On Tuesday, voters soundly rejected a proposal to build a new $288.7 million building for Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School in Rochester.
The total vote was 1,923 for and 3,112 against the project. According to vote totals shared by Carver Town Clerk Cara Dahill, Carver had one of the narrowest vote totals. There were 246 “Yes” votes and 284 “No” votes in Carver.
Mattapoisett was the only town that favored building the new school. It voted 278 in favor to 202 against. An overwhelming number of “No” votes from the other Old Colony district towns of Acushnet, Lakeville and Rochester squashed the project’s hopes of passing the ballot.
Now, the proposal is halted until further action.
Old Colony Superintendent Aaron Polansky said in a meeting with Carver residents earlier this month that should the vote not pass, the project’s Massachusetts School Building Authority grant may also be in jeopardy. Now, the building project would require MSBA approval to schedule another vote, or it may have to wait up to five to 10 years to re-enter the program.
The decision was a firm rejection of the policy which could have raised taxes on the median household by hundreds of dollars should Carver adopt a debt exclusion to fund it. The project was expected to cost Carver a total of $26.2 million.
Now, the school may have to look toward a different means of dealing with a building that project organizers claimed had “reached the end of its useful life.”
The school could move forward with repairs, which Polansky said could conservatively cost $134.3 million, all of which would fall on the towns, rather than an MSBA grant.
It is unclear what the school will choose to do. The school posted a message to Facebook shortly after the results were announced.
“In the coming months, we will reflect on the feedback and consider our next steps,” the post reads. “We hope you will remain part of the conversation as we work toward solutions that support our students and a vision moving forward.”
Contact Nick Mossman at nick@carverjournal.com
