The Rochester Select Board heard from Town Administrator Cameron Durant on the status of the FY27 school budget during its meeting on Monday night.
Durant reported Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School’s overall FY27 budget to its five member towns will be a 4.8% increase, yet Rochester’s share will be a $260,000 reduction because the town is sending 22 fewer students there.
Meanwhile, the Old Rochester Regional School District budget will see a 6.8% increase, or an $860,000 budget increase, that the town will be asked to spend over its FY26 budget, though Rochester will have 20 fewer students at ORR in the next school year.
Durant noted the town budget is still facing currently a $450,000 deficit. “The Rochester Memorial School’s next budget meeting was scheduled for March 25,” he said. “I’ve asked them to postpone that meeting to await additional discussion.”
Regarding state funding for schools, Durant announced the town’s Chapter 90 program funding for FY27 will be $531,477. Durant noted this is a slight reduction over last year.
In other action, the Select Board approved Police Chief Michael Assad’s recommendation to appoint two new full-time police patrol officers with extensive backgrounds, Paul M. Douglas and Christopher Coyman, at the board’s meeting on Monday night.
Douglas, Assad said, has 25 years of experience in corrections and multi-agency enforcement operations. He is currently a deputy sheriff with the Plymouth County’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations and a deputy with the US Marshals Service with a top-secret security clearance. Coyman is currently a deputy sheriff/identification officer for the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department Bureau of Criminal Investigations. He’s also a special police officer with the Pembroke Police Department and a crisis negotiator with the Southeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council.
As former Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson and a roomful of other supporters looked on, Assad started by noting the Rochester Police Department has lost two officers to job transfers. One officer has taken a position with the New Bedford Police Department. The other has decided to step away from law enforcement work to pursue “other” opportunities. “These transitions provide us with the opportunity to bring in new officers who are fully committed to the mission of the Rochester Police Department,” he said.
The board appointed Carol Hardy to the Events Committee.
The board approved the Tour de Creme route through town on May 31 and the Patriot Half Triathlon’s town route on June 13.
The board chose Paul Ciaburri as its representative on the Acushnet Board of Health Agreement negotiation panel.
Durant announced the town website has officially changed from an address of “.com” to “.gov.”
Durant announced Eversource has notified the town it will conduct scheduled vegetation maintenance work this spring at 237 Vaughan Hill Road, 85 Alley Road and 8 Union Church Terrace.
The next meeting of the Rochester Select Board is scheduled for Monday, April 6 at 6:00 pm in Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Select Board
By Michael J. DeCicco
