Weston Select Board approves first-ever monthly budget under state COVID rules

WESTON — June 9, 2020 — Weston Select Board adopts $14.2M July budget as town moves to monthly authorizations. The board voted 3-0 Tuesday to approve the town's first-ever one-twelfth fiscal 2021 budget, totaling $14,226,081 for July, after Town Manager Leon Gaumond Jr. walked through prepaid insurance, Middlesex Retirement and software-renewal lines that drive the month above a strict pro-rata share. The plan excludes OPEB, non-contractual raises and capital. Chair Christopher Houston is targeting a Sept. 12 election and Sept. 14 Annual Town Meeting, with state Sen. Mike Barrett's pending bill, special legislation or a court order as backstops. The board took no action on the Memorial Pool closure, which Recreation Director Chris Fitzgerald defended citing a $20,000 reopening cost, a broken pump, and Assistant Director Sharon Lock's warning that lifeguards "cannot practice rescues on each other this summer." The board also ratified a police-union deal with 2 percent, 2.25 percent and 2.25 percent COLAs over three years.