PLYMOUTH — Oct. 13, 2026 — The Plymouth Select Board voted 3-2 Tuesday to recommend free cash as the funding source for Article 8, a $300,000 request for title research and legal groundwork toward future acceptance of six roads in Shallow Pond Estates. Town Meeting still decides whether to spend the money. The split came the same night finance staff presented a five-year forecast projecting widening budget gaps after fiscal 2028.
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Article 8, as described in an Aug. 13 Department of Public Works memo in the board’s packet, would pay for title research, appraisals, legal fees, land surveying and drafting needed to determine who owns the right of way on Andrew’s Way, Barbara’s Way, Donna Drive, Kathleen Drive, Penny Lane and Shallow Pond Lane, and how the town could acquire permanent easements. The memo says the intent is a later warrant article to accept the roads as public ways. Tuesday’s vote addressed only how to pay for that first step.
The choice carries a procedural edge. Finance staff told the board the warrant language allows four routes — raising and appropriating, borrowing, free cash or the general stabilization fund — and that two of them require a two-thirds Town Meeting vote. Chair Deborah Iaquinto summarized that raising and appropriating and free cash need a simple majority, while borrowing and a stabilization transfer need two-thirds. Staff put the town’s excess levy capacity at about $807,000 under the fiscal 2027 budget.
Kevin Canty opened by saying the town should not take on the work at all given its finances, and that if it does, borrowing is the only reasonable option because it spreads the cost over time. Canty said free cash had fallen from $23 million heading into last spring’s Town Meeting to the $18 million to $19 million range now, and argued that a two-thirds threshold fits a decision to take on a new liability.
Bill Keohan backed free cash, saying borrowing ends up costing more and that the neighborhood had waited too long. David Golden said borrowing hits the tax rate and that available free cash should be used.
Iaquinto said she agreed with Select Board member Kevin Canty that borrowing was the way forward, and that one message at Town Meeting would be to weigh every article with a price tag against its long-term value to the whole community.
But when it comes to the funding, I do agree that borrowing rather than depleting our free cash or tapping into our general stabilization fund is really the best option for us.
— Deb Iaquinto, Select Board Chair 1:46:19
The free-cash motion carried 3-2, with Select Board members David Golden and Bill Keohan and Vice Chair Richard Quintal in favor and Canty and Iaquinto opposed.
During public comment, Michael Hertz, who said he lives in Shallow Pond Estates and spoke for the Accept Our Roads Committee, asked for free cash, calling the request one-time money for a one-time study. He also asked that town counsel confirm the sixth road’s legal name before Saturday, saying the warrant and draft motion use a different suffix than the DPW memo, which lists Shallow Pond Lane. The board did not address the naming request on the record.
It is not the acceptance vote. It is the step that makes a future acceptance article possible.
— Michael Hertz 9:37
