A group calling itself “Better Way Marblehead” is urging voters to reject override questions 1, 2 and 3 (for $9 million, $12 million and $15 million respectively) at the ballot box on June 9 and to support Question 4, the town’s $2.3 million trash override. The group is also calling for a special town meeting.
Resident John DiPiano, who led the campaign against MBTA Communities Law compliance in town, is the spokesperson for Better Way Marblehead. The Town Clerk’s Office now says the group filed a “statement of organization” on May 15. (Earlier, the Clerk’s Office had reported that nothing had been filed by Better Way Marblehead.)
In a media release sent to the Current, Better Way Marblehead claims the town hasn’t done its due diligence in cutting costs and finding efficiencies.
“The town has not pursued available cost-saving options, including union-proposed healthcare reforms, and cannot guarantee the funds will be spent as promised,” the release reads.
“A special town meeting, convened after June 9, is the accountable path forward,” according to Better Way Marblehead’s website. “It puts voters in the room, on the record, directing specific dollars to specific programs. That is the better way.”
Better Way also makes an incorrect claim that Question 4 would raise enough money not only to cover the increased cost of the town’s new trash collection contract but leave approximately $1.5 million available to cover other municipal services (at Abbot Library, the Council on Aging and Rec & Parks) until a special town meeting can be called.
Marblehead’s Finance Director Aleesha Benjamin tells the Current there is no $1.5 “surplus.”
“Removing curbside trash collection from the FY27 budget freed approximately $2.1 million to be repurposed, inclusive of the approximate $800,000 contractual increase” for the new trash contract, Benjamin wrote in an email. “The $2.1M was repurposed within the FY27 budget to preserve core municipal operations. As a result, the town was able to reduce projected layoffs from more than 50 positions down to 22 positions and maintain funding for six departments that otherwise would have been defunded.
She added: “There is therefore no additional $1.5 million surplus available to redirect. The referenced $1.5 million represents the underlying annual cost of curbside trash collection before the projected $800,000 increase. The town must fund the full cost of the curbside trash contract and operations, not solely the year over year increase.”
The Current asked DiPiano several questions, including how many people are involved with Better Way Forward and if they’re planning any public meetings or events. On Friday, he wrote in an email: “I will bring these questions to the group and provide their response after the committee has had time to review them.”
The pro-override group, For Marblehead, responded to the press release.
“Unfortunately, the Better Way proposal is built on several misleading assumptions,” according to a statement by For Marblehead Co-Chair Matt Hooks.
“Most notably, it repeatedly refers to a supposed $1.5 million ‘surplus’ in Question 4 that can simply be redirected to restore services,” he said. “That is inaccurate. Those funds are already accounted for within the town’s operating budget. Suggesting they can simultaneously fund existing operations and restore additional services amounts to double counting.”
Select Board Chair Dan Fox and Finance Director Aleesha Benjamin declined comment.
