian Valcourt said he sees no reason to place them on the ballot.

Apart from the numbers not working, he and others said it will be difficult to give voters a clear enough picture of why the exclusions are necessary, in time for the April vote. A much better idea is to push hard, and educate residents on the need for, a budget override.

"If we plan on going forward with a real override that would solve our structural issues, then I see no need for these three," said Valcourt. "I feel more comfortable putting (an override) on the Town Meeting ballot, rather than seeing these three on the general ballot" in April.

Ultimately, the board opted to take no action on Hartnett's debt exclusion plan, meaning it will not be on the April ballot.

Board members are expected to further discuss an override at their next meeting, scheduled for Monday, March 14. It will be the board's first in-person meeting in months, following the lifting of the remote meeting requirement.

Note: Hartnett also proposed putting the issue of debt exclusion for the Diman school building project on the April ballot, but board members decided to leave that off as well, as the project is still a ways down the road and a vote is not needed at this time.