Wayland selectmen craft plan to close $743,000 of $900,000 budget gap

WAYLAND -- January 22, 2018, Wayland selectmen back roughly $743,000 in cuts to meet Finance Committee's $900,000 ask. Town Administrator Nan Balmer presented a draft response built around a $377,458 reduction in the health insurance budget, recalculated at a 10 percent increase plus 1.5 percent contingency, plus $100,000 in added local receipts, a $53,000 OPEB removal and a $44,389 recreation correction. A two-year fire union settlement adds $120,000 to the salary reserve. The plan defers $50,000 in police Tasers and pushes one new patrol officer and two firefighters to a Sept. 1 start for another $49,000. School officials have identified $35,000 so far and are chasing $190,000 in school-bus parking tied to the River's Edge closing. Selectmen pushed Balmer to justify the public-safety hires on growth, not last year's withdrawal: "We just because we withdrew them last year does not give us the right to request them this year." The package goes to the Finance Committee by Jan. 30. Molly Upton of Bayfield Road, in public comment, urged itemized debt-exclusion ballot questions, saying "citizens deserve the right to choose."