Key issues up for vote at Marion Town Meeting

MARION — Without major projects slated for the upcoming year, spring Town Meeting is set to cover mainly standard financial business. 

Voters will be asked to approve the town’s budget and various line items, update a bylaw according to new state legislation and revisit a previously tabled citizen’s petition at Monday’s May 11 meeting, to begin at 6 p.m. in the Sippican School Auditorium.

Here’s a look at some of the top issues.

Budget items. Among about 30 proposals to fund various town departments and minor projects, two stand out this year.

Marion will ask voters to approve transferring nearly $700,000 to the Old Rochester Regional School Committee to partially fund a deficit in the district’s health insurance.

Fellow member towns Mattapoisett and Rochester will also ask their voters to help fund this insurance to cover the remainder of the school year.

Town Administrator Geoffrey Gorman said this is an unusual deficit, and the towns are working together to ensure it does not happen in the future. 

“The purpose of this article is not to solve all the issues with the healthcare,” Gorman said. “What it is primarily there to do is to ensure that the teachers and staff at Old Rochester have healthcare coverage between now and June 30, when the budget season ends.”

He said members of the school committee and town administrators will be available during Town Meeting to answer any questions, and handouts explaining the issue will be available. 

As the town’s 175th anniversary of its incorporation approaches, events to celebrate the milestone are already being planned for next year. 

Gorman said the planning committee is looking for $25,000 to fund celebrations that could begin as early as this winter.

“That's a fairly small amount of money compared to the budget,” he said. “It's still $25,000 we hope that the residents support, so we can get fun events for all the residents and visitors.

Bylaw update. After a 7-month-old labradoodle named Ollie was mauled by other dogs at an East Longmeadow boarding facility, Massachusetts passed a law strengthening kennel regulations in September 2024. 

Marion is asking voters to approve an update to the Animal Control Code to comply with this new legislation and ensure dogs boarded in town are kept safe. 

“This new law that came out requires us to update our bylaws to make sure that we are adhering to that legislation,” Gorman said. “It provides more clarification of licensing requirements, as well as these fines for folks that have kennels.”

Citizen’s petition. Last year at spring Town Meeting, voters decided to table a proposal allowing property owners to install a secondary water meter for outdoor, non-sewer water uses.

This means owners would not be assessed a sewage fee for these uses, such as for irrigation systems or pools. 

However, the town relies on these fees to fund sewage services. If non-sewage use is not included in charges, either the fees must increase or the remaining funds needed must come from the town’s budget. 

Gorman said voters agreed last year to hold off on voting on the issue until a committee of residents had time to analyse current regulations and possible effects of these secondary meters. 

He said the committee has discussed the issue since then, and will present its findings during Town Meeting. 

“Then the town can determine if they believe that it's still their desire to have secondary meters, or if they would like to find some other option,” Gorman said.