NORTON - Town Clerk Diane Casagni predicts that at least half the town's 10,600 registered voters will go to the polls today to decide the fate of a proposed $1.9 million temporary property tax override.

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Due to construction at Yelle Elementary School, which is usually the town's other polling place, all voters will cast their ballots at Norton High School.

"I expect a busy turnout," Casagni said Monday afternoon as she undertook final preparations for Norton's third election this year. About 150 voters cast absentee ballots before Monday's noon deadline, she said.

If Casagni's prediction proves accurate, turnout will be significantly higher than in the last special town election, on June 26, when 41.9 percent of registered voters came out to reject both a million-dollar permanent override and the same temporary override that is on the ballot today.

The year before, in June 2006, some 55 percent of Norton voters showed up to reject a $2.4 million general override - the sort of turnout more often seen in presidential elections. Casagni said the polls are usually the least busy from 6 to 8 a.m. and 12 to 3 p.m., but since there is only one question on the ballot, she thinks things will move quickly all day.

Election results should be available by 8:30 p.m., Casagni said, and the final tally will be posted on The Sun Chronicle's Web site as soon as it becomes available tonight.

A temporary override is also known as a debt exclusion because it excludes a portion of a town's debt from the Proposition 2½ levy limit, raising property taxes for a limited time until the debt is paid off.

In the case of today's ballot question, the proposed $1.9 million override would pay off the cost of building Norton Middle School in 1998. In the first year, it would increase a homeowner's tax rate by 18 cents per $1,000; after that, the annual increase would fall by about 2 cents a year, until the override expires after eight years.

In total, that would increase the average homeowner's property tax bill - for a house valued at $352,000 - by a total of about $296 over eight years.

On today's ballot, voting "Yes" agrees to the override, while voting "No" rejects it.

Town officials, warning that many of the town's facilities are in dire need of repair, say they will ask town meeting voters to use the extra money for capital improvements. Groups opposed say the town should make cuts in other areas if more money is needed.

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