01/06/2026
Residents make lots of decisions at Annual Town Meeting
By GEORGE AUSTIN
SOMERSET - Town Administrator Mark Ullucci said the budgets that were approved at the Annual Town Meeting yesterday would result in a tax increase of approximately $250 for the average residential homeowner in Somerset.
Based on the current housing market growth, he said the average residential home in Somerset would be about $505,000 when the tax rates are set. The town sets its tax rate later in the year, usually in the fall. Ullucci said if the town receives more state aid than expected, that tax increase could be less. During his presentation on the budget, he said he does not feel cities and towns receive enough aid from the state.
Ullucci said this year's budgets were difficult to put together. He said there were a lot of spirited conversations about cuts. But he said he thinks the town put together a strong budget this year that recognizes the difficulties of the taxpayers, but also sustains the services they expect.
Voters approved a $32,966,990 budget for the general government for Fiscal Year 2027,, which includes police, fire, highway, Town Office Building and other services. That is a $889,532 increase over the current fiscal year. There was some discussion about a $40,000 cut in police overtime in the budget. A motion was made to put that money back into the budget, but it failed.
Selectmen Chair Allen Smith said the Board of Selectmen set a 2.5 percent ceiling for budget proposals for Town Departments. He said the increase in the budget for the general government was 2.43 percent.
Voters also approved a $26,889,305 budget for the pre-kindergarten through grade eight school district. That is $931,288 more than the current fiscal year's budget which represents a 3.59 percent increase.
Somerset School Committee member John Ventura said Somerset is below the state average on what it spends on schools, but its graduation rate is higher than the state average. He said the school district has been at or above the state average on increasing MCAS scores since the COVID-19 pandemic. He said he knows people are concerned. He said he pays taxes in town and they have gone up.
"We are trying to be good stewards of your tax dollars," Ventura said.
Voters also approved an $11,303,135 assessment for the Somerset Berkley Regional School District. That is a $273,404 increase over the current fiscal year.
Voters approved a $2,758,175 budget for the Greater Fall River Vocational Technical High School District which is for Diman. That is a $220,840 increase over the current fiscal year.
Resident Pattie Steele said she thinks the town needs to reevaluate the way its revenue is distributed between its services because of a significant decrease in the enrollment in schools. She said there were a lot more children in the schools in the 1980s. She said she feels the schools need to consolidate and a look needs to be taken on how education is delivered.. She said the schools have 2,300 students as opposed to 5,000 students in the 1970s. She said the school district can't sustain the number of schools it has. Steele said the taxpayers can't afford to keep having 3.59 percent increases from the schools.
"We need to look at our budgets clearly and closely," Steele said.
Ventura said there have been 11 teacher positions cut from the schools in the last few years because of enrollment decreases.
Voters also approved of a budget of $4,610,314 for the Water Department, which is a 4.9 percent increase, and $4,554,465 for the Water Pollution Control Department, which is an 8.25 percent increase. The revenue for those budgets comes from the water and sewer rates that are charged to customers.
Resident Elizabeth Paskowski said she was against the water department budget because it alots $6,000 for sodium fluoride which Town Meeting voters voted against last year.
Voters approved the purchases of PFAS free firefighting gear for $310,000, $65,000 for a pick-up truck for the Fire Department and $500,000 to purchase and equip one ladder truck for the Fire Department. The $500,000 would be used for a down payment to lock in a price for the truck.
Fire Chief Jamison Barros said the current ladder truck at the Fire Station is 17 years old. He said it takes three years to build a new ladder truck. A few years ago, he said the generator on the truck failed. He said the price for a new ladder truck at this time is in the neighborhood of $1.8 million. He said the Fire Department will be asking for more funding for the truck in the future. Chief Barros said a design team will meet with vendors to get a solid price for a ladder truck and could use the $500,000 for a down payment or lease/purchase agreement. Chief Barros said the size of the current ladder truck is also an issue with some of the new buildings that have gone up in town.
Smith said the costs for ladder trucks have been going up a lot. He said locking in a price now would save money for taxpayers. He said the $500,000 would come from free cash. He said the original proposal was for $1 million, but that amount was brought down to $500,000 to minimize the free cash used.
Christopher Godet, a former Somerset School Committee and Advisory and Finance Committee member, said he thought the fund that is generated through ambulance fees was supposed to be used for those types of purchases. Smith said that fund pays for salaries for some of the firefighters, but does not have enough capacity to pay for a ladder truck.
For the Police Department, voters approved $85,000 for a pick-up truck, $55,000 for a cruiser and $10,000 for storage containers and related equipment. Police Chief William Tedford said the pick-up truck will replace a 2017 cruiser. He said the truck will allow police to more easily move radar trailers, equipment for training and found property.
