Opinion: How Marion’s spending adds up

May 11, 2021

To the editor,

The Marion town budget exceeds $23 million this year; nearly $9,500 per household. That’s a lot — especially considering the median tax bill is far less.

Marion has a large inventory of expensive summer homes and the town eagerly spends that revenue. It's unsustainable, so how did we get to this?

Easy: Literally one spending program at a time.

As an example: at the annual meeting on May 10, town residents approved the spending of $200,000 of certified free cash on the enterprise (user fee-funded) sewer system. It’s a cash back program for homes with sewer connections — basically $10 to $12 each month against sewer bills that run from $150 to $250 per month.

Not much for an individual — it likely won’t even cover your next “Dunkin’ run” for bagels and coffee — but added up, it's another $200,000 of town spending.

And that’s how the little village of Marion gets to $9,500 a year per home.

Chris Collings

Marion Planning Board