Weston Select Board reviews $43.3 million water tank financing model

WESTON — October 30, 2024 — Weston Select Board socializes a $43.3 million water tank financing plan ahead of fall Town Meeting. Chair Tom Palmer walked members through a draft model built on Wright Pierce cost estimates of $32.5 million in construction, a $5.4 million contingency and $5.5 million in design, with roughly $37 million borrowed through the water enterprise fund at a subsidized state rate of about 2.4 percent and $2 million drawn from town free cash. The structure assumes 3 percent annual rate increases starting in fiscal 2026 and bottoms out enterprise reserves near $1 million in fiscal 2034. Member Lori Bentz rejected calls to delay, saying she would "disagree vehemently" with holding the article; member Lise N. Revers pressed for more cost detail and called the contingency framing "an odd definition of conservative." No financing vote was taken; the board approved its consent agenda 3-0.