Somerset approves debt exclusion for new middle school building SOMERSET — Residents cleared the way on Saturday for the town to build a new Somerset Middle School, voting by a narrow margin to approve a property tax increase to fund the project. Last Monday, May 17, Town Meeting attendees voted 459 to 134 in favor of allowing the town to borrow upwards of $85 million for the project. On Saturday, they went to the polls for the second half of the two-step voting process, a special election to decide whether the town should be permitted to raise property taxes beyond the limit found in Proposition 2½, the state law that limits annual property tax increases to 2.5% more than the previous year’s taxes.