The Rochester Select Board met briefly on September 21 with some good news for town taxpayers.
The board approved the Board of Assessors’ recommendation to set a property tax rate for FY2027 of $10.62 per thousand dollars of value, which is only three cents higher than the current rate. The select board also endorsed the assessors’ request to keep a Factor One tax rate, meaning commercial properties will not get a higher rate than residential ones.
Director of Assessing Karen Trudeau also recommended, and the board agreed, not to adopt a tax rate discount for open space or exemptions for small commercial and residential properties.
“We never recommend adopting any of the following because it just raises their taxes and shifts the burden to other classes,” Trudeau said, noting that the town’s current excess levy amount this year is $961.35.
Before the approval vote, select board member Adam Murphy asked how the tax rate of surrounding towns compares to Rochester’s. Trudeau answered that these surrounding towns bill differently, quarterly, so their bills are sent in January, while Rochester bills semi-annually. But Mattapoisett’s rate for 2025 was higher, $10.76, and $10.24 last year, she said, and Marion’s rate last year was $8.62.
In other action, the board approved Rochester Boy Scout Troop 31’s use of the Pine Street fairgrounds on the Saturday before Thanksgiving Day to cook turkeys for its annual program.
Scoutmaster Kevin Thompson explained that for years the troop has cooked eight or more turkeys over an open fire to help feed local first responders and local families for Thanksgiving. The troop has lost the spot where this cooking was usually done, he said, and will now use only the lower parking area of the fairgrounds property.
The board also approved the group Holiday Helping Angels to use the Town Hall building conference room for its holiday donation collection.
The Rochester Select Board did not schedule its next meeting before adjourning.
Rochester Select Board
By Michael J. DeCicco