Marshfield Feels Override's Bite as Cohasset Holds Off

Two South Shore towns are confronting budget pressure from opposite directions this month, with Marshfield absorbing the fallout of a rejected tax override while Cohasset works to avoid becoming the next town in that position.

South Shore Times previously reported that Marshfield voters rejected a $7 million Proposition 2½ override by a vote of 4,801 to 4,059 on Sept. 1, a result expected to force about $4.5 million in cuts, including to the school department.

At the Marshfield Select Board's first meeting since that vote, Chair Rick Smith told residents the town's financial situation "will get no easier," pointing to inflation running above 3 percent nationally. He said he expects Town Administrator Langill and department heads to separate wants from needs and make the necessary cuts "to areas that fall outside of our core needs."

"This is going to require that every part of our town is going to need to sacrifice in order to ensure long-term financial stability without the need for further revenue growth from our residents," Smith said.

Langill told the board he has already begun denying overtime requests and is steering employees toward compensatory time instead.

"We don't have the money to say yes to more spending right now," he said.

Langill also flagged procurement problems inside town government that he described as urgent enough to potentially unwind existing agreements.

"We have some serious procurement issues going on in town right now, and I think that needs to be addressed much sooner rather than later with renewed policies and procedures that are going to be enforced," he said, adding the situation could require voiding some contracts the town currently holds.

Separately, the board voted to form a four-member communications working group after a resident said the town had posted minutes for fewer than half of its 43 meetings so far this year.

In Cohasset, officials are trying to avoid a similar reckoning. At the Select Board's Sept. 8 meeting, Vice Chair Ellen Maher pointed directly to Marshfield's vote while the board debated how soon to schedule a special election to vote on a new public safety building.

"If we look at what just happened in Marshfield, they had their town meeting at the beginning of the summer and they approved a $7 million override, and last week they went to the polls and it was rejected," Maher said.

Town Manager Michelle Leary told the board Cohasset is not pursuing an override of its own this fall, saying the town lacks the financial data to justify one.

"We are not looking for an override in the fall. We don't have financial forecasts in place. It's not responsible. We've been advised against it," Leary said.

Leary said her office is instead building longer-range financial forecasts and watching state aid figures that typically are not released until January or February.

"We are building a five and a 10-year forecast. We're doing all the right things to set us up for an override if in fact we need one," she said.

Cohasset also advanced smaller capital purchases this month, including a police fingerprint scanner and fire department intercom repairs, paid for through its existing capital stabilization account rather than new borrowing.

Marshfield's town administrator said a joint budget meeting with the School Committee is set for Sept. 28, where a fuller picture of the district's finances is expected. Cohasset's own five-year forecast is due by the end of September.