Rehoboth Town Meeting Review

Rehoboth’s annual town meeting took place over three nights – May 12, May 19 and May 27 and drew one of the biggest turnouts ever for its first night and ended with an unbalanced budget for Fiscal Year 2015.

Town officials had predicted a high turnout for the budget discussion on the first night and it was, with 612 in attendance. Attendance decreased over the subsequent nights, with 415 for night two and 233 for the third night.

Voters approved a $23.8 million budget for the next fiscal year, but because additional money was allocated to the Dighton-Rehoboth schools, a Proposition 2 ½ override will need to be voted on at the ballot. The override will fund a tax increase to cover the $1.7 million shortfall in the budget. The vote will take place on July 15 and polls will be open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

If the override is not approved, the town could face severe cuts in services, including the closing of the town library, reduced hours at town hall and laying off of police officers.

Here are the highlights from the three nights of town meeting:

May 12 Town Meeting

The evening began with a special town meeting to review five articles, including expenditures for approximately $40,000 for town counsel, more than $150,000 for snow removal and approximately $551,000 for the 2014 capital budget. The capital budget expenditures included new trucks for animal control, forestry and the fire department as well as five new vehicles for the police department, among other items. All the articles were approved except for Article 5, a $790,000 appropriation for the capital improvement stabilization fund, which was tabled for defeat.

One resident questioned the expense for five new police cruisers because in the past the town has usually purchased two at a time, but Chief James Trombetta said it was something that was “absolutely needed” because more than four police vehicles have more than 100,000 miles on them and two have more than 160,000 miles.

“We should not have police officers in cars with 160,000 miles responding to calls,” Trombetta said.

Town officials also noted this was the first capital plan that the town has had in a long time and it is important to allocate resources for the town’s capital needs.

The special town meeting closed and when the annual town meeting opened, the school budget was the first item discussed because a motion was made to move the school budget up on the agenda.

School committee member Tiffany Bartholomew proposed increasing the school assessment from $13.1 million to $14.8 million and after much discussion, the amendment was approved after a hand vote with 373 voting Yes and 113 voting No. It was after 10 p.m. by the time the vote was taken.

During the discussion, Finance Committee Chairman Michael Deignan tried to amend the proposal to make it contingent upon a Proposition 2 ½ override, noting that serious cuts would have to be made elsewhere in the budget or it would not be balanced, but his motion failed.

“We know the override is not going to pass for the schools alone,” said one parent who opposed the motion.

There were also some questions about whether the money allocated to the capital budget items in the Special Town Meeting could be decreased and the money used for the schools, but town counsel said that those monies could not be adjusted because the Special Town Meeting was closed.

Officials noted that after the expenditures, there was less than $2,000 left in free cash.

At about 10:30 p.m. a resident asked that the motion to increase the school budget be reconsidered. The reconsideration would, in effect, prevent any changes to the amended school assessment at a subsequent meeting. Town counsel said that if the reconsideration was approved and the line item voted on again and approved, then that line item is “dead” and cannot be adjusted. And that is what happened. The vote for reconsideration was successful and the school increase was voted on again and approved.

The meeting adjourned about 11 p.m.

May 19: Second Night of Town Meeting

The second night of town meeting focused on the remainder of the 2015 budget and four additional articles. A reconsideration was filed in the town clerk’s office prior to the meeting asking that the increase to the school assessment be contingent on a Proposition 2 ½ override. A hand vote was taken and the reconsideration failed with 166 in favor and 212 against.

The remainder of the Fiscal Year 2015 budget was approved as amended, with the entire budget contingent upon passage of a Proposition 2 ½ override.

The following articles were approved on the second night of town meeting:

-Expenditure for $29,800 to compensate Fire Chief Robert Pray for accrued sick time not taken during his 37 years of service to the town.

-$45,000 for the settlement of legal fees involving a Rehoboth police officer in the matter of Morra vs. Rehoboth

-Establishment of a stabilization fund for Bristol Plymouth Technical High School

The following articles were tabled for defeat:

-63,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the town of Dighton against the D-R Regional School Committee. This required a hand vote and 200 were in favor and 79 against.

-to allocate 355,000 from the sale of real estate account to fund an Owner’s Project Manager and architectural/design services for the reconstruction and renovation of the Public Safety Building. This was tabled so that more information could be provided and may come back at the fall town meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 10:20 p.m.

May 27: Third Night of Town Meeting

On the third night of town meeting on May 27, residents reviewed the remaining 30 articles on the warrant.

An article requesting approximately $34,800 for the sorting and cataloging of town hall records, which would be paid equally by the town and the Community Preservation Fund (CPA), was initially amended to include only funds from the CPA because there were no town funds available. The amended amount of $17,400 was approved. When funds became available later in the evening, Sue Pimental asked for a reconsideration vote of the $17,400 from the town and it was approved with 155 in favor and 39 against. The entire project was funded.

An article establishing a town bylaw preventing cruelty to animals and imposing fines for inhumane treatment of animals was defeated. It was noted that similar state legislation already exists.

Two articles concerning updates to the town’s zoning bylaws were tabled for defeat.

Another article, requesting $50,000 be allocated to the Agricultural Trust Fund was also tabled for defeat because the funds were not available.

Three articles requesting allocations from the Historic Preservation Reserve of the CPA to fund preservation of historic town documents, a historic gravestone conservation workshop and a survey of Burial Place Hill, were approved.

Two articles that were debated for some time were bylaw amendments prohibiting large metal trash containers in the right of way and prohibiting snow in the right of way. The article on the trash containers was defeated after a hand vote with 66 in favor and 93 against. The snow article was approved unanimously.

Other articles that were approved include:

-Allocation of $165,000 from CPA funds to rehabilitate the facilities at Goff Memorial Hall.

-Temporary construction easements from abutters of the Wheeler Street Bridge during the reconstruction project on the bridge.

-Imposing a new 5 mile per hour speed limit for watercraft on the Palmer River.

-Allocation of funds derived from solar farm facilities to a capital building improvement fund for use on reconstruction of the Public Safety Building.

-Acceptance of Anawan Rock parcel of land from the Rehoboth Antiquarian Society

-To allow selectmen to enter into agreements with BlueWave Capital for construction of a two large solar photovoltaic installation, one at the former landfill and one on Barney Avenue.

The remaining articles involved approving revolving accounts, land and street acceptances, the CPA budget and the acceptance of various reports from town boards and committees.

The third and final night of town meeting ended just before 11 p.m.