Rochester’s Annual Town Meeting held Monday passed its 25 articles, including a zoning amendment, several high-priced capital expenditures, and a Fiscal Year 2026 operating budget exceeding $27,000,000, without much of a fight.
A quorum of 108 residents took just over an hour to approve, with no serious push back. Priorities starting with a $27,022,457 budget for the next fiscal year, which is roughly $1,000,000 over FY25 (budgeted at $26,022,613).
Finance Committee Chair James Austin reported education is once again the town’s largest expense, with a line item of $15,300,000. He said total general, non-school government expense for FY26 is $11,700,000, an increase of $324,374 or 2.85%, and the school budget is a 4.6% increase. Nonetheless, no debate or questions from attendees preceded this approval vote.
The next serious budgetary approval vote came with Article 9, a transfer of $364,000 from the town’s Capital Improvement Fund for needs that ranged from $125,000 for a new Highway Department roadside mower to $40,000 for audio-video enhancements at Rochester Memorial School.
Starting a series of transfers from free cash, the highlights then included $200,000 for the Rochester Memorial School Special Education budget, another $200,000 to replace the Highway Barn roof, $25,000 to digitize paper records at the Town Hall Annex building, $150,000 for information-technology upgrades for the town, establishing a Facilities Management reserve account with $20,000, paying off the debt of the new ambulance and fire truck, $50,000 to hire consultants, and $75,000 for a matching grant fund.
Turning to non-money articles, the meeting endorsed a new personnel bylaw military leave policy. Town employees who also serve in the armed forces will have their rights protected to not lose their seniority or pay.
The meeting approved submitting a home-rule petition to the state that will allow Fire Chief Scott Weigel, 65, to work past his mandatory retirement age to age 70, provided he passes a yearly physical and mental exam.
The meeting endorsed a new personnel bylaw policy that allows town employees to opt out of the town-offered health insurance plan. An employee must commit to the opt-out option for a full fiscal year.
Lastly, again without debate or audience questions, meeting members approved a zoning change to the Cranberry Highway Smart Growth Overlay District, site of a 40R residential/mixed-use project being proposed for Cranberry Highway and County Road.
Planning Board Chair Arnold Johnson explained before the vote that this move simply adds another parcel to this district. He said the developer of this project, Ken Steen, had asked for this change to open up financing opportunities for the project. The Planning Board had approved this project four years ago. Since then, economic conditions have made the original 208-unit plan less financially feasible, so Steen is adding townhouses to the mix. The advantage to the town is that, when the project is built, Rochester will still reach the state-mandated goal of having 10% of its housing stock affordable, Johnson said.
Steen explained to the Town Meeting that the plan for the 32.9-acre site will now be 212 multi-family units. There will be an additional subdivision for townhouses with four more multi-family units.
Rochester Annual Town Meeting
By Michael J. DeCicco