Weston Finance Committee Backs 11 Warrant Articles, Advances FY23 School Budget Review

WESTON — March 3, 2022 — Weston Finance Committee votes to support 11 town meeting warrant articles and reviews a 2.5 percent school budget increase. Meeting jointly with the School Committee on March 3, Assistant Superintendent Sherry Matthews presented a revised FY23 general fund school budget of approximately $44.2 million, trimmed from an initial 3.3 percent proposal to a $1,093,519 increase over FY22 after cutting building substitute positions and roughly $129,000 in additional staffing. Finance Committee Chair Lisa Raytano and five colleagues — Bharath Venkataraman, James Jarrett, John MacDonald, Karen Mezzan, and Latha Sashadri — then voted unanimously to support most warrant articles including a $450,000 drainage borrowing, a $480,000 culvert replacement, a $360,000 fire department vehicle, and a $387,000 network upgrade; a $413,000 Route 20 intersection design borrowing passed 5-1 with MacDonald dissenting. Town finance staff projected a tax rate of $13.28 per thousand — a 47-cent increase — and a median household tax bill of $17,620, representing a 3.68 percent overall tax increase, with state aid figures still unsettled.