With Westport nearing the edge of what some town officials call a fiscal precipice, a warrant article vote at the Tuesday, May 2 Town Meeting is the first in what could be a two-step process to determine how the town will weather its year-in, year-out financial issues — by giving the town more to work with every year, or working with what it currently has, cutting spending and defunding positions in many town departments.

Article 6, coming just after the town meeting's vote on a $50.09 million operating budget proposal, asks if voters want to appropriate $1 million from an as-yet unpassed Proposition 2 1/2 budget override. If Article 6 passes as recommended by the finance committee and select board, that vote does not mean the money will be spent — indeed, the money won't even exist yet.

Instead, if it passes, the town would likely hold an election at some point later in the year, at which voters would be asked to approve an override currently estimated at $3 million.

Why an override?

Under Proposition 2 1/2, passed in 1982, Massachusetts cities and towns are obliged to increase their property tax levy by no more than 2.5 percent each year. When towns like Westport need additional funds, one way to get them is by floating overrides to Prop 2 1/2.

However, those overrides are rarely successful at the polls, at least in Westport. According to a budget report prepared by the finance committee, Westport voters have rejected 17 override ballot questions since the law's enactment 41 years ago. The most recent override failed at the ballot box nine years ago — it would have allowed the town to raise the levy by $949,465, in addition to the 2.5 percent growth allowed under the law. Since overrides constitute a permanent increase to the levy limit, that override would have allowed for more than $1 million in additional revenues as of this year.

The town's proposed override would take $1 million of whatever override funds are approved at a later date, and spread that money across various town departments and line items. Appropriating additional funds from the override in the following years would be up to Town Meeting voters next year and in years after, until the total override is spent.

If the Town Meeting vote and the eventual override vote both pass, the $1 million appropriated at the Town Meeting would be spent as such:

• $405,000 would go to Westport Community Schools;

• $250,000 would go into the town's stabilization fund;

• $75,000 would go to police department salaries;

• $66,000 would go to fire department salaries;

• $65,000 would go to building department salaries;

• $60,000 would go to highway department salaries;

• $55,000 would go to information technology expenses;

• $19,000 would go to Council on Aging expenses;

• $5,000 would go to Council on Aging salaries.

How did Westport get here?

Town officials first toyed with the idea of an override last year, but decided to pass on the measure as some feared there would not be enough time to educate the public on its need prior to Town Meeting.

Still, given a "structural deficit" that leaves both the school department and municipal side of government stretched for funds every year, numerous town officials have expressed the need for an override. A private citizens' group formed to study the town's finances concluded much the same earlier this year in a lengthy report.

"We have no choice, we've hit the wall," Albert Lees, a member of the private Westport Fiscal Stability Group, told the select board in February.

"I think it is important for the people of the town to understand ... that we are in a position right now where we have kicked the can down the road, we've patched up as much as we can, and we have no choice, at least as far as our committee sees. We need to go for an override of no less than $3 million, which will not serve the long term problem.The $3 million will keep us level funded for three or four years, maybe five if we're lucky."

Amidst declining state aid, unfunded mandates, the ever-increasing cost of salaries and benefits — the town's single biggest expenditure — and other realities, town officials agree that Proposition 2 1/2, and the constraints it places on municipalities, is holding the town back.

Though the fiscal group wrote that while the law "was never intended to gut town and school services," it surely has.

"We have one building inspector, we have to fight to pay the clerk, we have to fight to get any assistance," group member Betty Slade said. "If we don't do something about it, we're going to find people leaving Westport because they aren't well paid. There are so many things ... we just can't pay for."

What will it cost?

Westport is one of the lowest-taxed communities in the state, with fewer than 10 towns across the Commonwealth taxing their residents at a lower rate. The town's average yearly tax bill is $2,300 less than the state average.

The state department of revenue has estimated that the estimated annual tax impact if a $3 million override passes would be $330 for the average homeowner, increasing the tax rate from $8.16 per $1,000 valuation to $8.83.