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The math hasn't changed. Marblehead is closing a $7.7 million gap by laying off 22 town workers, cutting 18.25 full-time equivalents from the schools and prepaying $1.5 million in out-of-district special education tuition the schools cannot prepay again. Three longtime residents have looked at that page and walked away with three different answers about what comes next.
That is the question in front of Town Meeting – whose opening session gavels in at 7 p.m. Monday — not whether to raise anyone's taxes, but whether to send two Proposition 2 1/2 override questions to the June 9 ballot. One is a three-tier operating override of $9 million, $12 million or $15 million over three years. The other is a $2.3 million trash override that would put curbside collection costs back on property tax bills instead of the new user fee.
The Marblehead Independent invited three residents to make their cases before voters head to Town Meeting.
Jack Buba says no. A longtime Marblehead resident and former Finance Committee member, Buba calls his piece "Fix It First." The town, he argues, has not earned a permanent revenue increase until it shows it can manage the costs it already has.
Charles H. Gessner says yes — to the middle. A member of the Marblehead Retirement Board and a former Finance Committee chairman, Gessner writes for Tier 2 in "The case for a Goldilocks override approach."
Judith Black says yes — to all of it. A storyteller, activist and "old lady on a fixed income" by her own description, Black supports Tier 3 in "To Tax or Not to Tax."
Heading to Town Meeting? Use our voter guide and live article tracker. The Marblehead Independent's 2026 Town Meeting voter guide walks through every article on the warrant and tracks the floor vote in real time. Bookmark it before Monday.
