Hundreds Protest Marblehead Town Meeting As Budget With Cuts Passes

MARBLEHEAD, MA — Marblehead municipal employees — including teachers, public safety responders and town staff — protested outside of the first night of the annual town meeting Monday as town meeting members passed a general operating budget that Municipal Employees Union spokesperson Terri Tauro told Patch "was not accurate" based on what she called intentionally delayed collective-bargaining agreements costing workers needed cost-of-living increases.

Tauro attempted to present a statement to meeting members during the warrant debate that included a deferral of the articles including new collective bargaining agreements for police and fire. Moderator Jack Attridge said that while he understood there were those at the meeting who wanted to hear what Tauro had to say, he would not allow her to continue the statement that he determined was outside of the scope of the motion to suspend the article.

(Also on Patch: Marblehead Unions Protest Budget Cuts Ahead Of Town Meeting)

Tauro provided the full statement to Patch on Tuesday:

"I would like to start with a shout-out for our town employees. Marblehead's town employees educate your children and keep them safe. We keep your power on, plow the snow and care for your aging parents. We make your summer's on the harbor, at the parks and take away your refuse. We affect your life in so many ways, every day.

"For many of us, the wages we make working for the town are far less than what it would take to live in the town. It may soon be that our wages won't cover living in this state; Massachusetts is,
after all, the fourth most expensive state in this country to live in."

It was about here that Tauro was cut off from completing her statement, which she said would have contained pertinent information related to the article being debated at the time.

"And that, really, is the heart of the issue tonight: the cost of living is high. That's certainly not the town's fault. If, however, we want to attract and keep employees who will keep Marblehead running efficiently, it is the town's responsibility to deal with this post-pandemic reality of across-the-board cost of living increases.

"This should not be a huge ask. Marblehead is the 24th wealthiest town in Massachusetts with its residents making 65 percent more than the national median income. Overall, that puts our residents in the top seven percent. Despite this, a majority of Marblehead municipal workers are earning less than the state poverty levels for a family of two. The school's paraprofessionals, to give but one example, are at or below the poverty line to support a single person.

"This is an untenable situation. As town employees, we are well-trained, often highly educated individuals who, in most cases, have turned down lucrative positions in the private sector because we believe in the work we do; we believe that, as teachers, as firefighters, and as municipal employees that we are making this community a better place to be. We never expected to get rich doing the work we love, but we cannot be asked to work for near-poverty wages.

"The longer we do, the more of us will burn out and seek work elsewhere. And where will Marblehead be then? Imagine our schools understaffed, our children's educational needs unmet. Imagine the dangers our homes will be under with a diminished police and fire department. Imagine not being able to visit the beautiful new Abbot Library because our librarians sought jobs elsewhere. Imagine all the work left unfinished because the town cannot attract and keep a stable workforce.

"Whether we live in Marblehead or not, we municipal employees are dedicated to this community. We stay late, go in early or work at home just to get our jobs done. We bump into friends on the street and make notes on our phones to check on something for them on Monday. This sense of community is quickly slipping away with the practice of eliminating high-paying positions and dumping the work on those of us who remain.

"The municipal unions have tried, in good faith, to bargain with the town and draft new contracts that meet the needs of both employee and community. We have been stonewalled at every turn and treated with disrespect and a refusal to bargain. We have been willing to meet halfway, to find creative solutions to the town's problems that don't break the bank, but the town has delivered us a simple message; take it or leave it. This is not the way to create a healthy dynamic between employer and employee. This kind of disrespect will only hasten the flight of workers from this
municipality.

"Before you raise your hand or tap your clicker to postpone Articles 20 and 21 indefinitely, ask yourself what this will mean for the town when negotiations are intentionally delayed and workers are disrespected. It means the budget you are voting on tonight is not accurate. It means that Marblehead workers will indefinitely continue to work for wages that do not begin to meet the ever-increasing cost of living."

Town meeting members went on to approve a $115 million budget that includes about $4 million in cuts aimed at tackling the town's structural deficit while lessening the reliance on so-called "free cash" to fund general operating expenses.

The budget, which includes funding from increases in the municipal meals tax and hospitality room tax, comes after two years of proposed Proposition 2 1/2 tax overrides to support a supplemental school budget in 2022 and a level-funded general operating budget in 2023 both failed.

Tauro told Patch that she "knocked close to 1,000 doors and wrote letters to the editor in favor of the override last year."

"I thought it was the responsible thing to do to inform the residents of Marblehead what the intentional delay of negotiations really means," Tauro told Patch on Tuesday.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)