After voters approved a $2 million bank loan, the board of selectmen in Winchester on Monday night approved a $2 million supplemental tax to help the cash-strapped town pay its own overdue bills. There were only two dissenting votes.
Town officials have blamed the financial problems on the town’s former finance director, Henry Centralla Jr., who was fired and later arrested on fraud charges. Police say he embezzled more than $2.5 million dollars between January 2008 and November 2012.
The embezzlement left the town’s schools in jeopardy of closing in December. But on Saturday voters approved a $2 million loan from Bank of America to keep schools open until state grant money is received in the spring.