Question 2: Cape Cod Tech Override

Question 2 Permanent Tax Increase

Cape Cod Regional Technical High School Override

Shall the Town of Yarmouth be allowed to assess an additional $680,194 in real estate and personal property taxes for the purpose of funding operation expenses for the Cape Cod Regional Technical School for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026?

Two Permanent Overrides at Once

If both Question 1 and Question 2 pass, Yarmouth taxpayers will absorb two permanent tax increases on the same ballot. Combined: $2,161,542 in permanent annual increases — compounding at 2.5% every year, forever.

The Numbers

Yarmouth's FY2025 Cape Cod Tech assessment: $3.9 million
Brand new facility built in 2017 with $128 million in taxpayer funding
Building debt is already baked into current assessments
Yarmouth received 30% of 9th grade seats vs. 19% historical average

The Question You Should Ask

Cape Cod Tech has a brand new $128 million facility and Yarmouth is already paying $3.9 million per year. Where is the line-item justification for another $680,194 on top of that? What changed between last year and this year that requires a permanent tax increase?

What does this cost me? →

The 2025 Lottery Rule Change — And Why Yarmouth Is Suddenly Sending More Kids

The Cape Cod Tech assessment Yarmouth pays scales with how many seats Yarmouth students fill. In 2025, Massachusetts changed the rules in a way that — predictably — sends more Yarmouth kids in.

From Merit-Based to Lottery

Through 2024, Massachusetts vocational-technical school admissions were merit-based: grades, attendance, and discipline were primary criteria. Students who showed up, did the work, and stayed out of trouble had a real path in.

In 2025 the Commonwealth shifted vocational admissions away from grades, attendance, and discipline toward a lottery system framed as "equity." Result: more applicants, more students attending, and a larger assessment pushed onto local taxpayers in towns like Yarmouth.

English language proficiency and U.S. citizenship are not requirements for admission. Students who cannot put in the academic effort — and students whose families are not yet legal residents — are now competing for the same seats on equal footing as students who actually earned them. Yarmouth taxpayers pay the per-pupil assessment regardless.

FY27 Enrollment by Town — Yarmouth's Share Just Jumped 22%

From Cape Cod Tech's FY27 budget materials. Yarmouth's enrollment grew from 140 in FY26 to 171 in FY27 — an increase of 31 students in a single year, the largest absolute jump of any sending town. Most other towns are flat or down.

FY27 Cape Cod Tech enrollment by town: Yarmouth 171 vs 140 in FY26 (+31), versus flat or declining enrollment in Brewster, Chatham, Dennis, Eastham, Harwich, Mashpee, Orleans, Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet

Connect the Dots

Yarmouth's seat count grew +22% year over year while the rest of the Cape was flat or shrinking. That growth tracks the lottery rule change — not a population boom in Yarmouth. More seats = larger assessment = the "permanent override" the district is asking you to fund.

Before voting yes on Question 2, ask: how much of the $680,194 increase is being driven by the lottery-system enrollment surge, and what does Yarmouth's projected enrollment look like in FY28 and FY29 under the same rules?