Weston Town Meeting approves $86.7 million budget, rejects Ash Street walkway

WESTON — May 15, 2021 — Weston Town Meeting passes $86.7 million budget but kills Ash Street walkway and Louise's Wall sale. Select Board member Harvey Boswell moved the fiscal 2022 operating budget, which grows 2.7 percent and restores a $1.2 million OPEB contribution; Finance Committee Chair Lisa Reitano backed it by majority vote despite flagging nearly $100 million in town debt and a $60.8 million unfunded OPEB liability. Voters approved $1.02 million in CPA funds for two affordable rental units on Birch Lane over Reitano's objection that it "doesn't make sense to spend over a million dollars to help two families," and approved Greatland's life sciences rezoning at the former Liberty Mutual campus, projected to yield $1.2 million in annual new tax revenue. A $400,000 paved Ash Street walkway failed after objections to tree-canopy and drainage impacts, and the sale of historic Louise's Wall fell short of two-thirds after Historical Commission and Planning Board members said the preservation language had not been properly vetted.