On Thursday, Rochester Selectmen voted 2-1 to support a five-year capital plan for the Old Rochester Regional School District.

The new plan will be paid for over several years using tax money that will no longer be needed as existing debt is paid off.

The Finance Committee backed the new plan after hearing more about it from the schools' Facilities Manager Gene Jones, said member Kristian Stoltenberg. The capital plan includes securing the junior high and high school vestibules to increase safety, and replacing old heating systems on the roof that could cause damage if allowed to exceed their lifespan. Jones told the Finance Committee that he didn’t anticipate any other capital needs for 10 years.

By creating a capital plan, the money needed for repairs, upgrades and replacements at ORR will no longer be left to whatever emergency funds may be scrounged together from the operating budget. Instead, Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester would each split the cost of the plan.

“We want to get it out of the operating budget,” said Stoltenberg.

He said a tax override is not necessary to pay for the town’s approximately $224,000 part for the capital plan because other debt will soon be paid off. In fiscal year 2018, a $68,000 annual payment will be completed, and in fiscal year 2020 another $17,000 will drop off.

“Within the next three years, $85,000 of debt that we’ve been supporting will end,” Stoltenberg said.

He said it is a good policy to keep debt level so there are not dramatic shifts as needs arise and payments are completed.

While the Selectmen agreed on the benefits of the capital plan, they were not in unison over how to approve it. Due to the fact that this particular debt is being shared across three towns, different rules apply than if it were, for example, for the purchase of new Rochester fire truck.

Once the ORR School Committee approved the plan, it had five days to notify each town. After that, towns have 60 days to make a decision on whether or not they will support it, which can be done through no action – the equivalent of an approval, through Selectmen taking a vote or through a Town Meeting. If one town rejected the proposal, then the School Committee could request an election where votes from all three towns would be tallied to determine whether or not the plan were approved.

As Rochester’s Annual Town Meeting in June will be past the 60-day limit, the original plan was to hold a Special Town Meeting. That would carry with it an expense and require a quorum of 75 voters to attend.

Selectmen Naida Parker said, “It’s hard to get seventy-five people for one thing.”

She and Brad Morse were in favor of approving the plan without going to a Special Town Meeting, while Rich Nunes wanted residents to have a say.

Parker and Morse voted to approve the capital plan. Nunes voted against it.