For the Highway Department, voters approved $288,375 to purchase and equip a new plow truck that will be a six wheel dump truck, $46,000 to purchase and equip a new bucket truck, $100,000 to purchase and equip two snow plow trucks, two brine trucks and other snow related equipment and $100,000 for stormwater management compliance. Smith said the dump truck will replace a similar vehicle with a rotted frame. He said the bucket truck will be used by the Highway Department so that the town does not have to pay a tree service. He said that will save money on that service that needs to be provided when trees on town property are learning on private properties or for other reasons.
The equipment for those three departments will be purchased with free cash which is money left over from prior years' budgets, unanticipated revenue, such as more money coming in from the excise tax or building permits than expected, and one-time revenues.
For the School Department, voters approved $240,000 to purchase, install and upgrade security systems in the town's elementary schools and $79,659 for a pick-up truck for the school department.
Voters approved $50,000 for a supplemental fund that could be used if fuel prices went up so high, that more money was needed to keep the town's vehicles operating.
Voters approved $250,000 to supplement the reserve account for future health costs for retired town employees. That amount brings the balance of the account up to $3,897,902.
Voters at the Annual Town Meeting voted to move two citizens' petition articles up on the warrant. One of those articles asked to compel the water and sewer commissioners to work with the City of Fall River to jointly file a letter with the United States Environmental Protection Agency requesting a one-year deadline extension to Somerset's NPDES permit so that expenditures could pause and an evaluation can be done to determine whether the best course of action would be to enter into a regional sewer district with Fall River or resume compliance with the present permit.
Paskowski said the purpose of the extension was two fold. She said it would put a pause on the town spending on design and construction fees. She said the residents haven't been shown the final costs of the project and have not approved the project.
Paskowski said Citizens for Commonsense reached out to EPA and were told an extension would be looked on favorably if it was serious. She said there were no cons to the citizens petition article, only pros.
Godet said the town elects a body to work on those types of projects and they have open meetings. The Water and Sewer Commission, after having a cost comparison done with tying into the Fall River sewer plant, has decided to move forward with upgrading the Somerset sewer plant instead to meet the requirements of the permit. Godet made a motion to indefinitely postpone the citizens petition article and it passed.
The second citizens petition article asked residents to compel the water and sewer commissioners and/or selectmen to call for an informational meeting at Somerset Berkley Regional High School within 90 days of the vote to present to the citizens competing plans for water sewerage treatment in Somerset. A town plan would be presented by the Water and Sewer Commission and their professionals. A citizens' plan would be presented by Citizens for Common Sense and their professionals. The meeting would have unlimited citizens' input and questions.
Resident Christine Farias said she would be voting yes on that article and no on two other articles related to the sewer plant on the warrant to advocate for additional time to inform the citizens of Somerset on future plans for restoration of the town's wastewater treatment plant. She said voting yes on the citizens petition article in conjunction with voting no on the other two articles would allow the citizens a pause in using funds related to design, engineering and legal fees for a larger capital project to fully restore the treatment plant until a special citizens' meeting is held to provide transparency on the estimated total cost to restore the treatment plant along with a side by side comparison of alternate options and potential funding sources available. She said the estimate and engineering analysis of the project is still in draft form. Without the water and sewer commissioners providing a final engineering analysis, a total project cost and funding sources, she said she was skeptical of the $75 million estimate for the upgrading of the town's sewer plant. Depending on funding sources and interest, she feels the number could be well above $75 million. She said she does not feel like she has enough details to know the long term impact of the project.
Steve Cadorette, chair of the Water and Sewer Commission, said there have been two public meetings when the commission's engineer presented its findings on restoring the Somerset plant versus tying into the Fall River sewer plant. He said public comments were taken after those meetings and two comments were submitted after one of the meetings and one comment was submitted after the other meeting. He said the goal has been to be as transparent as possible. Cadorette said it will be a town decision on the project. A vote at a Town Meeting must be taken to approve the funding for the project. Cadorette said the analysis of the commission's engineer found that it would cost less money to upgrade the current sewer plant in Somerset than it would be to tie in to the Fall River plant. Cadorette said the commission has driven home the point to its engineer that the project can not cost more than $75 million. He said a one-phase approach to the project could save $12 million. Cadorette said the commission would continue to be as transparent as possible with the project going forward. He said people can call the commissioners about the project and can come to their meetings where they are allowed to speak during the public input portion of the agenda. Cadorette said Somerset has worked with Fall River to see if Somerset could tie into the city's plant, but the numbers that Fall River gave Somerset did not work. He said the cost to treat sewage in Somerset would be less than having Fall River treat it.
