Finance Committee defers split tax-rate recommendation to November vote

WESTON — September 26, 2019 — Weston Finance Committee defers split tax-rate call, presses CPC to cash-fund $12.7M tavern. Town Assessor Eric Josephson laid out scenarios under which the commercial rate would jump from $12.59 to $18.88 and residential would drop 30 cents to $12.29 — shifting about $1.75 million in burden onto commercial owners. Members balked at recommending the move with only 4 percent of Weston's $6.1 billion base in commercial property and small downtown tenants likely to absorb pass-throughs. The committee will vote a recommendation Nov. 20 ahead of the Select Board's Dec. 10 classification hearing. On the $12.7 million Josiah Smith Tavern project bound for Dec. 3 Special Town Meeting, one member urged the Community Preservation Committee to spend its full $10.4 million unallocated balance rather than bond the gap: "Don't be going out to borrow money for 20 or 30 years just to sit in a checking account."