MARBLEHEAD — After months of debate and conversation, the saga of the nearly $2.5 million town override came to a conclusion Tuesday night as voters rejected Question 1 on the town-election ballot.
Question 1, the lone question on this year’s ballot, asked voters if the Town of Marblehead could assess $2,472,056.00 in real-estate and property taxes toward Marblehead’s general government operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which will begin July 1. As a result of its failure, Marblehead will use a reduced-services budget for fiscal year 2024, requiring the town to cut multiple jobs and services.
The override included the school district’s budget. In a public budget hearing in March, Superintendent John Buckey said that if the override failed, 33 Marblehead Public Schools positions would be cut in the reduced-services budget.
The override would have increased the average property tax for single family homes by $322.10, with a median increase of $252.38, which Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer revealed in March.
The vote came slightly more than a month after the article containing the override was passed on the second night of Town Meeting on May 9. Article 31, which aimed to put Question 1 on the town-election ballot, passed Town Meeting with a 534-230 vote.
For the town’s elected officials, Tuesday brought some arguably unexpected changes as incumbent Select Board member Jackie Belf-Becker lost to challenger Bret Murray, who will be returning to the board after a six-year hiatus. Belf-Becker received the least amount of votes with 2,615 while Murray finished third in the voting with 3,596, behind Erin Noonan (3,762), and Alexa Singer (3,764). Moses Grader and James Nye also reclaimed their seats with 2,940 and 3,311 votes, respectively.
The School Committee race was highly contested, as all four candidates still had a mathematical chance for the two available seats until the very end. However, incumbent Sarah Gold fell to retired Glover School Principal Brian Ota and former Committee member Jennifer Schaeffner.
Schaeffner received the most votes with 3,052, followed by Ota with 2,497. Gold finished third in the voting with 2,390 and Paul Baker rounded out the candidates with 2,262.
In the Board of Health race, Thomas McMahon won by a sizable margin over David Belf-Becker and Thomas Massaro, with 2,937 votes. Belf-Becker was the distant second with 1,618, and Massaro was last with 1,021.
The Light Commission had two separate races, a three-year-term race between incumbent Lisa Wolf and Walter Homan as well as a one-year-term contest between incumbent Adam Smith and Nathanael Burke. Smith and Wolf will retain their positions, as each won their respective race. Wolf won fairly comfortably, topping Homan by about 800 votes. Smith bested Burke with a final tally of 3,393 to 3,110.
Two spots on the Library Board of Trustees were also decided on Tuesday, with Katherine Barker leading the three candidates with 3,211 votes. Gary Amberik was second with 3,109, and Rose McCarthy received 1,683 votes.
Six races were uncontested in this year’s election: Jack Attridge for town moderator; John P. Kelly for Board of Assessors; Pam M. Peterson for Cemetery Commission; Marc J. Liebman and Robert J. Schaeffner for Planning Board; Theresa M. Tauro for Housing Authority; and Barton K. Hyte and Thomas M. Carroll for Water and Sewer Commission.
This article ran the night of the election. Updated stories about the override and municipal elections have since been posted.
