MARION — New facilities for the Department of Public Works, a zoning change to accommodate new housing and an expanded harbormaster headquarters are among the top issues voters will decide at the May 9 Town Meeting.

The meeting will take place at 6:45 p.m. Monday, May 9 at Sippican School auditorium, 16 Spring St.

The 46-article warrant includes the overall town budget for Fiscal Year 2023, which runs from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023. 

Voters will be asked to approve a total town budget of $24,701,737, a four percent increase from the current budget of $23,837,721. 

Those figures include a general government budget of $2,517,737, a 4.79 percent increase from the current budget, a $3,883,067 public safety budget, which has increased by 3.85 percent; and a school budget of $12,333,840, a hike of 3.51 percent over the current amount. 

The new Department of Public Works project that voters will consider would include a salt storage facility and a covered parking structure where machinery would be kept. There will also be an operations center with a lunchroom, bathrooms, lockers and three work bays where equipment can be washed and repaired.

Current conditions are antiquated, McGrail and DPW director Nathaniel Munafo have argued, and leave equipment and the town’s salt supply exposed to the elements, which cause them to deteriorate. 

The work will cost $4.456 million. Free cash will cover $1.5 million of the cost, McGrail said. The remaining $3 million would be borrowed. 

This would cost the taxpayer of a median-priced home about $10 a year for 20 years. 

For the project to go forward, voters would have to approve the item at both Town Meeting and through a debt exclusion question at town election Friday May 13. A debt exclusion is a temporary increase in property taxes, outside the limits of Proposition 2 ½, which limits tax increases, to raise the funds necessary to pay debt service costs for a specific capital project.

The Finance Committee has approved this article.

Voters will also be asked whether to approve a zoning change that would allow the construction of a 48-unit housing development at 78 Wareham Road. 

The project failed to receive the necessary two-thirds approval at the fall Town Meeting required for a zoning change and is being brought back for a second opportunity.

This time, though, only a simple majority vote will be needed, after the Planning and Select boards agreed that the development fit state criteria to reduce the required percentage of votes needed for approval.

Another significant change since the previous vote is the developer’s offer to pay $1.2 million to do infrastructure work in the area. 

This would include designing and installing a new sewer pump station along Wareham Road to connect to the existing 10-inch sewer on Wareham Road near Point Road. This would help the town extend sewer service to River Road and parts of Wareham Road.

The Finance Committee made no recommendation on the article, since it has no financial impact. The Select Board and Planning Board unanimously supported the article. 

A new harbormaster office is also being requested, at a cost of $2.9 million. The project would only go forward if the town is able to secure $2.2 million in grants.

The remaining $700,000 would be covered by fees from boaters, so taxation would not be required, Harbormaster Isaac Perry has said. 

The new building would provide much-needed space, Perry has said. Three full-time employees now share a 220 square-foot office.

The new facility would be constructed near the current structure in the northeast corner of the wharf. Office space there would increase to 1,430 square feet. 

The Finance Committee supports the article. 

Voters will also be asked to approve the use of Community Preservation Act funds for a variety of projects, including restoring the entrance of the Marion Town House, adding sprinklers and ADA compliance to the Town House first floor, updating and expanding the town’s historical collection and installing trash receptacles, fencing and benches at the Benjamin Cushing Community Park. 

Voters previously approved the creation of Community Preservation fund accounts, which use a portion of the town’s property tax revenue to fund specific projects, in specific categories such as historic preservation and open space.