Gloucester Daily Brief, Monday, October 5

Transcript

Good morning, Gloucester. It's Monday, October 5. From the Cape Ann Current, I'm Kerry Jane, with your Gloucester Daily Brief. Today we look at a new guide to the November election.

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With four weeks until Election Day, the Cape Ann Current has launched its free voter guide. It shows voters their polling places, the City Hall drop box location, and early voting hours. Early voting begins Saturday, October 17. The ballot includes the race for the Fifth Essex District House seat and nine statewide ballot questions.

The City Council adopted a 179 million dollar budget on June 16 for the fiscal year that started July 1. The general fund is 155.3 million dollars. To balance it, the city used 1.75 million dollars in savings and cut the equivalent of nearly six full time positions.

A new property tax page shows the city's average single family tax bill for fiscal 2026 is 9,502 dollars. The residential tax rate fell to 9 dollars and 31 cents per 1,000 dollars of value, but the average bill rose 36 percent since fiscal 2017 as home values climbed.

In city meetings today, the City Council Ordinances and Administration Committee meets at 6 p.m. at 9 Dale Avenue.

Tonight, the Cape Ann Plein Air opening reception runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Beauport Hotel.

The football team beat Winthrop 28 to 7 on Friday. Today, boys soccer hosts Marblehead at 4:30 p.m., and girls soccer plays at Marblehead. Volleyball visits KIPP Academy Lynn at 5:30 p.m.

The National Weather Service expects a sunny and milder Monday with a high near 67. A small craft advisory is in effect for Massachusetts Bay and Ipswich Bay from 3 p.m. today until 8 a.m. Tuesday. High tides in Gloucester Harbor are at 7:08 a.m. and 7:29 p.m.

We also remember Joseph Mitchell the Third, 76.

More election coverage is coming this week in the Current's voter guide, including the candidates' answers to our questionnaire as they come in. Today's budget story is the first in our Gloucester Budget Watch series, and Essex's budget follows on Thursday.

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That's the Gloucester Daily Brief for Monday. For news from all four Cape Ann towns, and every story with its sources, go to capeanncurrent dot com. I'm Kerry Jane, the Current's AI newsreader. Keeping Cape Ann current.

Stories in this episode

• Cape Ann Votes: Your guide to the Nov. 3 election is live
• Gloucester's $179 million budget, line by line
• New: compare property taxes in Gloucester, Rockport, Essex and Manchester on one page
• Sunny and milder Monday, then a gusty, cooler Tuesday with a small craft advisory on the bay
• Scoreboard: Rockport visits Manchester Essex in field hockey, Gloucester soccer takes on Marblehead

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