Saturday, March 16, 2013
The Annual Town Meeting Warrant, including the budget articles, is now available online.
- GOVERNMENT
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Saturday, March 16
The Wayland Finance Committee submitted the article below. The Wayland Finance Committee is pleased to recommend a budget to Town residents that preserves our valued services and meets our financial obligations. Just as importantly, our budget keeps a tight lid on taxes. We urge you to read the Warrant and plan to attend Town Meeting to support our budget. Our operating budget fully funds the superintendent and School Committee’s responsible budget request. With a few exceptions, we fully funded the Town-side budget requests, including the Police Department’s request for an additional officer and the requested appropriation for WaylandCares, a long-term substance abuse program previously funded by federal grants. Our capital budget and …
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
When the Wayland Finance Committee presents its recommended Fiscal Year 2014 budget tonight, it will include funding for one of the two new personnel requested by Wayland's public safety chiefs.
The Wayland Finance Committee spent a couple of meetings weighing the decision, but ultimately decided that the Wayland Fire Department could wait to hire a new firefighter. "We thought the chief made a very compelling argument for it," FinCom Chair Bill Steinberg told Patch. "We don't have a problem with it in general; we were just trying to limit new items overall this year." Steinberg went on to explain that he got the sense the FinCom would be more apt to recommend the position if Fire Chief Vinnie Smith presents it again next budget cycle. Smith told Patch he was disappointed by the FinCom decision to not approve his $69,000 request, but would make do. “We’ve gone with this number of people for 42 years, another year won’t make a huge…
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
The budget season has gotten off to a much discussed start with the Wayland Finance Committee asking town departments to consider what a 10 percent budget reduction would look like.
Schedule a meeting to discuss a possible 10 percent budget cut to Wayland schools, and you’ll likely attract a crowd too big for the meeting room. That’s what happened Monday night as residents packed shoulder to shoulder in the School Committee hearing room for a discussion between the School Committee and the Finance Committee about the recently released budget guidelines for Fiscal Year 2014. In those guidelines, the FinCom requested two operating budget submissions from all departments: A level-service budget that includes only required increases (contracted salary increases, utility increases, etc.) and a prioritized list cutting about 10 percent from the budget in order to “help mitigate the potential tax impact for residents.” But …
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The Wayland Finance Committee submitted the letter below.
This letter is a call to residents of Wayland to get involved in budget discussions now, and not wait until next April when we meet at Annual Town Meeting. Each year at this time the Wayland Finance Committee sets out financial guidelines for various Town departments and the School committee (the “Departments”) to follow as they begin to construct their budgets for next fiscal year. On Oct. 3, we completed our deliberations regarding the guidelines for the fiscal year 2014 (July 1, 2013 – June 30, 2014). On Oct. 4, we sent our guidelines letter to the Departments (a copy of the budget guideline letter can be viewed on the Finance Committee website at: www.wayland.ma.us/Pages/WaylandMA_Finance/index). To be clear, at this point we do not …
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
The five member committee includes appointees from the Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee and School Committee.
Wayland's Board of Selectmen, School Committee and Finance Committee met in a joint meeting Monday to interview seven candidates who threw their resumes in the hat for Wayland's new audit committee. In January, the Board of Selectmen voted to establish an audit committee with the charge "to advise the Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee and town management including the Town Administrator, Finance Director/Town Accountant and Town Treasurer with respect to the town’s internal auditing, financial systems and internal controls, and independent annual audit." The resolution to form the committee calls for initial committee members to serve for various terms, ranging from one year to three years. After interviewing Tony Boschetto, Donna …
Sunday, April 1, 2012
The letter below is related to article 4 in the 2012 Annual Town Meeting Warrant.
- OPINION
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Sunday, April 1, 2012
TO THE EDITOR: This letter is written in response to a letter to the editor [of the Town Crier] (“Tax rate argument lacks credibility”) by Chris Riley, who neglects to disclose that he is a former member and chairman of the Wayland Finance Committee. His letter reflects his continued allegiance to the FinCom and its “tax to the max” philosophy. Riley’s fallacious reasoning demonstrates why Wayland’s high tax rate is an embarrassment and unlikely ever to match those in neighboring communities, that is, unless the FinCom is reconstituted to make it more representative of Wayland’s taxpayers. Riley spends half of his rambling letter trying to explain why our “swanky” neighbors— Concord, Lincoln and Weston—are not what I termed “desirable …
The letter below is related to Article 4 in the 2012 Annual Town Meeting Warrant.
- OPINION
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Sunday, April 1, 2012
There are two well-established myths in our town. One is that voters at town meeting are responsible for our astronomically high tax rate, not the Finance Committee (FinCom). The other is that the FinCom is an independent, apolitical board that makes the best financial decisions for taxpayers. The Board of Selectmen claims that Wayland has achieved truly extraordinary financial results, but the only extraordinary result achieved is an astronomical tax rate. The current approach is not sustainable, as evidenced by our declining real estate values. Truly extraordinary financial management would support outstanding schools and town services without driving our tax rates through the ceiling and our property valuations through the floor. …
Saturday, March 31, 2012
The proposed changes impact the Fiscal 2013 tax rate.
The Wayland Finance Committee voted Wednesday night to adjust the operating budget proposed in the 2012 Annual Town Meeting Warrant. During a meeting that adjourned just after midnight, the committee voted to cut about $2.3 million from the proposed Fiscal 2013 operating budget. The committee made cuts to the pension and other post-employment benefit (OPEB) payments, the biggest part of which goes to retiree healthcare benefits. Of that $2.3 million, about $1.3 million was subtracted from the proposed taxation needs of the town, thereby reducing the estimated tax rate increase for FY13. The proposed OPEB payment of about $2.2 million was reduced to slightly more than $1.3 million and the proposed pension payment, which included a $1 …
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The Wayland Board of Selectmen submitted this text.
- GOVERNMENT
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Wednesday, November 30, 2011
At the recent Special Town Meeting (STM), the 818 residents in attendance overwhelmingly voted to fund our town’s operating budget with an additional $4 million in free cash. The petitioners who submitted this article did an excellent job of crafting a message and gathering support for it. Although our board had recommended a lower amount, we are committed to implementing the approved approach. First, our Board interprets the free cash vote as more than a simple transfer of cash from one account to another. Rather, the vote represents an affirmation that the stagnant economy requires even greater diligence by elected and appointed officials to control taxes. As homeowners, all of us understand the difference between wants vs. needs. We …
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
This essay was submitted by the Wayland Finance Committee.
- GOVERNMENT
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Tuesday, October 25, 2011
The Wayland Finance Committee submitted this text. The members of Wayland’s Finance Committee are Cherry Karlson, Bill Steinberg, Paul Grasso, Tom Greenaway, David Gutschenritter, Sam Peper and Rich Stack. Much has been written about the questions residents have raised about our free cash balance and our finances. We would like to spend a few minutes to explain our strong position, how we got here and the Finance Committee’s plan to move forward. Over the years, Wayland has built a strong financial position through conservative budgeting and efficient operations. The Town’s financial prudence has been recognized by outside agencies, and we are consistently ranked as a top town in Massachusetts by bond rating agencies. One significant …
Cynthia Hill
8:50 pm on Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Both, or none........each deserving in their own right! What Chief Loomer thought, or did really doesn't make any difference ~ there's a new Fire Chief in town. more ›