Weston Town Meeting approves $97 million budget, eight-unit senior housing compromise

WESTON — September 12, 2020 — Weston Town Meeting approves $97 million budget and senior housing compromise, rejects police immigration petition. Meeting outdoors under pandemic protocols, voters backed a fiscal 2021 budget that Select Board member Harvey Boesch said was cut $2.4 million through negotiations with the Finance Committee, including a $1.2 million reduction in retiree health funding. Finance Committee Chair Lisa Reitano supported the deal but warned Weston's average tax bill is the highest in Massachusetts and 34 percent above peer AAA-rated towns, with $102 million in debt and a $62.7 million unfunded pension liability. By near-unanimous two-thirds votes, the meeting adopted a new Active Adult Residential Cluster bylaw and approved an eight-unit, one-affordable concept plan at 255 Merriam St., replacing a previously permitted 10-unit 40B. A citizens' petition from Mary Ellen Sykes to restrict police cooperation with ICE failed after Select Board Chair Christopher Houston read a memo from the police chief calling the article "a non-issue."