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NORTON - Patricia Gannon says she is a firm believer in public education.

"I'm all for education," said Gannon, whose children were educated in the Hingham school system. "I was very active in the schools."

But she does not plan to vote for the school committee's $1 million Proposition 2 1/2 override in Tuesday's special election.

Gannon, who lives in the 55-and-older Great Brook Village complex, said that many residents of all ages are squeezed financially and cannot afford a tax increase. And among those seniors who can afford to pay higher taxes, like she and her husband, there is a fear that someday that will no longer be the case.

"There are a lot of people here in Norton who aren't affluent and wonder how they can keep their property," she said. Gannon's concerns will sound familiar to anyone who has followed other override battles in Norton and across the state. Cash-strapped schools plead for more revenue, citing government mandates and changing educational norms. Weary homeowners push back, stressing their own fiscal worries and the need for government belt-tightening.

The tax-limiting law Proposition 2 1/2 requires towns to limit their annual property tax increases to no more than 2.5 percent. However, residents can vote to override the law either temporarily (sometimes called a debt exclusion) or permanently.

John Robertson, the deputy legislative director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, said he is tracking 83 communities statewide considering a permanent override this year.

"I think it will eventually have to change," he said. "It really is unsustainable, the high level of reliance we have here on the property tax to fund all the things that local government does."

In Norton, polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday. There will be two proposed overrides on the ballot - one temporary, to pay down capital debt and free up cash for building repairs, and one permanent, for the school budget:

The permanent $1.07 million override, requested by the school committee but not the finance committee, would bump the average homeowner's bill by $161.92 a year in perpetuity.

The temporary $1.9 million override, requested by selectmen and the finance committee, would boost the average tax bill by $63.36 in the first year and declining amounts for seven years thereafter.

Selectmen strongly backed the latter measure at their meeting Thursday night, warning that if it does not pass, the town will face crippling interest payments and deteriorating facilities.

A number of residents interviewed said they were considering voting for the temporary debt exclusion override despite their opposition to the permanent override for the school budget. Heather Graf, a spokeswoman for Citizens Opposed to Prop. 2 1/2 Override '07 Committee, said her group does not take a position on the debt exclusion.

It is the question of whether to increase tax revenue for the school budget that causes controversy. Although there are fewer signs, for or against, on front lawns this year - and 60 anti-override signs were stolen last weekend - a furious debate has occurred on local television, at government meetings, and by e-mail. Some facts are not in dispute. Norton's school department spends a larger chunk of its budget on special education than any of its neighbors: 22.7 percent in 2005-06, the most recent year for which statistics are available. The only bordering district that comes close is Dighton-Rehoboth, which spends significantly less, 20.4 percent. Mansfield and Easton devote only 17.5 percent of their school budgets to special education.

"We have a special education enrollment which is too large for the district's size," Superintendent Patricia Ansay said in an interview. School officials are working on a number of initiatives to try and rein in special education spending, Ansay said, and state legislators have begun to look at ways of reducing the burden it places on local budgets.

The town's high special education enrollment helps explain why Norton sits at the bottom of the state's per-pupil spending list.

When special education students are removed from the total, Norton spent $5,607 per pupil in 2005-06 - ranking 295th out of 308 cities and towns in Massachusetts. By comparison, Dighton-Rehoboth spent $5,856, Easton and Mansfield spent just over $6,000, and Attleboro spent $7,366.

Override opponents have also complained about school employees' unwillingness to consider reduced health care benefits or salary freezes.

"As far as the town side, the employees agreed last year and again this year to take less," said Graf. "The school people or the teachers union - and it's not all the teachers - but the union says, 'no, we don't have to go there and we're not going there.'

"It's out of sync with what the rest of us are facing."

In 2006 the average salary for a Norton teacher was $56,806, according to the state Department of Education. That placed Norton slightly above the state average of $56,352, and right in the middle of neighboring towns, with a low of $54,059 in Mansfield and a high of $58,252 in Taunton.

However, Kathi Stejakoski, president of the Norton Teachers Association, said that average is misleading because it is boosted by the high number of teachers with seniority who will be retiring soon. And she called it "rather degrading" to be asked to forgo raises and benefits, saying it shows a lack of respect for what teachers do.

Superintendent Ansay, who will begin contract negotiations with the teachers this fall, also cautioned that placing too much downward pressure on wages and benefits could damage the schools by pushing out top educators.

"I'm not saying all of them would flock out of town," Ansay said, "but the result would undoubtedly be an inferior workforce, because teaching jobs are not that difficult to get right now." She added that young teachers today are more willing than those in previous generations to relocate to communities and states with higher compensation.

One thing everyone says is that these annual town clashes over taxes, schools, and the question of shared burdens places a strain on the community.

"Nobody wants to do this," said the Municipal Association Robertson. "It's very divisive."

Graf agreed.

"It divides the town, and people get angry with their neighbors," she said. "Personally, I think people are going to get more and more frustrated, and more and more angry with this coming back at them again.

"I, quite frankly, wish I wasn't doing this again."

STAFF WRITER TED NESI can be reached at tnesi@thesunchronicle.com or 508-236-0434.