March 29, 2024

Selectmen Pledge Not to Repeat 2020 Budget ‘Debacle’

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Planning for the 2021 budget season is already underway, and the Rehoboth Board of Selectmen are hoping for a smoother process than the one in 2019.

A disagreement over the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional school budget lasted for several months and heightened tensions between the selectmen and the school department. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) assumed control of the school district in December as a result of the two member towns not passing a budget for 2020.

Selectmen are hoping to have conversations with the school committee about their budget needs.

Finance Committee chairman Michael Deignan explained the school district is its own entity and has “no legal obligation” to engage in a dialogue about their finances with town officials.

Deignan said the town’s tax levy would increase by $1 million.

Town departments will be assembling their budgets in the next few months. Selectmen plan to vote on a preliminary budget at the beginning of March. The budget will be decided at the May 12 annual town meeting.

Selectmen chairman Gerry Schwall called last year’s budget process a “debacle” and said it was the school committee’s responsibility to “make a recommendation to voters.”

“Let’s not have the divisiveness we had,” Schwall said Monday.

“We just want to have one town meeting,” selectman Dave Perry added.
Last August, selectmen had reached a compromise with the school committee. In exchange for giving the school department an additional $330,000 for the 2020 budget, selectmen had proposed $214,000 in cuts to town departments. Voters rejected the revised FY20 budget at the October 29 town meeting and the district-wide meeting scheduled for November 2 was cancelled.

In a November 13 letter to DESE, Schwall cited “the ever-increasing and unsustainable financial demands” from the school district.

DESE later established the Dighton-Rehoboth school budget at $45 million.

Dighton-Rehoboth Superintendent Anthony Azar cheered DESE’s decision.
“It clearly indicates that the "compromise budget" between the Rehoboth Board of Selectmen and the School Committee was well thought out and did not reduce personnel or town services on the Rehoboth municipality,” Azar said. “Nor did it impact school programs or staff in the school district. The letter further recognizes that Dighton has already supported their assessment.”

DESE has assumed fiscal oversite of the FY 2021 budget and not the operations of the district.

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