The Change That’s Needed in Weston

Weston Town Crier, April 8, 2021
The following was submitted by John Sallay

​With an eye toward Weston’s upcoming elections, this article is an invitation to reflect on Weston’s current financial situation, and need for change – to fix an unguided budgeting process, address issues with openness, transparency and civility, promote a results-based approach to staffing and spending, and acknowledge the impact of rising property taxes on property values. These are leadership issues.

Each of us can then decide which candidates to support, and at the town meeting the following week, decide whether to approve the proposed town budget and property tax increases, or to send them back for revision.

Current Situation
Weston faces several significant financial challenges. Property appreciation has been stagnant for 15 years, lagging both comparable towns and inflation. Our property taxes are far higher than comparable towns by all relevant measures – average household, median household, and per capita.

School spending, which represents about 60% of the town budget, exceeds comparable town spending per pupil by 26%, despite performance metrics which are similar within this group. This higher spending translates to approximately $11 million per year, or 15% of your property tax bill annually. Separately, our debt and unfunded liabilities exceed $200 million, or about $54,000 per household, nearly twice that of comparable towns.

In this context, the Town Manager and Select Board are proposing a FY2022 town budget with operating spending up another 5%. As a result, in a 2% inflation environment, the typical residential property tax bill will increase 5% next year. A continuation of these trends will lead to a home today valued at $1.5 million with an annual property tax bill approaching $30,000 in ten years.

Rather than attacking these critical issues, our town leaders are diverting their attention to far less pressing matters. For example, the Select Board has been spending a great deal of their meeting time lately discussing dog regulations and pay-as-you-throw waste disposal.

The School Committee faces its own financial challenges, compounded by enrollment declining 2-3% per year (9% over the last two years). The proposed budget includes the addition of full-time substitute teachers in each school, regardless of when or where substitutes may be needed, and an $80,000 recreation planning study. Although a Covid grant will cover the substitutes, the money could be used elsewhere. Moreover, the grant will not fund future years.

The Finance Committee annually expresses “concern” about the town’s management processes and financial trajectory. Then every year, they support the Town Manager’s proposed budget, as if the financial trajectory is unrelated to the budget and resulting property taxes.

Change in Management Approach
Weston lacks an integrated, analysis driven, and transparent set of management processes. There is no long-term financial plan. The town and school budgets are developed completely separately with no top-down guidance and little coordination. The budgets are prepared without benchmarks, performance metrics, or comparisons to neighboring towns. We lack an effective forum even for discussing important strategic, governance, management, and financial issues. Yet, important town-wide communications, such as the Warrant booklet, are inscrutable to the average resident, and distributed only a few weeks before the Town Meeting.

As a result of these basic issues, management of our unionized town and school employees has been ineffective. Despite a flat population and services largely unchanged over the last 10 years, the compensation of our town employees is up by about a third, in a low inflation environment. These “people costs” make up about 80% of our town’s operating expense, making this lack of effective management a significant driver of our growing tax bill.

Change in Leadership Style
Instead of taking ownership of these challenges and working to address significant issues, the Select Board and School Committee tend to ignore facts and dismiss constructive criticism. Often, the default reaction is to challenge the residents to come up with their own solutions. Our leaders should direct the Town Manager and School Superintendent to find efficiencies and develop a long-term plan to bring Weston in line with our peer towns.

There is also undue pressure to get along and go along. It has been suggested that we should not criticize our town volunteers (or employees) regardless of whether we agree with their recommendations, analyses, or results. We must be able to disagree and debate respectfully without people taking it personally.

What Can You Do?
Most importantly, you can become informed about the candidates and spending proposals, and vote. On average, only about 12% of Weston registered voters participate in town elections and only a few hundred (3-4%) attend town meetings. Please show up on May 8th and cast your vote for our future leaders, or submit a mail-in ballot, which is available from the Town Clerk via the town website, Weston.org.

Consider candidates who will take ownership and are inclusive, will listen and collaborate, and will welcome fact-based analysis. Ask them specifically where they stand on these issues. We need leaders who are dedicated to understanding and addressing Weston’s current challenges, and committed to change as required.

Then, attend the Town Meeting on Saturday, May 15, and vote for – or against – the property tax increase that is being proposed.