ARTIST RENDERING of the proposed new high school
WAKEFIELD — On Saturday, the town will have a Special Election to decide whether residents and local business owners want to have their property taxes raised significantly to pay for a new, state-of-the-art Wakefield Memorial High School.
The polls will be open at the Galvin Middle School from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Any registered voter can participate earlier than that by voting in-person at the Office of the Town Clerk from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The office is located on the first floor of Town Hall, 1 Lafayette St.
There have already been about 500 who have voted early.
If you have any questions about this election, you can connect with the Office of the Town Clerk at 781-246-6383.
There’s a lot at stake in Saturday’s Special Election. A new $274 million Wakefield Memorial High would replace what is now a very tired building on Farm Street.
At the end of January, Special Town Meeting participants overwhelmingly approved sending the proposal to a townwide vote. At that Special Town Meeting session, speakers mentioned myriad obstacles to learning posed by the current Wakefield Memorial High.
The new school would be funded through a debt exclusion of Proposition 2 1/2 provisions. The project would raise the taxes of a home valued at $800,000 a year to between $1,365 and $1,563 every year for the years 2028 to 2047.
If the new school is approved, construction would begin next January and the facility would open in January 2027.
