Wayland Finance Committee approves memo urging two budget task forces

WAYLAND — May 29, 2024 — Wayland Finance Committee unanimously backs memo demanding override-prep task forces. The five-member committee voted 5-0 on May 29 to send Town Manager Stephen Cass and the Select Board a memo, drafted by Jonathan Bennett, recommending separate capital planning and operating budget task forces and a guideline that annual budget growth stay "no greater than a 3 percent" increase. The committee revised the memo to emphasize preparations to "avoid or minimize" a Proposition 2½ override before strategically planning one. Members also flagged $600,000 in unreconciled contractor deposits from the fiscal 2023 audit and questioned the Massachusetts Teachers' Retirement System's 7 percent discount rate against an expected 6.32 percent yield. Member Kelly Wappin called the late-IRS-payroll-deposit episode "a controls issue" still unresolved by the audit report. Next meeting: June 17.