Wayland capital committee maps process as fiscal pressures mount

WAYLAND — September 30, 2025 — Wayland's new Capital Improvement Planning Committee uses first working session to absorb the mechanics of municipal finance. Chair Kelly Lappin and Vice-Chair Bradford Carver, who also sits on the Finance Committee, walked members through funding sources after the panel unanimously approved Sept. 9 minutes. Carver said a graph shown to the Select Board on Sept. 24 projects levy shortfalls growing from about $2 million to more than $6 million annually through fiscal 2037. To avoid a spring Proposition 2½ override, the budget working group is backing a special election to reclassify $5.2 million of Department of Public Works levy debt as excluded — saving roughly $700,000 a year — and deferring $8 million of a planned $16 million November bond issuance, saving another $850,000. Town Manager Michael McCall said department capital requests are due by the third week of November. Staff member Kelsey Powers reported $590,042 in surplus capital from closed-out projects last year.