Planning Board member Lloyd Mendes said the process has been transparent. He said it would cost twice as much for Somerset to tie into the Fall River system. He said it would be cheaper for Somerset customers to keep the service in town.
Paskowski said the treatment costs would be more in Fall River because of inflow and infiltration problems.
Resident Anthony Kucikas said he spent 40 years working in the wastewater treatment industry. He said he does not believe Somerset should have someone else take care of its sewer service. He said there are three educated commissioners on the Water and Sewer Commission. Smith also said the town is incredibly fortunate to have members on the Water and Sewer Commission who are as qualified as the ones who are there. Kucikas said the Somerset sewer plant was built in 1970. He said if the town takes it offline and goes somewhere else for its sewer service, it will never get it back.
The residents at the meeting voted to indefinitely postpone the article.
Voters approved $3.5 million to fund testing, analysis, engineering, legal and design services for improvements required at the Water Pollution Control Facility, including the collection system and any additional requirements that must be made under the EPA permit for the sewer plant. That money will come from the wastewater capital stabilization fund which was established and funded with retained earnings in the water and sewer enterprise fund.
Voters approved $100,000 for legal and professional services to assist the town on issues related to valuation and taxation of existing and former electric and gas utilities and generating facilities.
Voters approved $1.5 million for repairs and replacement of external and internal parts associated with no less than two of the four clarifiers located at the water pollution control facility.
Voters approved a rezoning of an old gas station property on Slades Ferry Boulevard from limited to business to business and removed it from the Slades Ferry Crossing Overlay District. Attorney Peter Saulino, representing the owner of the property, said his client has had problems marketing the property because of the uncertainty of the zoning of it. He said the change will make it easier for his client to market the property, getting it redeveloped quicker and getting more tax money into the town from it.
Voters approved a bylaw to ban cryptocurrency automated teller machines in Somerset. Selectmen Todd Costa, a retired police chief, said that Police Department records show that $142,000 has been scammed from Somerset residents using those machines. He said the people were over 50 years old. He said people don't use the machines for investment, but for fraud.
Voters approved Community Preservation funding for six projects. The approvals included $100,000 for restoration of the Swansea Friends Meeting House, $10,000 for signage at historic cemeteries, $75,000 for a playground in the Pottersville area, $59,125 for reconstruction of the South Complex upper baseball field, $81,684 for reconstruction of the South Complex Babe Ruth Baseball Field and $13,591 for phase two of the redesign of the bocce courts off Hillside Avenue.
Community Preservation funding comes from a one percent surcharge on property taxes and matching funds from the state that have been in the area of 14 percent to 16 percent recently.
There was some discussion about the Pottersville playground.
Smith said he was opposed to the playground. He said the police chief, as a citizen, proposed the project because he was bothered by seeing children from the Little Red School House walking across the street to the business's other location to use a playground. He said there is a lot of need in the town for the funding and he did not know if paying for the playground was the best use of the fund, especially for the benefit of a business. Jeffrey Kardel, a member of the town's Playground and Recreation Commission and Community Preservation Committee, said he was originally against the playground. He said he told Chief Tedford if it would not stop children from the preschool walking across the street, he was against it. The owner of the business did say that even with the playground, there would be a need to walk the children across the street. But Kardel said he got calls from people in the neighborhood about the need for a playground there. He said a bicycle playground is about to go into the area and a fitness court has been put in. He said there is a proposal for pickleball courts in that location and a walking track is planned. He said there is a basketball court where he referees games, as well.
"That neighborhood deserves a playground, in my opinion," Kardel said
Kardel said if the playground was not approved this year, the proposal would have been brought back next year. He said when parents come home from work, they should have a playground to walk their children to.
Resident Denise Jordan said she does not think the town should pay for a playground for the benefit of a business.
Steele said she did not see paying for the playground as supporting the business, but as supporting children in the community.
Resident Edward Souza said that while parents are working out on the new fitness court in the area, children could use the playground.
Resident Carolyn Lazaris said the town should not fund or support private entities. She asked what would happen if the Little Red School House took over the playground. Timothy Turner, chaif of the Community Preservation Committee, said it would be a public park that anyone could use. Lazaris said the children may feel there is no space for them if there are so many kids from the preschool using the playground. Jordan said it would be a public park, but the way the project was written, it was for Little Red School House. She was concerned that paying for the playground to help the business could set a precedent.
Kardel said the Playground and Recreation Commission unanimously supported the project. He said businesses or organizations can not lock people out of public places. He said Little Red School House can't dominate the playground.
Resident Cheryl Crossley-Simmons said the playground would be in the center of town in a very visible place that the police go by all day long. She said a lot of people use the area for different activities, so it would be a nice and safe place for a playground.
The Annual Town Meeting lasted for about five hours.
