Marion voters passed all 33 articles on the Annual Town Meeting agenda on Monday, but not without lively debate among the 178 residents who filled the seats in Sippican School's auditorium.

During the three-hour meeting, voters tussled over the merits of funding $968,000 (down from $1.5 million on an earlier agenda) for design and permitting work to upgrade the town's wastewater treatment plant; a debt exclusion to pay for a five-year  capital improvement plan at Old Rochester Regional; a new $630,000 well at Mary's Pond, and more.

Town officials sailed through a line-item review of the budget, with only one department budget receiving a little extra scrutiny: the Planning Board. In response to resident Joseph Zora's request for clarification on a $4,000 budget increase, Planning Board member and Selectman candidate Norm Hills explained that the funding helps pay for a newly hired part-time town planner until the end of the fiscal year.

Without incident, voters approved the $21,122,751 town operating budget. This includes modest increases to the veterans and Council on Aging budgets to account for Marion's aging population, according to Finance Committee Chairman Alan Minard.

"It was a tougher budget than usual. We had to make some cuts to make things balance this year, which is never any fun," Minard said.

The looming issue of potentially costly upgrades to the town's wastewater treatment plant to comply with the federal and state Environmental Protection Agencies' standards dominated the night.

Resident Ray Cullum said before spending $968,000 to conduct wastewater lagoons designs, prepare documentation and a loan application, among other activities required by the EPA, more options should be considered including regionalization with Wareham.

Cullum argued that that the town's pending permit with the EPA contains items that are based on "bad science" – in particular the federal agency's assertion that clay lagoons are insufficient. He urged the town to hire legal counsel from an environmental-based firm before proceeding with a study.

"We can't move to the solution before looking at the issues. We need an environmental attorney to do this for us, and have a third-party review. Only then can the EPA dictate to us compliance requirements that, as of today, are using bad, bad data," Cullum said.

Outgoing Selectman Jon Henry refused to discuss legal strategy on the town meeting floor, calling it "unwise."

"I don't want to go up against the EPA, maybe you do, but there are risks of spending more funds and liability," he said.

Henry also explained that it is the town's 1,647 sewer ratepayers, not all of whom are taxpayers, who would be responsible for these costs. He said, ultimately, the town should look to add more people into the system to shoulder the costs, such as residents in the Indian Cove area.

(Another discussion swirled on the real impact the 31 Indian Cove residents have on nitrogen discharge in Aucoot Cove.)

Minard said the Finance Committee endorsed the article to get the compliance process started.

"We can either comply with the regulator or pay a large fine, which is paying a lot of money for nothing," he said. The EPA fines $37,500 per day per violation, according to an engineering representative present.

Town Administrator Paul Dawson explained that paying for the feasibility study, as opposed to undertaking major changes to the facility, would help convince the EPA to give the town additional time to comply with a permit.

"We are trying to do those things we know the EPA will not relent on, and not get to the bigger-ticket items, so if we go the regionalization route, we aren't essentially throwing that money away," Dawson said.

The article, which required a two-thirds majority, passed.

In a related article, town voters approved $92,000 to develop and implement a Capacity Management Operations and Maintenance program to manage and maintain collection systems at the wastewater plant. They approved another article, which is a subset of the CMOM program, to develop a program to handle facility upkeep costs.

An article requesting $630,000 to replace Mary's Pond Well, which would source 280,000 gallons per day, also provoked some discussion.

Currently, the well is offline, and the town pays for water from a plant in Mattapoisett, which soon will be required to reduce its output due to its location in a river valley. One resident asked whether the town should consider buying from Wareham instead, but resident Joseph Zora spoke out against that idea.

"[Wareham] would be the one that is going to charge us to pump to us. I'd rather keep it local so we can control our own resource. We are talking about rebuilding a well, not building a whole new system. At least if we get the well built, we own it," he said.

Rico Ferrari argued that a feasibility study should be conducted prior to spending the money on the well, and it should weigh factors like the cost of transmission and cost per gallon if outsourced.

"Without a study, you are going in blind and not making a solid decision," he said.

The voters, however, disagreed and ultimately approved the article.

Residents also approved a debt exclusion of $603,000 (Marion's share is $171,474) to fund the five-year ORR Capital Improvement Plan. The plan would fund several security improvements at the schools, including a redesign of the vestibule to improve the safety of the school entrance and a tie-in so police can access school cameras in emergency situations. The town will pay for its share by borrowing funds.

Ruth Nicolaci expressed concern that it would represent a Proposition 2 1/2 override, which would be a permanent tax increase. Minard and Dawson explained that as a debt exclusion it is a temporary increase for the duration of the loan. It passed overwhelmingly.

Voters also approved:

$6,194 to repair the Silvershell Beach House roof

$12,265 to purchase seven automatic external device defibrillators for the Police Department, Recreation Department and Facilities Department

$20,000 from Community Preservation funds to replace and restore historic windows at Pythagorean Hall Masonic Lodge

$55,000 from the harbormaster to purchase two outboard motors from the Waterways Fund

$65,000 for open space and public water resource protection through the acquisition of 114 acres near the Mattapoisett River

$81,804 to install a ventilation system and gear racks at the Fire Department Station 1

$92,400 to replace asphalt, rubber roofs and duct insulation of the Elizabeth Taber Library.