Three override requests on warrant

BY WILLIAM J. DOWD

AND LEIGH BLANDER

Marblehead officials will present Town Meeting this May with three requests to override Proposition 2 1/2 and raise taxes, according to the 2023 town warrant released Friday afternoon.

While no dollar amounts have been attached yet, the warrant’s publication officially confirms that there will be not one but two general override requests in addition to a debt-exclusion override.

Towns pass general overrides to permanently increase the tax base to cover deficits with operating budgets, while debtexclusion overrides are one-off requests to fund specific capital improvement projects.

The overrides must pass by a two-thirds vote at Town Meeting on May 1 and then by a majority vote in a town election in June.

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

Marblehead officials argue a general override is needed to plug a looming budget deficit, caused by the cost of town services outpacing revenues.

To this point, the town has managed to avoid requesting an override by identifying other sources of funding, most notably what is known as “free cash.”

However, that revenue source has dried up in recent fiscal years.

One can find the general overrides — absent dollar amounts — under the warrant’s