Debt Exclusion Question Will Be on Town Election Ballot

The Board of Selectmen Monday night voted to place a debt exclusion question on the ballot for the April 5 town election.

If the ballot question passes by 50 percent at the town election, it will provide approval for the town to borrow the funds. The specific debt exclusion items will then be considered at the Annual Town Meeting as part of the larger capital budget approval, which must pass with a two-thirds vote.

During a brief presentation to the selectmen Monday night, Finance Committee Chair Cherry Karlson explained that total capital requests of more than $9 million were submitted to FinCom last October. In its budget, FinCom funded $4.8 million of those requests and is asking for $880,000 of that amount to be funded through debt exclusion.

“The structure of this does deviate some from our policy because we were very sensitive to the tax impact,” Karlson said, adding that FinCom is aware of the impact of building the new high school. “We were trying to keep this very minimal.”

The $880,000 is being requested to fund three items related to two projects: $530,000 total to the Recreation Department for field analysis and planning ($30,000) and development ($500,000) of two new playing fields at Wayland Middle School, and $350,000 for technology needs at Wayland’s middle and elementary schools.

Even with this debt exclusion, Wayland’s proposed FY12 budget is better than tax neutral, meaning there will be a slight savings for taxpayers. The anticipated tax impact is a savings of $.03 per thousand dollars.

According to Karlson, the Assessor’s Office records the average home value in Wayland at $592,825, which means that the average home would save about $17 on taxes.

If the debt exclusion question fails to pass, the tax savings would be $.09 per thousand dollars and would result in a savings of about $53 for the average household.

“The impact when you spread this through the town,” Karlson said, “the dollar amount is relatively small. It’s a dollar amount that still matters, but it’s relatively small.”

Two Wayland residents at the meeting responded during the public comment period, however, and voiced their opposition to placing the debt exclusion question on the ballot.

“There are a lot of things that the voters don’t know about,” said one citizen, mentioning $600,000 earmarked for repairs to the old high school should they be necessary prior to the new building’s opening, and $720,000 Wayland schools were able to give back to the town last summer. “Please, please, please let’s not ask the voters to borrow another near million dollars.”

Karlson responded that a Town Meeting vote would be required at this point to re-appropriate the $600,000 currently earmarked for high school repairs. Additionally, the $720,000 the schools returned to the town’s free cash fund in FY10 is included in the free cash portion of the recommended budget.

Correction: The sixth paragraph incorrectly states that the FY12 budget is better than tax neutral. In actuality, only the debt exclusion portion of the budget is better than tax neutral. The related tax savings of .$.03/thousand if the questions passes and $.09/thousand if the question fails refer only to the debt exclusion portion of the budget. Patch apologizes for the confusion.