Dighton Select Board Approves FY27 Budgets Under Both Debt-Exclusion Scenarios

DIGHTON -- March 25, 2026, Dighton Select Board approves FY27 department budgets under two scenarios and tables library account for further cuts. Chair Mark Pacheco and member Peter Karen, with Nicole Mello absent, worked through dozens of line-item votes at the March 25 regular meeting, producing both a no-debt-exclusion budget, with roughly $40,000 in excess levy capacity, and a parallel debt-exclusion version ahead of the April 11 ballot question. The library budget was tabled after Library Director Mark presented a revised proposal showing a 17.1 percent reduction through attrition, but the board directed him to return at the state certification minimum of $315,984, roughly $30,000 below his $324,829.76 request. Fire equipment repair and maintenance was increased to $20,000 in both scenarios after Pacheco cited the fire chief's "very compelling and scary" testimony about deferred truck maintenance. Dighton's fiscal year 2027 Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical School assessment was presented at $1,898,760, a 3.6 percent increase tied to 102 enrolled Dighton students, including four new this year. The board also unanimously approved a memorial bench at Tricentennial Park for Savannah Salemi, a Dighton resident and Bristol-Plymouth graduate who died in September 2025.