School Committee Approves $265,034 Assessment Cut After Rehoboth Override Fails

REHOBOTH — July 29, 2014 — Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School Committee approves $265,034 in assessment reductions after Rehoboth override fails. Meeting July 29, the committee voted to return $153,273 to Rehoboth and $111,761 to Dighton, drawing on an unanticipated increase in state transportation reimbursement that brought the reimbursement rate to 90 percent of regional transportation costs, up from the district's planning estimate of roughly 75 percent. Rehoboth Select Board Chairman Michael Costello told the committee the town had already identified $850,000 in departmental cuts — dissolving the detective division, leaving the school resource officer position unfilled, and reducing the highway crew to potentially two road workers — but remained short of balancing its budget ahead of an August 7 special town meeting. A motion by member David Katzen to cut the Rehoboth K-8 budget outright by $400,000 was defeated; a motion to draw $300,000 from the district's excess and deficiency account for Rehoboth alone was tabled 7-2; and a $41,000 return of savings from a newly combined Dean of Student Activities and Athletics position failed on a 5-5 tie, short of the seven votes required to pass.