Cohasset Select Board backs $20.8 million debt exclusion for King Street public safety complex

COHASSET — March 19, 2026 — Cohasset Select Board unanimously cleared eight warrant articles and endorsed a $20.8 million debt exclusion for a redesigned 135 King Street public safety complex ahead of Annual Town Meeting. Voting 3-0 on each item, Chair Ellen Maher — participating via Zoom — and Select Members Paul Grady and David Farrag advanced articles covering coastal liability, real estate exemptions, water rate structure, cemetery fee revolving fund, a vocational school agreement amendment, and a bylaw change, among others. In a joint session with the Advisory Committee and Capital Budget Committee, Public Safety Facilities Committee Chair Glenn Pratt presented a revised King Street design featuring a police detention wing, a garage shell preserving the option for a future fire station, and a new Emergency Operations Center; the total projected cost is $26,765,845, with $6 million from the original appropriation reducing the required debt exclusion to $20,765,845. The median property owner — assessed at roughly $1 million — would pay approximately $520 per year in additional taxes if the exclusion passes. A separate $150,000 request for Elm Street schematic design is expected before the Capital Budget Committee this cycle, though no Elm Street work can begin until the King Street building is complete, a timeline of at least two years.