Weston Finance Committee reviews $1 million IT budget and assessor briefing

WESTON — February 4, 2021 — Weston FinCom hears $1M IT budget and warning on commercial values. The Finance Committee on Feb. 4 reviewed a fiscal 2022 Information Technology budget growing 4.8 percent to just over $1 million, including a roughly $20,000 increase to bring the town's network engineer to full-time and about $30,000 a year in new Microsoft Office 365 subscription costs. IT Director Tracy Sullivan said an $85,000 town-wide security camera replacement is being deferred to fall town meeting pending firmer vendor pricing. Principal Assessor Eric Josephson, in his 21st year, told members Weston's FY21 median assessment ratio was 96 percent, values are up 18.3 percent over 10 years, and new growth is budgeted at $800,000 after recent years above $1 million. Josephson flagged the vacant Liberty Mutual 20 Riverside campus and other empty commercial buildings as a risk to FY23 valuations, which will be set off 2020 income. Member Bharath Venkataraman called the IT request "a really reasonable and good" package.