Weston Finance Committee unanimously backs $3.1 million fire station design article

WESTON -- March 19, 2026, Weston's Finance Committee unanimously backed a $3.1 million fire station design appropriation Thursday, with no borrowing required. Town Manager Leon Gaumond told the committee that consultants submitted a total design phase fee of $4,065,000, with roughly $1 million already on hand from a prior appropriation, leaving a net ask of approximately $3.1 million to be funded from free cash and closed-out project accounts. The combined cost estimate for the two stations stands at approximately $52.4 million, down from an escalated high of $67.3 million, with value engineering potentially reducing the total to roughly $41 million. The committee also debated whether to include a projected 65 percent single-family tax-bill increase in its Town Meeting report, with member Zachary Sadek calling the figure "a little bit of a firebomb," and the panel ultimately settling on a low-to-high scenario range for the presentation instead. Finance Director Susan Kelley confirmed the town will retain between $4 million and $5 million in free cash after all warrant articles are funded, meeting policy targets.