Whitman Considers Selling Open Land to Rockland, Explores School Budget Plan

WHITMAN, MA - November 12 - The Whitman Select Board is considering selling 30 acres of town-owned open space land in Rockland while exploring a new plan to fund the regional school district's budget.

At a recent meeting, the Camp Alice Carleton Committee recommended selling the Rockland parcel to that town with the stipulation it remain as open space. The proposal aims to generate funds for Whitman to develop walking trails on its remaining 10 acres of the former camp.

"We couldn't come up with one single benefit in what we've come up with and why we'd want to keep it," said John Galvin, a resident and member of the Camp Alice Carleton Committee.

The land is currently difficult to access and costs Whitman about $8,000 annually in payments in lieu of taxes to Rockland.

Kathy Keefe, Assistant Town Administrator and Chair of the Camp Alice Carleton Committee, said the sale would be contingent on Rockland agreeing to permanently protect the 30 acres with a conservation restriction.

"So there would be meetings all along the way," Keefe said, noting the sale would ultimately require town meeting approval.

The proposal is part of Rockland's larger vision to create a green belt along the border between the two towns.

Select Board member Justin Evans said he had spoken with Rockland's Open Space Committee about their plans.

"This is part of a larger vision Rockland's trying to develop that I think we could help support and maintain access for Whitman residents using our 10 acres," Evans said.

However, some board members expressed reservations about selling town-owned land.

In other business, Select Board member Shawn Kain proposed a new approach to school funding aimed at maintaining level services for the district without taking funds from other departments.

The plan would use meals tax revenue to supplement school funding while the district is in a "hold harmless" situation, where state aid is not increasing despite rising costs.

Kain said it would use a revenue-based formula to calculate what the town can afford to pay the school district. The meals tax, currently used to fund other post-employment benefits (OPEB) liabilities, would be redirected to the schools.

"Although it may be fair, it still does not give the district what they need to maintain level services," Kain said of his previous proposal of splitting new revenue proportional to the current budget split.

The new proposal would designate meals tax revenue, potentially up to $200,000, as additional funding for the school district. The OPEB liability could then be funded through free cash, subject to town meeting approval.

Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter expressed concerns about the impact on the town's bond rating and financial stability.

"Our liability is millions, 18 plus million. But seeing that we have every single year used a dedicated source of funds. We got credit for that and kudos," Carter said.

John Galvin suggested the town could potentially use future cannabis revenue to replenish OPEB funding.

"Once they got going, not the first year. So we're looking at maybe $100,000 next year, hopefully, from cannabis because it sounds like they're getting close with opening that," Galvin said.

The board took no formal action on either proposal but will continue discussions in future meetings.

In other news, the town announced a special town meeting for Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. to vote on amending the regional agreement for the South Shore Regional Vocational School District. The amendment would change the debt share calculation for the nine towns in the region to a four-year rolling adjustable average.

"If this amendment passes and the town's enrollment decreases over the years due to additional towns joining the region and or existing towns increasing their enrollment, Whitman's share of the debt would decrease," Carter explained.

The board also recognized the retirement of Officer Stephen Drass after over 25 years of service to the Whitman Police Department.