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.