Here’s what residents will vote on at Mattapoisett Town Meeting

May 1, 2021

MATTAPOISETT — Voters at the May 10 Town Meeting will be asked to approve a temporary tax hike to fund road repair and change the name of the town’s governing board to the gender-neutral Select Board.

The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, May 10, at Old Rochester Regional High School. 

All registered Mattapoisett voters are entitled to attend and participate. Attendees will be asked to weigh in on a variety of municipal issues.

Voters will be asked to allow Selectmen to temporarily override the tax-limiting Proposition 2½, to take on $450,000 in debt for a project to improve Main Street, Water Street, Beacon Street and Marion Road. 

Though, Selectmen see the debt as a last resort, to be taken on only if alternative funding — such as grants — can’t be secured. 

If the debt exclusion is approved and used, the tax rate would increase only until the town pays off the debt.

In April, Town Administrator Mike Lorenco said the town would have up to 15 years to pay off the debt, costing the average Mattapoisett household about $9.65 per year.

The  road improvement project is part of the State Transportation Improvement Plan, a list of transportation projects eligible for state funding between 2021 and 2025.

According to the plan, Mattapoisett is eligible for $8,037,971 from the state through the federal Surface Transportation Block Grant Program, a special federal aid fund. 

The project is currently estimated by the Vanasse Hangen Brustlin consulting firm to cost $7.6 million.

The $450,000 bond, if taken on, would be used to expedite the design and development of the project, ensuring it begins during the current Transportation Improvement Plan cycle. 

The proposal to change the official title of the Selectmen from “Board of Selectmen” to “Select Board” comes as two women, Jodi Lynn Bauer and Nicki Demakis, are the only candidates on the ballot for the board in the upcoming Town Election. 

Meeting attendees  will also be asked to add a sales tax of 0.75% to restaurant meals in town, to be put in effect this October. 

Additionally, voters will be asked to approve spending for record-keeping, buildings and road improvements in town, including: 

$35,000 for the restoration and rehabilitation of the Mattapoisett Historical Society museum building at 5 Church St 

$20,000 for the digitization of burial records, maps and other documents related to town cemeteries. 

$20,000 from the Open Space Fund to cover one-third of the cost of making the Old Rochester Regional press box handicap accessible. 

An appropriation of an unspecified amount of funding from available town funds to pave Tinkham lane.