In Massachusetts, property tax overrides are generally governed by Proposition 2 ½, a state law (M.G.L. Ch. 59, § 21C) that limits the amount of revenue a municipality may raise from property taxes (limit is based on the total of all categories of real property and business owned personal property)
When Winchester News launched, the site did several stories on how certain departments and entities in the community worked. One of those was Town Meeting. Believe it or not, there are still some folks in town who aren’t aware that Winchester has a representative Town Meeting or that they
At 10 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2025 Winchester held a ceremony in remembrance of the events of 9/11 at the Winchester Fire Department headquarter in downtown Winchester. In case you missed it, Winchester News was there to take photos and video. Never forget.
Unfortunately the rain didn’t hold off long enough to allow exhibitors and visitors to Winchester Town Day enjoy the full day. Many people packed up and dispersed once the heavy rain didn’t seem to let up. But, earlier on June 7, the runners ran their race, the Class
We hope everyone enjoyed our first foray into the world of print! Town Day, to be held on June 7 this year, will have some focus on the 175th Anniversary and the history of Winchester. Therefore, Winchester News is sponsoring a trolley tour covering some Winchester history that should dovetail
Happy 175th, Winchester! It’s our pleasure as Winchester’s newest media outlet to celebrate our community as its birthday comes around. As many of you may know, Winchester News was born out of the Communications Study Committee, which was formed by the town in order to find out how
Winchester residents turned out Friday night for the annual tree lighting celebration put on by the Chamber of Commerce. It was a night featuring the All School Chorus with sing-a-longs for attendees. The evening also included hot chocolate and pastries
Winchester News has been accepted into the NewsMatch program for the second year in a row. NewsMatch is a national collective fundraising campaign designed to assist communities in supporting public service news reporting. Individual donations to nonprofit news outlets are matched by national and local funders. The NewsMatch matching gift
Winchester News’ application for a $20,000 grant has been approved after participating in the Google News Initiative’s Fundamentals Lab exclusively for Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) members. The News participated in the program over the summer, which focused on the areas of audience development, reader revenue and advertising/
Winchester News is excited to announce that it is one of the final 45 LION members participating in the LION Sustainability Audits and Funding program this year. The final audit cycle for 2024 runs from October to December and helps independent news businesses identify obstacles to reaching sustainability and provides
It’s official. Winchester News has received its nonprofit status. For the past 16 months, Winchester News has been able to receive tax deductible donations through its fiscal sponsor, the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN). The donations were received by INN as an established 501(c)(3) to be held
The Community Preservation Act (CPA) Study Committee has taken stakeholder concerns to heart. The committee voted last week to approve and present a bylaw warrant article — subject to minor amendments/edits with counsel — to the Select Board for approval, which would establish the Community Preservation Committee (CPC). Co-chairs of the
The Community Preservation Act (CPA) will be on the Town Meeting warrant for this spring. It was previously put to Town Meeting for a vote to allow it to move to town-wide ballot through a citizen petition, but failed to pass at the time. This time, the Select Board is
The Planning Board has unanimously approved the Waterfield development Special Permit subject to conditions. A vote on the Special Permit was required Feb. 6 as it was a necessary step before the developer can submit an application for financing with the state, which is due this week. The public hearing
The Planning Board on Tuesday night voted to finalize which districts make up the minimum required land area to comply with the MBTA Communities Zoning Law, which was enacted in 2021 to remove barriers to development along the transportation network in order to address the state’s housing crisis. According
Winchester’s expenses are exceeding its revenue, but officials say the town has accomplished a lot with little. But it needs to find ways to increase what’s coming into the coffers. With that in mind, the Select Board on Jan. 5 invited members of several boards and committees to
