DIGHTON Dighton voters will take up 21 articles at the Nov. 9 Special Town Meeting, three fewer than the draft the Board of Selectmen reviewed Oct. 14, and the plan now calls for $1,119,095.10 in free cash. That is $66,703 less than the draft, because an article to buy a fully equipped police administrative vehicle for that amount is no longer on the warrant.
The final warrant was posted Thursday, Oct. 22. Selectmen Chairman Mark Pacheco, Clerk Glen Cabbage and member Peter Caron signed it with an Oct. 14 date, and a constable posted it the same day it reached the town clerk. The meeting is Monday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m. in the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School auditorium.
Two other draft articles are also gone. One would have accepted Section 97A of Chapter 41 of state law, under which the selectmen establish the police department and appoint a chief of police who supervises it; the selectmen put its removal on their Oct. 14 agenda. The other would have amended the town's stormwater bylaw. The $20,000 request for the Stormwater Committee's federal discharge permit work stays, as Article 17.
What it costs
Dighton had $1,923,714 in available free cash as of Oct. 14. At the final warrant's recommended amounts, $804,618.90 of it would be left after the meeting. The free cash requests, with their article numbers in the final warrant:
- $596,185 to the Capital Stabilization Account (Article 7).
- $175,000 for design phase and construction phase engineering on the Pleasant Street Bridge replacement (Article 14).
- $96,185 to the general Stabilization Account (Article 8).
- $73,000 to engineer, remove and relocate public safety antenna systems on the Elm Street water tank (Article 18).
- $50,000 to the trust fund for retirees' health care and life insurance (Article 9).
- $36,158.27 toward $54,237.41 in Zetron dispatch software and equipment to upgrade the Communication Center system used by police, fire, highway and mutual aid departments, which is "no longer supported" (Article 16).
- $35,370 toward a $76,000 fire prevention vehicle, with $40,630 from the insurance fund (Article 13).
- $29,732.57 toward $44,598.85 in Rapid SOS software to "replace current antiquated software that is unable to be upgraded" (Article 15).
- $20,000 for the Stormwater Committee (Article 17).
- $7,464.26 toward $14,944.49 in prior-year bills; sewer retained earnings cover the other $7,480.23, a City of Taunton sewer bill (Article 2).
The ambulance fund would pay $145,533.06 for the third and final payment on a three-year ambulance lease purchase, $138,000 for two cardiac monitors and $9,200 for three IV pumps, plus the remaining third of each dispatch article, $14,866.28 and $18,079.14. That comes to $325,678.48 from the fund, the same as in the draft.
Article 3 would add $137,915 to department budgets for fiscal 2027, raised and appropriated, with $30,000 for town counsel, $22,535 for highway personnel, $15,000 for tax title foreclosure and $12,150 for group health insurance among the larger lines. Article 4 would add $1,910 for sewer personnel from sewer retained earnings.
Other articles
Article 5 would move $89,152.95 left from a November 2020 vote for a second library exit and renovation to the Library Trustees for repair and maintenance at 207 Main St. Article 6 would shift $8,418.24 left from a November 2022 light duty dump truck purchase to dump truck repair and maintenance. Article 19 would accept a state law that lets the treasurer presume uncashed town checks abandoned when no one claims them within a year, then give owners notice and at least 60 days to claim the money before further notice and a final deadline.
Article 20 would change one sentence of the false alarm bylaw. It now reads "Enforcing persons shall be police officers." The new text would read "Enforcing persons shall be the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), or their designee." The fines stay the same: a warning for the first three false alarm responses in 12 months, $50 for the fourth through sixth and $100 after that.
What happens next
The Board of Selectmen recommends every article that spends money, and the Finance Committee recommends each of them. Voters decide them one at a time on Nov. 9, six days after the Nov. 3 state election.
How to weigh in
Residents can reach the Board of Selectmen with questions at boardofselectmen@dighton-ma.gov. Town Hall is at 979 Somerset Ave., 508-669-6431.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every fact comes from the Town of Dighton's own records: the final Nov. 9 Special Town Meeting warrant, the town's News Flash on the meeting, and the Board of Selectmen's Oct. 14 agenda packet with the draft warrant and free cash sheet. We read them on Oct. 22, 2026. Free cash totals are our own sums of the warrant's recommended amounts ($1,119,095.10, and $1,923,714 less that is $804,618.90); the ambulance fund total and the Article 3 department totals were added the same way. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar. Not heard: the Board of Selectmen, asked why the three articles came off the warrant.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (3)
- Town of Dighton: Special Town Meeting Warrant, Nov. 9, 2026, final (10 pages, scanned; posted by the constable Oct. 22, received by the town clerk Oct. 22 at 11:42 a.m.)Every article, amount, funding recommendation and quote in the story, the date and place, the signers and the posting. Read in full, page by page. Read Oct. 22, 2026.
- Town of Dighton News Flash: SPECIAL TOWN MEETINGMeeting date, time and place; "Final warrant has been posted." The page footer gives Town Hall at 979 Somerset Avenue and 508-669-6431. Read Oct. 22, 2026.
- Town of Dighton: Board of Selectmen agenda packet, Oct. 14, 2026 (56 pages)The draft warrant (24 articles, including the $66,703 police administrative vehicle, the Chapter 41, Section 97A article and the stormwater bylaw amendment), the agenda item to remove the 97A article, the free cash sheet ($1,923,714 available), and the agenda line inviting input at boardofselectmen@dighton-ma.gov. Read Oct. 22, 2026.