Weston Select Board adopts single tax factor, setting projected $12.81 fiscal 2022 rate

WESTON — December 7, 2021 — Weston adopts single tax factor for fiscal 2022 and opens review of $30 million OPEB policy. The Select Board voted 3-0 to set a residential factor of 1, producing a projected rate of $12.81 per thousand, down from $12.98, Principal Assessor Eric Josephson told the board, with bills to mail by Dec. 31. A new Appellate Tax Board valuation method added roughly $73,000 in new growth from Eversource and over $90,000 from National Grid. Bartholomew & Company Chief Investment Officer Alex Bartholomew reported the OPEB trust at $30,169,000 and a 7.76 percent annualized return since 2013, at a 19-basis-point fee. After a sharp exchange over the trust's prior swing from 60-40 to 100 percent equity and back to 70-30, Treasurer-Collector Lisa Ritano said she would "never agree to 100 percent," while member Christopher Houston was named to lead a formal rewrite of the investment-policy process.