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BY WILLIAM J. DOWD

Marblehead’s 2023 municipal election season is underway.

As of Monday, March 20, nomination papers were available for voters interested in running for local office in the Tuesday, June 20 municipal election.

Between expiring and unexpired terms, there are 25 elected positions up for grabs across various boards, committees and commissions in Marblehead’s decentralized municipal government, even as much decision-making authority over town affairs lies with Town Meeting and the Select Board.

Open Town Meeting is essentially the town’s legislative branch, where voters authorize expenditures and budgets, sign off on home rule petitions and enact bylaws.

On the other hand, the Select Board constitutes the town’s executive branch. Between state law, Town Meeting actions and local bylaws, wide-ranging responsibilities have been vested in the five-member board, including preparing the Town Meeting warrant, supervising the town administrator and setting policy.

Members hire the heads of several departments under their jurisdiction, from the superintendent of the Highway Department and the fire and police chiefs to the Council on Aging director and town engineer. The Select Board is the town’s licensing authority and represents its interests in legal matters.

Members make appointments to dozens of town committees, commissions and boards like the Conservation Commission, the Finance Committee, the Disabilities Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals, among others.

The Select Board’s five members serve one-year terms. Incumbents whose terms expire in June include Jackie BelfBecker, Moses Grader, Erin M. Noonan, James E. Nye and Alexa Singer.

Town Moderator: The town moderator, elected to one-year reach a balanced budget.

“We’re going to prepare a balanced budget, and we’re going to show cuts to that,” said Grader. “And those cuts are going to amount to the structural deficit; then we’re going to propose an override to cover the structural deficit to provide that one year plug.”

Stabilization fund approach

The second override would put a to-be-determined amount of money into the town’s stabilization fund, into which Town Meeting has already deposited $500,000 over the past two years.

Municipalities set up stabilization funds to squirrel away money and build a financial cushion. The town can dip into the reserve fund during economic uncertainty, revenue shortfalls and unexpected emergencies.

Putting money raised via a general override into a stabilization fund could appeal to Town Meeting members on the fence about Abbot Hall’s fiscal management. Stabilization funds have built-in transparency and accountability. Most prominently, two-thirds of voters at Town Meeting would have to approve withdrawing money from the fund. Therefore, officials would have to make an argument before Town Meeting when they want to pull from the fund, and they would have to identify the purposes.

The proposal notes the use of the stabilization fund would achieve three goals:

— Move Marblehead away from free cash as a revenue source.

— Provide Marblehead with a buffer going into FY 2025.

— Offer the town a transparent operating buffer funding source.

Select Board member Erin

Noonan expressed support for the first override that would “keep the lights on.”

However, she wasn’t sold on the stabilization fund at this time.

“I just feel personally that it’s biting off more than we can chew,” she said. “At this moment, I feel like it risks putting our keep-the-lights-on override in jeopardy when we go to the polls.”

With five weeks until Town Meeting convenes, she wished Friday’s conversations had played out earlier. She believes that while stabilization funds are beneficial, the town should first develop clear financial policies, multi-year financial outlooks and numerate funding streams.

She also expressed concern that proposing two general overrides could confuse voters.

Kezer said the proposal’s approach would buy time for the now built-out Marblehead Finance Department to get the town’s fiscal house in order.

“I think the whole idea of having the one-year approach at this point is to buy us some runway space to do exactly what you’re asking for,” he told Noonan.

Once voters approve general overrides, the approved amount “becomes a permanent part of the levy limit and increases by 2.5 percent each year after its acceptance,” the Massachusetts Division of Local Services explains.

Grader did not have an immediate answer when the Marblehead Current asked about what the town planned to do with the additional tax revenue in subsequent years if the town approves the general overrides. That would be clarified as the discussion moves forward, he said.

Select Board member Jackie Belf-Becker voiced support for Kezer’s proposal but would “like to see a number as soon as possible.”

“It’s a little difficult to explain the pros and cons without a number,” she said.

She added she would like to see the town hold public forums to explain and listen to the public on the override situation.

The Select Board plans to vote on the proposal, known as “a statement of intent,” on March 22 after incorporating language suggested during Friday’s meeting.

Leigh Blander contributed reporting for this article.