Official Questions Plans to Move Forward with Unapproved Expenses

A $710,000 assessment for tuition payments to South Shore Regional Vocational Technical School omitted from upcoming town meeting warrants sparked questions from the town’s advisory board chair and residents at a recent meeting.

The issue was disclosed at a joint meeting of the Select Board and Advisory Board on April 1, in which officials were scheduled to review upcoming town meeting budget items. During the meeting, Advisory Board Chair Rick Smith repeatedly pressed town officials on the appropriateness of the town’s plan to pay the bills without voter approval.

"How are we going to justify moving forward with a $710,000 payment for the South Shore Regional Vocational School when Town Meeting hasn’t approved it?" said Smith. "That’s a dangerous precedent."

Treasurer-Collector Shaun Strobel confirmed that the expense, while it will be incurred in FY26, was not included in the town’s budget documents. He noted that the plan was to incur the expenses, have the school department absorb the costs, and address the balance of funding needed at an October town meeting.

“So, we have annual town meeting and special town meeting coming up in four weeks, and we're going to debate and then vote on these articles that are present here today,” Smith pressed. “None of these articles includes that 700,000 and change that you mentioned.”

Town Administrator Michael Maresco defended the decision to proceed with the payments, pointing to the town’s prior decision to join the regional vocational district.

"Town Meeting voted to join South Shore Regional Technical Vocational. That was the golden ticket," Maresco said. "Town Meeting supported that. Kids go to school there. We have kids going there now. That’s where the seven ten came from. It’s a pro-rata formula, so it starts on July 1.”

When pressed again, Maresco reiterated his position: “We own the vote … we have kids there now. So, of course, we have to pay for those kids, and it could go up. We could have as many as 120 kids there, which would then bring our contribution up to about $2.4 million hypothetically.”

That position, however, does not seem to align with state regulations reviewed by South Shore Times or with recent guidance published by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on regional school financing.

“The appropriating authority of each member municipality must be given the opportunity to vote on the RSC’s [regional school committee’s] adopted budget and its assessment as certified by the RSC’s treasurer,” the guidance states. In Marshfield, Town Meeting is the appropriating authority. 

The guidance continues: “To ensure that the appropriating authorities of member municipalities can consider the approval of the RSC budget and their certified assessments, local officials are obligated to place the District’s budget as adopted by the RSC and the member’s assessment as certified by the District treasurer before the local appropriating authority.”

Maresco did not return repeated calls for comment. 

“The Select Board relies on the School Department and its Business Manager and the Town Administrator and its financial team to advise us on what needs to be included in the budget and provide us with a recommendation as to how to fund expenses,” said Select Board Chair Lynne Fidler. “We do not know that the regional school assessment was not included in the proposed FY26 budget, as it has been without a separate line item for years.”

During the meeting, resident Pam Keith noted that other towns included the tuition assessments in their town meeting warrants. 

“The ramifications of the penalties for not doing it correctly, there probably, technically isn't any because I don't know who's going to stop you or catch you from doing it the wrong way,” Keith said. “The way you approve the regional budget is you vote your allocation and the laws spell that out. “So, I mean until October, I don't know that it counts.”

Select Board candidate Trish Simpson also weighed in on the issue. 

“I do not support the Town Administrator’s decision to move forward with such a significant payment without Town Meeting approval; that’s not how good governance works,” said Simpson. “The fact that this assessment wasn’t even included in the initial budget discussions is deeply troubling. Town Meeting is the legislative body of Marshfield, and bypassing it on such a large expenditure undermines the democratic process our town is built on.”

The $710,000 assessment reflects tuition for Marshfield residents attending South Shore Regional Vocational School. It is not related to the new building project recently approved by voters.