Town Edition
Essex County
Rowley, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In May 2025 Rowley voted twice to raise its own taxes. First at Town Meeting, where the year’s budget only balanced if an override came with it, and then eight days later at the ballot box, where 636 residents voted yes and 495 voted no. That margin is what paid for eight new full-time firefighters and fire coverage that does not stop at night. Rowley has been settling its business this way since it was incorporated on September 4, 1639, and this guide shows you how to get into the room where it happens.
Rowley at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Essex. Rowley sits on the coast north of Cape Ann, on the Great Marsh, with Plum Island Sound to its east and the towns of Newbury, Georgetown, Boxford and Ipswich around it.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Board of Selectmen and an appointed Town Administrator, Deborah M. Eagan.
- Schools: the Triton Regional School District, shared with Newbury and Salisbury, about 2,076 students, led by Superintendent Brian Forget.
How Rowley’s Government Works
Rowley runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Rowley is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a five-member Board of Selectmen to set policy between meetings, and three of the nine seats on the regional School Committee. The Board of Selectmen hires a professional Town Administrator to run the town day to day. So the money is voted by whoever shows up, the direction is set by the Board of Selectmen, and the daily work is carried out by the Town Administrator.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Rowley is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Board of Selectmen
Five members elected town-wide. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards, and hire and supervise the Town Administrator.
Town Administrator
The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Board of Selectmen. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
Nine members across the Triton Regional district, three elected by Rowley voters and three each by Newbury and Salisbury. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the five members of the Board of Selectmen and their three seats on the regional School Committee.
- The Board of Selectmen hires the Town Administrator and decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant.
- Town Meeting votes the budget and the bylaws, and every registered voter present can vote.
- You take part: register at 16, vote at 18, and once you are registered you are already a member of Town Meeting.
Why This Town Has to Vote Twice to Raise Its Own Taxes
A state law called Proposition 2 1/2 caps how much more a town can collect in property taxes each year, at about two and a half percent above the year before. If a town wants more than the cap allows, it cannot simply decide to. It has to ask the voters.
That is an override, and it takes two separate yes votes: one at Town Meeting to appropriate the money, and a second at the ballot box to actually raise the tax. A debt exclusion is the same idea for one big project, like a school building, and it expires once the project is paid off. It is why a budget can pass in a packed hall and still need a second yes three weeks later, and it is why the residents who show up to a spring town election decide what the town can afford.
Civic Calendar
- Board of Selectmen: meets on Monday evenings, roughly every other week, with some summer sessions held in the morning, at the Town Hall Annex. Each agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in early May, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. The 2026 Annual Town Meeting was held on May 4, 2026.
- Town elections: Rowley votes for its local offices in May, and any Proposition 2 1/2 override goes on a separate ballot.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years, with the 2026 primary and general held in the fall.
Explore the Rowley Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Board of SelectmenYour five board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Rowley History1639, the first stone arch bridge, and a mill that still runs
- DemographicsWho lives in Rowley
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataTriton Regional schools by the numbers
Your County Officials
Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected countywide. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. Both of them answer to the voters of Essex County, and that includes Rowley. They appear on your ballot. Now you know what to look for.
Every county in Massachusetts elects its own, and the job is the same everywhere: the charging decisions, the jail. Look up any town in the state and see who holds these two offices there.
Your First Civic Action in Rowley
You do not have to wait until you can vote to be heard in your own town. Here is how to take a real concern to the people who decide.
- Pick the right body. Town policy, roads, and police or fire go to the Board of Selectmen. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Board of Selectmen meets on Monday evenings at the Town Hall Annex, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. Five Board of Selectmen members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to you.
- Speak. Meetings are open to the public and residents may address the board. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a downed limb, or a plowing problem to the Highway Department, which owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 139 Main Street, Rowley, MA 01969. Selectmen’s Office (978) 948-2372.
- Town Clerk & agendas: (978) 948-2081, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at townofrowley.net.
- Public schools: the Triton Regional School District, tritonschools.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Board of Selectmen, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.