West Bridgewater Board Ratifies Hires, Cuts Veterans Clerical Position in FY26 Budget Session

WEST BRIDGEWATER — March 19, 2025 — West Bridgewater Select Board approves four hires and eliminates veterans clerical position in budget session. The board unanimously ratified the employment contracts of Kerry Buckley as Water Department office manager and Brenda Dorito as head secretary assistant to the tax collector, and voted to expand Principal Clerk Kelly Cataldo's hours from 20 to 30 per week. On the recommendation of Town Manager David Reidy, the board zeroed out two veterans department salary lines — clerical salaries and longevity — after the office paid out a combined total of roughly $1,400 in benefits over four years, with all cash assistance accounts preserved and the Veterans Services Officer continuing 14 hours of weekly office coverage. The board also heard that West Bridgewater's Southeastern Regional assessment rises to $1,125,514 — a $117,206, or 12 percent, increase — and that the district's own school budget is up 5.83 percent for FY26, driven by agricultural school tuition costs projected to jump $324,000 and a shortfall in school choice enrollment revenue. Reidy warned the town faces a second consecutive year of drawing on free cash to balance its budget and flagged approximately $6 million in additional Water Department borrowing needed to cover a treatment plant bid overrun above the $10 million already authorized.