Wayland Select Board weighs debt reclassification to close $1.8 million budget gap

WAYLAND -- September 24, 2025, Wayland eyes November ballot to shift DPW debt and dodge a fiscal 2027 override. The Select Board, meeting jointly with the School Committee and Finance Committee members on Sept. 24, heard Town Manager Michael McCall and Finance Director Brian Keveney project a $1.8 million shortfall and a decade of structural deficits running through fiscal 2036. The plan: reclassify Department of Public Works debt at 66 River Road from levy to excluded (about $700,000 in fiscal 2027 relief), issue $8 million in water bonds in November while using bond anticipation notes for general fund projects (roughly $800,000 in savings net of $140,000 interest), and find $300,000 to $500,000 in town and school cuts against a school budget rising 5.5 percent. Keveney said Wayland ranks 312th of 365 communities in new growth and faces a Middlesex Retirement assessment climbing from $6.8 million to $7.3 million, with a $58 million unfunded liability. The board voted 4-0 to ask the Finance Committee for a formal recommendation on the debt reclassification.