SCITUATE - Scituate’s two-night annual town meeting wrapped up April 14, leaving the town with a $109.6 million operating budget, bylaw amendments and approval for major construction projects.
Voters rejected or postponed a few major articles, but they passed the operating budget as proposed and approved several new fees and millions in capital improvements.
The operating budget represents a 7% increase over fiscal year 2026 but only increases property tax by 2.5%. $51.9 million was appropriated for the school department, $14 million for public safety, $10.5 million for debt service and $19 million for employee benefits. Officials said it was a level services budget with no new line items besides $400,000 for roads and seawalls.
Borrowing will support sewer, wastewater improvements
While the town did not request an override, it did request and receive approval for a $27 million debt exclusion that will fund an expansion of the sewer system.
Thanks to a low-interest loan from the state, Scituate can now expand its sewer system north for millions less than an unsubsidized loan would allow, which will let businesses start new construction and raise new growth revenues after the expansion is complete.
“It could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, considering we're going to be looking at an interest rate at 2%, if not less,” Select Board Chair Andrew Goodrich said in a previous meeting.
Goodrich said that the commercial district in North Scituate “cannot grow” because the sewage system does not stretch outside of it. The loan will fund building out the system northward from the intersection of Gannett Road and Country Way up to the western mouth of Musquashcut Brook.
The town will take out another loan for the most expensive project in the capital plan, a headworks upgrade to the wastewater system costing $5.9 million.
Breaking down the $14 million capital budget
Voters approved 35 other capital projects but shot down the second most expensive project proposed in the plan, the construction of a $2.5 million firearms training range for the police department, leaving the total capital plan budget at $14.2 million.
The firearms training range would have provided the police department with a town-owned facility for scenario-based training with multiple weapons. Police Chief Mark Thompson said simpler outdoor shooting ranges are inadequate for the department’s training.
"These facilities no longer meet the needs of what modern law enforcement needs to have," he said. "The number of places that police departments can go to are getting smaller and smaller. We need to ensure longer-term that we have a space that we can go to train."
Town Administrator James Boudreau said the training would also involve learning de-escalation tactics.
"Do we want to provide the best training for officers, or do we want to say, 'okay, go shoot' and hope the worst doesn't happen?" he asked. “This is about providing the best training that we can to our officers.
Residents worried that the project was too expensive, and three recommended building a facility shared between towns. A town official said that the capital planning committee felt it was "appropriate" to propose the project this year because the town has the necessary borrowing capacity.
"I just have a hard time supporting spending this much money, especially after we have been told that our money is this tight," a resident said.
Most of the approved items from the capital plan will be funded with free cash, retained earnings and revolving funds. The only other project funded by borrowing is the replacement of the First Parish pump station for $300,000. The last town meeting approved $2 million for the project
One of the most expensive items is a renovation of the floor, bleachers and sound system in the Scituate High School large gym, which hosts town meetings, for $1 million to be funded through free cash. A town official said that the gym is 65 years old.
Community preservation to fund other town improvements
The town will also undertake two construction projects with the community preservation budget, which will total $2.6 million in fiscal year 2027. Nearly $300,000 is set aside to create and maintain community housing, $600,000 to acquire property, and $1.4 million for construction.
The largest item on the community preservation budget by far is the construction of three new basketball courts at Scituate High School for $1.2 million. The courts “will have state-of-the-art foundation to address previous vapor issues, new basketball posts, spectator stands and improved fencing and drainage system.”
The second project is the renovation of the town-owned Mordecai Lincoln property, which includes the historic home of an ancestor of Abraham Lincoln. $200,000 will go to landscape design, accessibility, structure assessments and security.
The rest of the funds will be reserved for debt payments and paying administrative expenses. A previously discussed proposal to build pickleball courts was not on the town meeting warrant.
Controversial fishing amendment indefinitely postponed
An article that would have redefined a commercial fisherman to be anyone who derives greater than 51% of their annual gross income harvesting fish, shellfish or lobsters and who holds all necessary permits was postponed after months of debate over who should qualify as—and receive the benefits of—a commercial fisherman.
The current bylaw defines a commercial fisherman as any individual holding necessary fishing licenses whose "principal means of employment" is fishing. The town started considering revising the definition in response to a petition by State Rep. Patrick Kearney (D), 4th Plymouth District, who wanted to expand the definition to include certain charter and headboat operators who hold multiple state and federal permits and also sell part of their catch.
At town meeting, a resident made a motion to revise the article to remove the 51% income stipulation, expanding the definition to include anyone with the necessary fishing permits. He argued that permits were already expensive and prohibitive enough to define a commercial fisherman.
A town official raised concern that removing the 51% requirement would allow for-hire boat operators to qualify as commercial fishermen without truly relying on fishing as a source of income, taking town resources reserved for commercial fishermen.
Another resident made a motion to postpone the article, citing a lack of agreement among fishermen. The town rejected the motion to revise and approved the motion to postpone.
The article also included other amendments to definitions and mooring permits, but those amendments were not discussed on the floor.
Three real estate fees to bring new revenue to town
Voters passed three new or increased taxes and fees on hotels and short-term rentals, slightly increasing the cost of staying at the town’s hotel or in short-term rentals in an effort to raise revenues without raising taxes or costs for residents.
Article 32 will increase the room occupancy tax rate from 4% to 6% effective January 1, 2027, which the town estimates will generate $134,000 in revenue next year.
Article 34 will impose a 3% fee on short-term rentals operated by corporations that operate multiple rental units in the same municipality, like Airbnb and Verb, and article 35 will impose a 3% fee on short-term rentals within private homes.
The revenue generated will go to the general fund, and 35% must be appropriated for infrastructure or affordable housing projects.
An official said that the town is looking for options to raise non-tax revenue because state aid has not increased enough to cover dramatically rising municipal costs.
“Our elected officials up at the State House have failed us,” he said. “Local aid for years and years has not kept pace with inflation.”
The warrant also included a local option to add a tax on meals, but the town indefinitely postponed it without a public vote.
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