November 4, 2026 by Carol Britton Meyer
Following the unanimous passage of two warrant articles related to funding roof projects at Plymouth River School and South School at the Oct. 29 Special Town Meeting, voters again showed their support for both at the ballot box Nov. 3 in favor of a debt exclusion to pay for the work.
“We are incredibly grateful for the community support at Special Town Meeting and the local ballot, and this investment will serve Hingham children for decades to come,” Superintendent of Schools Katie Roberts told the Hingham Anchor. “We are eager to begin work on the Plymouth River School and South School roof projects to ensure safe learning environments for our students and staff and look forward to further discussion of the Hingham High School roof and HVAC project at Annual Town Meeting next spring.”
A two-thirds majority vote was required for the related warrant articles to pass at the Special Town Meeting, and a majority vote at the polls for the projects to move forward. The number of votes in favor surpassed the required majority at the polls yesterday.
The total budget for the South School roof at this time is about $8.6 million, and the total budget for the Plymouth River roof project, about $16.4 million.
A debt exclusion is a temporary property tax increase to pay for a specific capital project over a certain number of years and requires voter approval as described above – at a Town Meeting or Special Town Meeting and also at the ballot box.
The Special Town Meeting date and local special election coincided with the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s deadlines related to partial reimbursement under its Accelerated Repair Program for both elementary roof projects, at an estimated rate of 36.89%.
According to an email from Town Clerk Carol Falvey, “These unofficial election results include only the ballots that have been counted by an electronic tabulator. They do not include any hand-counted ballots, provisional ballots, or write-in votes for specific individuals. These results are unofficial and subject to change as additional ballots are received and counted. Mail-in State ballots postmarked by Election Day may be counted if received within 3 days of Election Day.”
Official results are expected to be available no later than November 18 and posted on the Town of Hingham website https://www.hingham-ma.gov/413/Ballots-Warrants-Results