Malden voters go the polls Tuesday, March 31 in Special Election to decide Proposition 2 1/2 override proposal

By Steve Freker

Malden voters will go to the polls on Tuesday, March 31 to decide whether property taxes will be raised or not in conjunction with a proposed Proposition 2 1/2 override. It is a historic election, since this is the first time a Proposition 2 1/2 override question has been put before the voters in the city of Malden.

Malden Mayor Gary Christenson requested and received from the Malden City Council authorization to place two ballot questions before voters in a Special Election in each of the city’s eight wards. Voters will be asked to vote “Yes” or “No” on two ballot questions, one seeking a $5.4 million increase this year and the second seeking an $8.4 million increase.

Within the past three months, overrides have been voted for passage in the nearby communities of Melrose ($14.8 million) and Stoneham ($9.7 million).

On March 31, all polls in all wards will be open for voting for the customary times of 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. All of the Malden K-8 Schools — Beebe, Ferryway, Forestdale, Linden STEAM Academy and Salemwood — will close on Special Election Day, since voting takes place in most of those schools. An extra day of school has been added to the end of the school year as a result, and those schools’ last day is now Tuesday, June 23.

Malden Proposition 2½ Override Election Information

The following information is available on the city of Malden website: www.cityofmalden.org

On March 31, 2026, Malden voters will be asked to consider two separate Proposition 2½ override questions, Question 1A and Question 1B. These questions are designed to provide additional funding to help stabilize the City’s budget and support essential city services.

BALLOT LANGUAGE

Questions 1A and 1B are separate questions. You may vote for or against each question independently. Each question requires a majority of those voting on that question to pass. If both questions pass, Option 1B will prevail as the question with the higher dollar amount.

The proposed funding would support ongoing services across all City departments, including public schools, public safety, the public library, public works, and general government.

1A

Shall the City of Malden be allowed to assess an additional $5,400,000 in real estate and personal property taxes for the purposes of stabilizing the City’s budget and to support ongoing city services across all departments, including public schools, public safety, public library, public works and general government, for which the monies will be used for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026?

0 Yes

0 No

***

1B

Shall the City of Malden be allowed to assess an additional $8,200,000 in real estate and personal property taxes for the purposes of stabilizing the City’s budget and to support ongoing city services across all departments, including public schools, public safety, public library, public works and general government, for which the monies will be used for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026?

0 Yes

0 No

***

Online Tax Calculator

To help residents understand the potential impact of the proposed override, the City has provided an online tax calculator. By entering your address, you can view an estimate of how the override would affect your annual property tax bill, based on current assessed values.

Overview

On September 25, 2025, Mayor Gary Christenson sent a correspondence to the Malden City Council asking that the City Council take under consideration a Proposition 2 1/2 override. Under MGL, Cities and Towns may only increase taxes 2.5% year over year, and anything beyond that requires approval by the voters. With the docketing of a paper before the Malden City Council, that process has begun.

Subsequent City Council discussion and deliberation, driven by resident feedback and additional facts coming to the surface, resulted in a modification to the proposal such that voters will be provided two options for an override. Only one amount can prevail. In the event both amounts receive more than 50% support, the higher amount will prevail. If neither amount receives more than 50% of the vote, then both questions fail. The options are for $5.4 million and $8.2 million.

The City Council voted unanimously in support of the two-tiered override option, and the Mayor signed off on the revised proposal, as well as a recommendation to move the election day back to March 31, 2026. While both the legislative and executive branches have approved of putting the override on the ballot, it’s important to remember that NEITHER THE MAYOR NOR THE CITY COUNCIL CAN INCREASE TAXES WITHOUT VOTER APPROVAL.

The election day is largely driven by the need to have a direction in time for the crafting of a City Budget for FY2027. That process usually starts in February of each year and will be greatly informed by the results of the March 31 election.