Rehoboth Board of Selectmen Backs Prop 2.5 Override on Eve of Tuesday Vote

REHOBOTH -- July 14, 2014, Rehoboth Board of Selectmen unanimously backs Proposition 2.5 override hours before Tuesday vote. All five members of the Board of Selectmen, Chairman Michael Costello, and Selectmen Joseph Tito, Susan Pimentel, David Madden, and Skip Vadnais, publicly declared support Monday for a $1.675 million operating override on Tuesday's ballot, the first such ballot question in Rehoboth in roughly 30 years. Town accountant Kathy Doan warned the board's $1.2 million stabilization fund cannot substitute, "once you use it, it's gone", and resident Chuck Procopio reported that after working through the town warrant he could identify only $800,000 in cuts before reaching public safety. For a $300,000 home the override would raise the annual tax bill from $3,843 to $4,152. Finance Committee member Mike Degnan separately disclosed at the meeting that the board has not received audited financials from the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District since 2008, as required under MGL Chapter 71, Section 16A, and Town Administrator Jeffrey Ritter committed to requesting the missing records the following day.