Marblehead School Officials State Case For $3 Million Tax Override

MARBLEHEAD, MA — Marblehead school officials made a late push for the merits of a Proposition 2 1/2 general tax override to fund a $3 million district supplemental budget during a series of public forums in recent weeks.

Voters will decide on what would amount to a 4 percent increase in property taxes during the annual town election on Tuesday, which also includes a separate debt service override for capital projects in the town.

The school override overwhelmingly passed a vote of town meeting members in May, and has the support of the town's Finance Committee, as school officials urge the money is needed to make up for years of deferred curriculum purchases, personnel hiring and safety updates.

The override would also fund free, kindergarten for all children in town and fund a new Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion position as part of the personnel additions.

"These are immediate, ongoing needs in our schools that have been deferred as we have worked to maximize every dollar in our budget," School Committee Chair Sarah Gold said as part of her presentation at Monday night's forum. "These are needs that will not go away and not meeting them directly impacts our students, teachers and staff.

"We are falling behind in meeting the needs of the kids in our district. If further deferred, these needs will only become more expensive."

Gold said it is estimated that delaying these priorities by just one year will cost an extra $192,000 to meet them.

The override proposal seeks $2.17 million in "recurring" costs and $880,471 in "one-time" costs. However, officials said the funding for those one-time capital costs will be required each year moving forward to meet more capital needs as they have been prioritized and will develop over time.

The override proposal includes about $1.13 million in personnel positions, $585,000 in safety improvements, $56,000 in technology improvements, $282,000 for the new curriculum and $375,000 for the tuition-free kindergarten. It also includes $497,000 for the recurring benefits from the new staff instead of putting that burden on the general town budget.

Among the new personnel positions sought is the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion director Superintendent John Buckey said events of this past year have shown to be a necessity.

"We've had a number of incidents of homophobia, of racism, classism, transphobia, antisemitism," Buckey said. "So this will really provide a support for classroom teachers working with students when issues of lack of inclusion practices come up."

If passed, the override would add about $310.53 per year to the median single-family home bill of a Marblehead resident with a property assessed at $738,000. Property assessed at $400,000 would incur a $168.31 increase, while a $1 million home would incur a $420.77 increase.

(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.)