The Rochester Finance Committee started and ended its meeting Monday with presentations of the FY26 school budgets that will be decided on at the May 19 Annual Town Meeting.
The request for Rochester’s portion of the FY26 Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School budget will be $1,844,044. Superintendent Aaron Polansky shared via a written presentation on the numbers for the next fiscal year that this is only a 1.19% increase for member towns over FY25. He and Business Manager Sarah Griffith said the increase was caused by a 2.93% surge in insurance costs, the addition of $45,000 for an assistant to the director of Technology, and a $20,000 stipend for the vocational director (in lieu of a full-time co-op coordinator). To achieve the minimal increase, Polansky said, the $110,000 request for this coordinator was withdrawn, $51,353 of long-term debt was retired, a vocational instructor position was cut saving another $98,000, and the $75,000 cost of a ballot-vote question was moved from stabilization.
Finance Committee member David Arancio asked about the future financial impact of Old Colony’s plans for a new building. Polansky responded that this project is in the planning stages, and the school is actively keeping member towns informed. The project’s progress is posted on the school website. The school will hold an Informational Breakfast on April 15 for member town clerks and town administrators, he said, wherein each town may bring along up to four guests such as Select Board and Finance Committee members as well, and he will bring a formal presentation to Rochester officials at a later time.
Polansky said he knows the results will be a big ask when the plan gets to the schematic stage. “But we want to be completely transparent and open,” he said. “Look at our chronological order of everything that’s been done so far on our website.”
Next, the Finance Committee approved increasing the town’s Cost of Living Increase factor for FY26 salaries to 2.5%. Finance Director Suzanne Szyndlar said this would have an impact of adding $75,000 to the town budget.
The panel then re-voted FY26 budget allocations for several town departments, highlighted by the most contentious of these items. Town Administrator Cameron Durant recommended the committee transfer $4,500 from the general fund to the Town Administrator’s account. He explained an assistant in his department, Emily Harding, is already doing a lot of extra work for Town Clerk Marjorie Barrows, and this would be a stipend to compensate Harding for her time with those duties.
The board approved this motion, but not before Arancio objected that the town clerk should be present for her perspective on this move. It allows the town administrator to act as town clerk, he said. “This muddies the waters a little, and is not as clean as it is being projected,” Arancio added.
Durant noted that Town Counsel has signed off on this approach. “There’s no more affordable way to do this,” he said. “We have to put at least a Band-Aid on this problem.”
Szyndlar noted Harding is already handling tax bills and other such duties. “It is in her job description,” she said. “This is like a pay increase, pay for training.”
The committee finished its business Monday with Old Rochester Regional School District and Rochester Memorial School budget presentations from Superintendent Michael Nelson and Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Howard Barber.
Nelson started his RMS budget presentation by noting the town school gets a minimal amount of state aid, and special education is one of its biggest budget drivers. Its FY25 Sped account is $250,000 in the negative. State aid for FY26 is an increase of $27,900, or 2.3 percent above FY25. His budget solutions for FY26 include no new programs and not rehiring to replace some retirees. The approved budget for FY26 is $7,251,822, a net increase of $78,418 or 1.093% over last year.
The Old Rochester Regional School District’s assessment against Rochester for FY26 will be $5,671,113 for the operating budget, $33,395 for capital stabilization, and $19,075 for Capital BAN debt. The committee’s final vote of the night was to approve the $5,671,113 assessment figure for the Town Meeting Warrant.
The Finance Committee’s next meeting will be on Zoom on Monday, April 7 to discuss revisions of the FY26 Fire Department budget.
Rochester Finance Committee
By Michael J. DeCicco