Marblehead ready for record night

MARBLEHEAD – Marblehead voters will go to the polls Tuesday from 7 a.m.-8 p.m. to decide the fate of a record-setting 10 debt exclusion overrides with a total value of $56.9 million.Signs have surfaced supporting the new Glover School and a proposal to Astro-turf the Marblehead High football field – and opponents of all 10 questions are dispensing signs with the slogan, “Not Now, We’re in a Recession.”Town officials say the most frequent question they get about the special election is, “Are these questions listed separately?” That may indicate the way people are thinking.A simple majority is required to pass each of the questions.One polling place has changed for this election. Precinct 1 will join Precincts 5, 6 and 7 at the Marblehead Community Center. Precincts 2, 3 and 4 will vote at the Star of the Sea Community Center.The debt exclusion amounts are funded by bond issues. The borrowing required will add 83 cents to the town’s $9.57 tax rate if all 10 questions are approved, or $423.27 to the $4,900 annual tax bill for a $512,000 median home, an 8.6 percent hike for the first year only. This year’s tax rate resulted in a $235 or 5 percent tax bill hike for a median home.The ballot questions include:Question 1: The state-ordered landfill cap and transfer station construction project, $22.2 million funded by a 20-year bond issue, adding 31 cents to the tax rate and $159.65 to the annual tax bill for a median home for the term of the bond issue.Question 2: A $706,961 landfill monitoring program, raised with a one-year bond issue, adding 13.5 cents to the tax rate and $68.95 to the annual median home tax bill for one year.Question 3: The $899,955 purchase of a landfill-contaminated home at 57 Stony Brook Road, funded by a 20-year bond issue, adding 1.3 cents to the tax rate and $6.46 to the annual median home tax bill for the term of the bond issue.Question 4: $100,000 for additional sidewalk repair, funded with a one-year bond issue, adding 1.9 cents to the tax rate and $9.75 to the annual median home tax bill for one year.Question 5: Purchase of a vacant 195 Pleasant St. gas station, to enhance the Pleasant Street traffic safety program, $305,000 funded with a 20-year bond issue, adding 4/10 of a cent to the tax rate and $2.19 to the annual median home tax bill for the term of the bond issue.Question 6: The $1.64 million Pleasant Street traffic safety program (including a $400,000 Massachusetts Highway Department grant), funded with a 10-year bond issue, adding 2.9 cents to the tax rate and $15.09 to the annual median home tax bill for the term of the bond issue.Question 7: $292,394 for access improvements at Abbot Public Library, funded through a five-year bond issue, adding 1.3 cents to the tax rate and $6.47 to the annual tax bill for a median home for the term of the bond issue.Question 8: $1.5 million for Astro-turf at the Marblehead High football field, funded by a 10-year bond issue, adding 3.6 cents to the tax rate and $18.25 to the annual median home tax bill for the term of the bond issue.Question 9: $28.8 million for a new Glover-Eveleth school building (including $11.18 million in Massachusetts School Building Authority reimbursement or 40 percent), funded with a 20-year bond issue, adding 24.7 cents to the tax rate and $126.55 to the annual median home tax bill for the term of the bond issue.Question 10: $450,000 for furniture and technology purchases for the new Marblehead Village School, funded with a five-year bond issue, adding 1.9 cents to the tax rate and $9.96 to the annual median home tax bill for the term of the bond issue.