Marblehead $2.5 Million Tax Override Wins Town Meeting Support

MARBLEHEAD, MA — More than 70 percent of Marblehead town meeting members expressed their support for a $2.5 million general property tax override of Proposition 2 1/2 that officials said is necessary to maintain level services amid a structural deficit.

The override, which would amount to about $248 for the median single-family homeowner in a property assessed at $800,000, now goes to a townwide vote on June 20 where a majority is needed for passage.

The override would restore most of the cuts that were part of the Article 30 budget passed on Monday night using only existing known revenues to the town in Fiscal Year 2024. The override is designed to bridge the gap between increased costs and the money available for one year while the town determines a long-term strategy to keep revenues in line with expenses within tax increases allowed in Proposition 2 1/2 as well as reduce the reliance on "free cash.".

Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer told town meeting members on Tuesday that while this year's reduced services budget includes eliminating positions in public safety and town departments that are mostly currently vacant, not dealing with the deficit now will compound the problem in years to come where that will no longer be possible.

"The earlier you address a financial challenge the less costly it is," he said. "Stabilizing operating revenues to costs this year means that we will be in a much better position to articulate a better financial strategy long-term ... so we don't have to be talking about overrides year after year."

Asked whether a general override — one which remains baked in the budget permanently as opposed to a one-time override or debt exclusion — would ensure the town does not face another override vote next year, Kacher responded: "I don't know yet."

"The desire would be not to have to but I can't answer that at this stage," he said. "We're trying to just stabilize Fiscal 24 and give us a little bit of runway to keep analyzing the situation and make the structural changes to the way we do things.

"We're not going to rely on overrides every year to meet that challenge."

While Kezer outlined several areas targeted this year that were designed to provide the least short-term impact of a reduced-services budget as possible — allowing that there may be more potholes in town roads with the cuts — the School Committee has warned of significant cuts should the override not pass.

That budget would represent a cut of more than 30 school positions, and corresponding programs, including middle school library services, high school freshmen sports, and a middle school foreign language, reduce facility upkeep, and would result in increased class sizes, Superintendent John Buckey has said.

"All of these cuts will have a profound negative impact on the delivery of education services to our Marblehead students," School Committee Chair Sarah Fox said Tuesday night.

The School Department had requested a $3 million supplemental budget general override last year that also won overwhelming support at the annual town meeting, but failed the townwide vote by a 2-to-1 margin.

Marblehead voters last passed a Proposition 2 1/2 general override in 2005.

"Simply put," Finance Committee Chair Alec Goolsby said of the Committee's unanimous vote in support of this override, "the override request is needed to maintain the same town services that residents currently receive and represent a step in the right direction to address our structural deficit."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)