Rehoboth Must Pay $9 Million for Bristol/Plymouth
Rehoboth’s share of the new Bristol/Plymouth Regional Technical High School is $9 million. The new school is set to open in 2026. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on October 14.
“Today we celebrate the beginning of a new area for vocational education in our community,” Superintendent-Director Alexandre Magalhaes said. “At Bristol-Plymouth, we have a long tradition of excellence that will continue at this new facility. It will create more opportunities for our students to learn and grow in a modern learning environment.”
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.
Rehoboth was approved to join the regional school district in 2012.
Dighton will be paying $14.4 million. Middleborough will be paying $26.9 million. Taunton will be paying the most: $73.8 million.
“That is all based on the number of students that attend the school,” Selectman George Solas said Monday.
Last April, voters rejected a debt exclusion, which is a temporary tax increase, to pay for the town’s share of the $305 million project.
808 residents, representing 8 percent of the town’s 10,282 voters, cast ballots in the annual town election. 369 were in favor of the debt exclusion, with 408 in opposition.
Selectman Michael Deignan explained the town would have to pay between $550,000 and $600,000 annually, which would likely be taken from the operating budget.
“This should be a debt exclusion,” Solas added.
The Massachusetts School Building Authority provided authorization for a Project Funding Agreement for the Bristol-Plymouth project in September 2021. The agreement includes reimbursement of 62.25 percent of eligible project costs up to a maximum reimbursement amount of $125, 569, 759 toward construction of a modern Bristol-Plymouth school facility.
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JohnPacheco
If I recall correctly the voters rejected the debt exclusion 3 times not just once. A lot of new growth in town, ie. Spring Street revenue should help with budgets. Times are becoming more challenging for all. Thank you everyone for all you do. I think 200 additional homes will be online for tax revenue.
Tuesday, October 17, 2023 Report this
Michael_P_Deignan
Fiscal Year New Growth
2003 $346,634
2004 $571,641
2005 $381,495
2006 $431,160
2007 $422,256
2008 $413,243
2009 $366,223
2010 $263,012
2011 $239,371
2012 $176,616
2013 $189,863
2014 $216,318
2015 $228,693
2016 $267,701
2017 $207,974
2018 $276,574
2019 $342,279
2020 $468,582
2021 $422,774
2022 $726,740
2023 $773,696
2024 $809,164
Keep in mind all those houses being built also mean more kids in the school system, and for each child in the school system it costs the Town roughly $17,000, while the average home in Rehoboth is bringing in under $6,000 in property tax.
Tuesday, October 17, 2023 Report this