Weston FinCom reviews fire, IT budgets; ladder truck moved up to FY26

WESTON -- January 16, 2025, Weston FinCom kicks off FY26 budget reviews with fire, IT, and a fire station siting update. Fire Chief David Woodside told the committee Jan. 16 he is pulling a roughly $2.05 million ladder truck purchase forward to FY26 from FY29 because of a 1,350-day delivery window, with Town Administrator Leon Gaumond signaling a preference to pay cash rather than issue debt. Restored 3 percent EMS billing escalators should add $150,000 to $175,000 in FY25 revenue, and inspection fees rose 20 to 30 percent. IT Director Tracy Sullivan reported a $128,000 software increase driven by $30,000 for new ProFit financial planning software and roughly $6,000 from Broadcom post-VMware; the new TPx cloud phone system runs about $148,000 annually town- and school-wide. Chair Bharath Venkataraman said the fire station working group is now scoping a new build at the middle school baseball field with central station renovated.