Every page on marbleheaddata.org, grouped by topic. For the 15 steelmanned voter questions, start at Questions; for the streamlined overview, the home page. Every claim cites a primary source – see all sources.
Calculators & tools
Enter your home value, see the monthly and annual cost for each tier.
Adjust revenue and expense growth, toggle tiers, see when the next gap opens.
Compare Marblehead against all 351 Massachusetts towns on rate, levy, and burden.
Sankey-style flow from FY27 revenue sources to expense categories.
Circuit Breaker credit by income and home value, plus override impact after relief.
Where your tax dollars go: 8-category breakdown with override tier toggle.
The ballot
Three override tier questions (Q1 $9M, Q2 $12M, Q3 $15M), the curbside trash question (Q4 $2.3M), and the 24 other seats up at the Annual Town Election.
The three-tier structure, what each tier funds, key terms, and history.
The separate curbside trash question. A $2.3M override for curbside trash, or a ~$281/household fee if it fails. What has already been decided, what each option costs by home value, and how other MA towns fund curbside.
Town Meeting approved the spending side May 4. The June 9 ballot decides whether the levy cap moves up to fund it. Two votes, two different decisions.
What it costs you
Monthly and annual cost by home value for each tier, at full phase-in. Plus share of household income by tier.
CalculatorHow an average Marblehead property tax bill splits across schools, public safety, healthcare, and five other categories, with override tier toggle.
ChartThree indexed growth rates over twelve years. The levy and median bill tracked each other closely, both growing faster than CPI.
Chart CalculatorEnter your home value and income to see your Circuit Breaker credit and how each override tier affects you after relief. Only 418 of an estimated 1,158 eligible seniors claimed the credit in 2022.
Why there's a deficit
A ten-year walkthrough of how the town has actually spent the tax levy, who has been checking the books, and where the biggest line-item changes landed.
Ten years of general fund revenue and expenses, from balanced budgets through growing free cash reliance to the FY27 gap. Shows how each override tier compares to projected expenses through FY30.
ChartSet your own revenue and expense growth rates, toggle override tiers on and off, and see when the gap reopens. Interactive deficit projection model.
InteractiveSankey-style flow chart from FY27 revenue sources to expense categories. Adjust tier and watch the flow change.
InteractiveSeven years of FinCom warnings, in their own words. From "pleased to report no override needed" in 2016 to "significant budgetary challenges ahead" in 2025.
A factual inventory of cost-control measures Marblehead has taken before asking voters for an override, compiled from FinCom reports and budget documents.
Three measurable milestones for Marblehead's structural budget gap: identify savings, shift the crossover, get to parallel.
If the override fails
22 town positions removed, 18.25 school FTEs, library reduced 43%, and what other MA towns did after similar votes.
What happened after Marblehead's two recent failed overrides (2022 and 2023). The pre-vote threats, what actually got cut, where the money came from, and why the same play cannot run a third time.
The town's six department information guides summarized: Council on Aging, Fire, DPW, Community Development, Roads, and reserves.
The questions
Fifteen voter questions with three steelmanned answers each. Pick the answer that fits and get a position you can review or share.
The six dividing lines in the FY27 override debate, presented as the strongest version of each side's case.
Schools
Student enrollment down 21% from its FY14 peak. Three staffing measures tell different stories: one up, two down.
Chart430 school staff broken down by role: which are legally mandated, how Marblehead compares to peer towns by category, and what options exist.
Marblehead runs parallel town and school admin operations. Why they exist, what the overlap actually is, what consolidation has looked like elsewhere, and the realistic savings ceiling.
Insurance & compensation
Three charts and one loss ratio. Tax levy vs health insurance, spending vs headcount, and the actual annual price of one GIC family plan: $24K to $39K in 7 years per plan.
ChartMarblehead pays 83% of health premiums but lower salaries. Hingham pays 50% but higher salaries. Estimated total compensation for eight peer towns narrows the gap to $3,700.
ChartPeer towns
Sortable, filterable table of every Massachusetts municipality by population, income, property wealth, and tax burden. Define your own peer group instead of relying on a curated set.
InteractiveResidential share of tax levy, new growth rates, and override history for 21 Massachusetts peer towns, grouped into four structural archetypes.
Both the tax rate (Marblehead's is lowest in the group) and the average bill (second-highest) for four North Shore towns, with override projections.
ChartTotal property tax divided by population for four peer towns. Swampscott is highest; Marblehead is second.
ChartTax rates, home values, median bills, and what $750K buys you in each town.
ChartTax rates move inversely with home values. This page puts the tax tradeoff next to school staffing ratios and employer health contributions for four towns.
ChartEvery Prop 2½ operating override ballot question across 305 municipalities since 1990: volume, pass rates, and median amounts by year.
ChartWhere Marblehead's effective property tax burden sits against every Massachusetts municipality.
ChartMarblehead's Prop 2½ override votes with the ask, the result, and the margin.
ChartLarge override asks across Massachusetts since FY2020. Sizes Marblehead's FY27 ask against the recent statewide landscape.
ChartMarblehead's general government spending grew 92% over 22 years, slightly slower than the rest of the town budget and roughly in line with inflation. In FY24 it was 3.3% of the budget, the lowest share among nine wealthy MA suburbs.
ChartWhat happened in four Massachusetts towns after override votes failed: two came back with larger asks, two absorbed years of cuts without returning.
History & background
Forty-five years of Proposition 2½ in Marblehead, from the 1980 campaign run by a Marblehead resident through every override the town has voted on since 1990.
Every Prop 2½ vote since 1988: what passed, what failed, and how much.
Get involved
Beyond voting yes or no on the override: who decides what, when residents can input, and how to push for better oversight of the town budget.
Verified Marblehead residents can cast deduplicated votes on ballot questions and sign correction requests. Two-sided invite handshake via existing neighbor.
How verified Marblehead residents are organized into neighborhood branches for the trust-graph neighbor-verification feature.
About this project
Who builds marbleheaddata.org, why, the editorial stance, and how to contribute.
An independent AI audit of marbleheaddata.org for bias, selective framing, and editorial tilt. Run on April 11, 2026 against the full codebase.