Wayland Select Board approves up to $75,000 for portable concert stage

WAYLAND -- March 6, 2023, Wayland Select Board commits up to $75,000 from Town Center gift funds for a portable concert stage. The board voted 5-0 Monday on the request from resident Chris Reynolds, who ran the town's inaugural music festival last May and plans a May 20 return; Reynolds told the board used Stage Line units have sold for as little as $33,000 and fit in one parking space. The board also unanimously backed Article J, asking the Finance Committee to send between $200,000 and $500,000 of free cash into capital stabilization, and recommended approval of the personnel article with a one-year 3.3 percent non-union wage-scale increase mirroring the AFSCME settlement. Finance Director Brian Keveney said the fiscal 2024 budget is now roughly $100.5 million, a 7.6 percent increase and 6.3 percent tax hike, driven by a $1.7 million debt-service jump and a special-education spike. Chair Cherry Karlson called it "the largest budget in quite a while."