Weston Select Board Abates Disputed Water Bill After 20-Month Delay

WESTON — January 24, 2023 — Weston Select Board unanimously abates a disputed $3,542.60 water bill after a 20-month standoff. Town Manager Leon Goeman and board chair Chris Houston led discussion of the case brought by resident Joe Esposito of 175 Boston Post Road Bypass, who received a bill in 2021 showing usage of 35,800 cubic feet — roughly four to six times his typical semi-annual draw — but got no substantive response for nearly two years. The board settled on a three-tier formula: the first 5,000 cubic feet at $2.20 per hundred cubic feet, the next 10,000 at $6.60, and the remaining approximately 20,800 at $4.40, a midpoint rate, with interest to be recalculated on the reduced principal. The board also heard Goeman's preliminary FY2024 budget proposal of roughly $93.7 million, a 3.48 percent increase that Goeman said marks the third consecutive year spending has grown below inflation, with a preliminary tax-rate projection of 40 cents per $1,000 increase affecting the median $1.4 million Weston home by roughly $600.