Letter to the Editor: Addressing Marion’s budget and education costs

Apr 19, 2019

Marion Town Meeting will vote on three fiscal year 2020 annual budgets, totaling $29.1 million; the town operating budget of $23.7 million, funded by taxes, and the two enterprise funds funded by user fees: sewer $ 3.1 million and water $2.2 million.

The $23.7 million annual operating budget reflects a 3.8 percent increase over last year. This does not include the direct tax impact resulting for the T.U.R.F. project, comprehensive sewer management plan and trash collection issues to be voted on by Town Meeting.

If Town Meeting approves these articles the forecasted tax rate will rise to 7.78 percent, which includes the Proposition 2.5 adjustment.

A simple consolidation of the warrant’s multiple education budget line items to a single line shows an education budget of $11.5 million, or 49% of the operating budget.

Four budget line items (debt, pension, group and town insurance) total $4.1 million. Of this amount, $2.2 million can be directly attributed to the Sippican School increasing its understated cost by 34% from a $6.4 million-line item to $8.6 million.

Education costs, when properly allocated, are now $13.7 million, approaching 60 percent of each operating budget tax dollar.

There are 454 Sippican School students, kindergarten through sixth grade, 9 percent of the town’s population, with a cost of $18,942 each.

The Council on Aging’s budget line is $204,233 for 24 percent of the population, or $116 per citizen age 60 and older.

Marion demographics do not justify educational spending at this level.

ORR reflects a 4.47 percent budget increase. This is compounding from a growing $18 million budget base. Looking at the Sippican School’s budget, $300 to $400 thousand could be saved annually for the benefit of taxpayer, without damaging the program.

School spending needs to be controlled to stay within the annual 2.5 percent increase target limit set for town operating budgets. Continuous school spending significantly above the Proposition 2.5 limit will result in cutbacks and limitationsrto other municipal spending.

The $2.6 million Olympic style sports complex proposed by the T.U.R.F. special interest group would be a good place to start on allocating scarce tax dollars.

Avoiding debt would save tri-town taxpayers $560,000 in financing costs not included T.U.R.F.’s $2 million cost projections. It’s time for the taxpayers to turn up the heat on the School Committees and the superintendent of schools for prudent and realistic fiscal management and restraint.

Ted North
Marion