From Selectman Kevin McCarthy...

Voting YES on the debt exclusion, which is Question 1 at the bottom of the ballot, is the final piece needed to secure the funding and implementation of the Town Hall project.

The Town Hall funding requires a simple majority vote on this ballot question in addition to the two-thirds vote required at Annual Town Meeting - where the project received an overwhelming 74% approval.

We need you to vote YES on Ballot Question 1 to complete the project.

This May 12 ballot question importantly calls for the funding to be done through a debt exclusion which means the obligation to citizens goes away over time - after the bond is paid.

This financing mechanism was chosen to avoid the 8.5-million-dollar debt from becoming a permanent part of our tax base. Almost all municipalities fund projects like our Town Hall renovation and replacement through debt exclusion for this very reason.

To cover this amount, taxpayers could expect to pay 21 cents on $1000 assessed value of their home. The owner of a home assessed at $755,000 (Cohasset’s median home value) would pay $161 annually toward the project, most likely beginning in FY 2020 and continuing for 20 years. This amount is expected to be offset by lower debt service on the Town’s existing excluded debt as the debt incurred to pay for the Osgood School and other school renovations will be paid off in 2018 and 2024 respectively.

As a result, the actual excluded debt service paid by the Town, and therefore each homeowner, would not be greater than that paid this year except in year one.

Again, we need 50% plus one votes on May 12 to approve debt exclusion funding for the Town Hall project and we ask you be one of them!