MARSHFIELD – Residents voted Saturday to approve a debt exclusion of Proposition 2½to fund the replacement of Martinson Elementary School’s roof. The town estimates that the project will cost it $3.8 million, with the Massachusetts School Building Authority providing an additional $3.6 million.
The referendum was not to approve an override, which would permanently raise the levy limit, an upper ceiling on property taxes established by state law. A debt exclusion temporarily raises the amount a community can levy and lasts only for the life of the related borrowing.
Martinson Elementary School was built over 60 years ago, and the roof was expanded and partially replaced in the late 1990s. Select Board Member Stephen Darcy said speedily replacing the roof is a priority because leaking could cause interior damage to the building.
“The Martinson roof, out of all the school roofs in Marshfield, was in the worst shape and desperately needed to be replaced,” he said.
Construction is scheduled to begin in June and conclude in September.
Voters across all seven precincts approved the referendum for a final tally of 1,036 in favor and 380 against, according to the office of Town Clerk Narice Casper meaning about 6% of Marshfield’s registered voters cast a ballot.
Employees of Marshfield Public Schools district supported the measure in a presentation to the Select Board October 20, and the town’s nine-member advisory board unanimously voted in favor at that same meeting.
State Senator Patrick O’Connor and State Representatives Kenneth Sweezey and Patrick Kearney wrote letters to MSBA urging the agency to fund the Martinson project.
Some residents who opposed the debt exclusion felt that a full replacement was unnecessary and prohibitively expensive.
“We have five elementary schools in this town, so we're going to spend $8 million to fix one of the five,” one resident said at a public meeting. “Why are we going to spend all this money? Why don’t we retire this school?”
The referendum did not approve a specific projected cost in accordance with Massachusetts law. If the cost rises from the current projection due to surprises during construction or rising interest rates, the project can still continue without violating the terms of the vote.
For more South Shore news, subscribe to our newsletter.
About the South Shore Times
The South Shore Times is an independent, locally-owned digital news platform, free to readers, that covers communities south of Boston. Our articles are written by South Shore reporters, not AI.