Debt Exclusion Rejected in Rehoboth

Voters once again rejected a debt exclusion, which is a temporary tax increase, to pay for the town’s share of the $305 million Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical School building project.

808 residents, representing 8 percent of the town’s 10,282 voters, cast ballots in Tuesday’s annual town election.

369 were in favor of the debt exclusion, with 408 in opposition.

"If you vote not to approve the debt exclusion, then there will be reductions," Selectman Chair Skip Vadnais said on March 27. "They will be municipal and they will be educational."

Selectman Michael Deignan explained the town would have to pay between $550,000 and $600,000 annually.

“There really is no way for us to absorb that in the town budget without making significant cuts to town services,” Deignan said in February. “We are obligated to pay that debt service to Bristol/Plymouth. If we don’t pass (the debt exclusion), we’re going to be in a world of hurt financially.”

The building project was approved in March 2022.

Although the project was rejected in Rehoboth, there were enough votes for passage in the member communities which included Berkley, Bridgewater, Dighton, Middleborough, Raynham, and Taunton.

The only major contested race was for two seats on the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School Committee. Incumbents Richard Barrett and Aaron Morse were re-elected.

Morse won 522 votes, Barrett won 445, and challenger Robert Owens trailed with 378 votes.

Selectmen Robert Johnson and Lenny Mills won re-election with no opposition. Mills was also re-elected to the Planning Board.

Riccardo Binetti won a seat on the town’s Board of Assessors with no opposition.

Town Moderator William Cute won re-election with no opposition.

Kenneth Abrams defeated Miranda Aguiar for a seat on the Park Commission.

Katie Eyer and Patricia Vadnais won seats on the Water Commission.

Elizabeth Ruehrwein won a seat on the Housing Authority with no opposition.

Gary Allen Zimmer defeated Russell Richmond for the position of Constable.