This coming Tuesday, you have the opportunity to attend a Special Town Meeting, listen to the articles presented, and help to determine Weston’s future.

Only 3-4% of residents come to regular Town Meeting in the Spring, with even fewer attending Special Town Meetings like the one on September 13. Very few voters make big decisions for all of us. Your presence at this upcoming meeting will influence our future. We implore you to familiarize yourself with the warrant articles, attend the Special Town Meeting, and cast your vote.

Article 8 is a proposal to create a reserve fund of up to $900,000 specifically for Special Education. However, this proposal has no bearing or effect on Weston’s actual Special Education program. It is merely an accounting mechanism that is unnecessary, would increase your taxes, and would accomplish nothing other than parking a significant amount of taxpayer money in a low return fund, with no tangible benefit to Weston students, families, or taxpayers.

Article 7 is a proposal by the Recreation Master Plan Steering Committee to use $85,000 of Weston’s Community Preservation Act funds to design a pickleball complex at Burchard Park. We oppose this Article because at an all-in cost of $1 million, this complex would be extremely expensive, there is no demonstrated demand, no estimate of post-build maintenance costs, no clarity on the cost to residents for playing time, and no restriction on usage by non-residents.

Article 6 is a proposal by The Recreation Commission for residents to approve $3.3 million for Memorial Pool repairs, enhancements, and renovations necessary to meet code requirements. This will create a more valuable “quality of life” amenity for residents, and increase both usage and revenue.

At the Town Meeting on May 9th, Weston voters expressed a point of view regarding Warrant Article 27 and Article 28. Article 27 recommended borrowing $4.6 million to replace the Paine’s Hill water storage tank. Article 28 asked for an amendment to the town’s zoning by-law to remove any height restriction on any water tank and, in turn, the committee oversight and public vetting presently required for non-conforming structures. Both proposals were defeated.

At the Town Meeting, scheduled for May 9th, there will be two Articles requiring approval of voters regarding seemingly modest expenditures to replace and upgrade one of the water storage tanks in Weston. Focus on Weston is recommending a vote against Articles 27 and 28.

Article 27 addresses "locating, designing, and constructing" replacement of the existing water storage tank at Paine's Hill”. The article allocates an unspecified sum for the design and engineering study to replace and relocate the Paine Hill Water Tank. It does not disclose that this proposed project is a small part of a very large, lengthy, and complicated undertaking.

Weston voters generally do not participate in our local town elections and at our annual Town Meeting. Only about 12% participate in the town elections and only 3-4% attend the Town Meeting. Focus on Weston (FOW) is working to create more awareness of the issues and candidates in an effort to increase participation.

There are two important Weston events coming up and we are asking you to:

Vote in the Weston Town Election on Saturday May 7th

Vote at our Town Meeting on Monday May 9th

Responsible town governance is built upon the notion of stewardship, and the implicit “social contract” that allows voters, and their families, to trust town government to address their highest needs and protect their economic and social well-being. For its part, the Weston Select Board should be expected to encourage openness, civil discourse, transparency, accountability, critical thinking, analytical rigor, proactive financial management and frequent balanced communication to all residents. Without that, the social contract between town government and its constituents is broken.

In Weston, total operating expenditures budgeted for FY2022 were $100.2 million, and have increased 39% over the prior ten years (3.5% per year, on average). Property Taxes have risen by exactly the same percentage. The five-year numbers are not materially different. Both have risen by almost twice the rate of inflation over the same period (1.8% per year). The factors that have driven Weston spending have been at work for the better part of a decade, and have been undermanaged.

The Select Board is the Weston’s primary policy-making body for a variety of issues affecting service delivery, finance, and development. It also appoints the Town Manager, Chief of Police, Fire Chief and Public Works director. It appoints members to numerous key Town committees & boards. The Board works closely with these, as well as elected boards on various important Town projects. Clearly, this is a big job, and they perform an active and critical role in our town’s management and financial health.

A Town Crier article three weeks ago provided “A Layperson’s Guide to Weston Town Meeting.” In addition to describing the specific items to be voted, the article encouraged all residents to participate in this year’s annual Town Meeting, which will be held outdoors this Saturday May 15, at 2 p.m. at the Weston High School football field.

The earlier article only briefly mentioned the most important agenda item – Article 2, the proposed FY2022 town budget – so that it could be more fully discussed by itself here. Very few residents are comfortable with, or have the time to go through, all the budget detail presented in the Warrant booklet, let alone the line-by-line minutiae on the town website.

The Weston town election is this Saturday, May 8. If you are registered and have not already voted by mail, you can vote in person at Town Hall from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday. In addition to several elected positions on the ballot, there is a Ballot Question 1: Proposition 2 ½ Debt Exclusion, explained here in layperson’s terms. And that, in turn, raises some larger issues about the current relevance of Proposition 2 ½ in Weston.

Ballot Question 1 is not really about the specific projects mentioned in the Warrant book, but about Weston’s debt and disappearing spending constraints. You can vote “No” on Question 1 and still vote “Yes” at town meeting to support the three projects.

A few weeks ago, a Weston Select Board member published a Town Crier article, “Are All Towns Created Equally?” That article offhandedly dismissed the many recent fact-based articles showing that, by any relevant metric, Weston’s taxes are much higher, with mostly average performance metrics among comparable affluent Boston-area communities.

The diagram in that article from Winnipeg, Canada was offered as proof that, given Weston’s current population density, it would be impossible to improve our town services and schools while also reducing our property tax burden. The article went on to say that making comparisons to Wellesley, Wayland, and the other towns used by the Finance Committee is useless because Weston is unique!

The truth is that Weston faces several significant financial challenges.

On average, only about 12% of Weston registered voters participate in town elections and only a few hundred (3-4%) attend town meetings. Yet, our elected town leaders drive town priorities and policies, and at our town meeting we collectively vote on our property taxes, major projects, and zoning and other bylaws.

Town meeting this year is on Saturday May 15, at 2 p.m. on the Weston High School field. This article summarizes the key items to be voted, in the hope of persuading you to attend. General information on our town meeting and its procedures is available on the town website, Weston.org. The long legal document that constitutes the agenda for the meeting, called the Warrant, will be mailed to all residents and is also available online.

Relative to comparable affluent Boston area school districts, Weston Public School academic performance is not exceptional, despite per pupil expenses that are 26% higher than these comparable districts. In a town so dedicated to academic excellence, these facts are doubly concerning since the School Committee – rather than urgently addressing these issues – is now proposing another budget increase, despite declining enrollment, and an $80,000 recreation planning study. This study will most likely result in plans for more school athletic facilities, on top of the $5 million we spent to renovate the football field and track a few years ago.

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.