Marion voters didn’t make it easy on officials during the first of what looks to be at least a few nights of Town Meeting.
Residents approved with minimal discussion on Monday a 2 percent increase in salaries for elected officials and a total Fiscal Year 2014 operating budget of $19,222,999, representing a 2.26 percent jump from FY 13. Instead, they saved most of their scrutiny for Phase 1A of the Village Area Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan.
Phase 1A would address roadway access and utility improvements on Ryder Lane, South Street, and Spring Street. After grants and Chapter 90 funds, the project’s price tag comes to $3,147,400, too high for some voters.
“I’m sick and tired of water and sewer rate increases, and I know others feel the same way” Tom Magauran said. “Our rates are already ridiculous; they’re absurd.”
The project would not increase water rates, but sewer rates for Marion residents would spike by an average of $10. While officials assured voters that approving Phase 1A would not lock the town into future phases, some weren’t buying it.
“This is a down payment on a $20 million project,” said Ted North, who ended up in a shouting match with Moderator David Titus during the night’s most heated moment. Titus ultimately deemed North out of order, earning subsequent chastisement from Magauran for discouraging debate.
Magauran and other voters lamented a perceived lack of transparency on the part of the Board of Selectmen and other officials.
“Nobody can answer the simple question, what is the money being spent on? We’ve dedicated money to this before, and where did it go?” Magauran said. “It’s the same bill of goods with a new title. There’s a lot of semantics and nonsense going on here.”
Finance Committee Chair Alan Minard said he understood voters’ concerns.
“This is expensive, but it’s something we need to do,” he said in recommending Article 13.
After more than an hour of discussion, Marion voters OK’d the project, which is set to begin this summer. Soon after passage of Article 13, they voted to appropriate upward of $4.5 million to the water and sewer enterprise funds.
Elsewhere on the warrant, voters approved:
Article 5, which will transfer $25,000 from the Treasury to the funding of accrued benefits for retiring employees;
Article 6, which transfers $25,000 from the Overlay Surplus Account to the Board of Assessors for the revaluation of property as mandated by the Dept. of Revenue;
Article 7, dedicating $125,000 to the Other Post-Employment Benefit Liability Trust Fund;
and Article 8, which sends $100,000 to the Stabilization Fund.
In addition, Article S1, a special item to supplement the Department of Public Works FY 13 budget with $80,000 after destructive winter storms, passed.
The evening’s other contentious item – and the last that Town Meeting would consider until Tuesday night – was Article 9, which asked voters to appropriate $100,000 to a feasibility study on renovations to the Marion Town House. A similar item failed last year, but squeaked through after significant debate on Monday.
“I think you missed the point last year when you lost the vote,” said Magauran, who tormented the Board of Selectmen throughout night one. “You have to do a broader, better job of looking at the options.”
Resident Annie Hayes, a former contractor, challenged officials to cite specifics in terms of deteriorating facilities, while wondering whether the project was fiscally sound.
Minard agreed, but only to a point.
“I hate it,” he said, “but I think we should move forward.”
In addition to Minard’s testimony, voters appeared to respond to Selectman John Henry’s claim that the town owed “a legacy to Elizabeth Taber,” as well as his even-handed and reasoned approach throughout the proceedings.
Henry will need to maintain that approach, as Marion Town Meeting heads into night two with nary a third of its warrant navigated.
By Shawn Badgley