Marblehead Targets $2 Million In Trash Fees, $4.8 Million In School, Town Cuts To Balance Budget

MARBLEHEAD, MA — Proposals approved to help slash a $7.7 million Marblehead budget deficit include $2 million in new trash fees, $1.5 million in additional school cuts and town position cuts adding up to $3.3 million in a projected balanced budget that would not require a property tax override.

The Select Board approved the budget proposals on Thursday night that included cutting the town community development position and slashing staff in the Department of Public Works, among other departments.

• 'It's That Drastic': Marblehead Faces Override Debate With 8.4M Deficit, 50+ Projected Town Layoffs

It also included leaving unfunded one open public safety position and increasing overtime to fill mandatory staffing requirements on staffs that the fire and police chiefs said are already stretched thin because of military leaves of absence, injury and illness leaves.

Even with the cuts, public safety budgets would increase due to contractual and equipment obligations.

"Protection of life and property is one of the most critical things that we do," Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer said. "So, in some areas, you are going to see growth in numbers because we've got to meet obligations. In others, we had to make choices where we go down."

Additional school cuts would be necessary to meet a budget line item that is a fixed-monetary budget instead of a fixed-services budget — which would increase funding to pay for the services and staffing currently being offered.

Finance Director Aleesha Benjamin said she is working with the schools to determine the best way to slash the additional $1.5 million from that level-services budget.

"The only way Marblehead, as a single community, is going to get through these tough times is teamwork and everybody working together," Kezer said. "There are a lot of contentious discussions and negotiations. It's a natural process to get to a consensus. But, thus far, all departments — even beyond the ones that are under the purview of the Select Board — are in very much a team effort to address this."

In his State of the Town address in February, Kezer compared the current budget situation to the 2008 Great Recession, as he said more than 50 position cuts might be necessary to hit a balanced budget without a tax override.

Kezer said at the time that there would be significant reductions in "quality-of-life services" and deferrals of needed capital improvements.

"It's that drastic," Kezer said.

Kezer said deficit is rooted in the structural deficit the town has been facing for years from using surplus or "free cash" — which is neither free, nor cash, Kezer noted — to balance the operating budget, along with reductions in revenues from excise taxes, interest income from expired ARPA funds, building permits and meals and lodging tax receipts related to an economic slowdown, as well as sharp increases in health insurance, a new trash contract and pension obligations.