Wayland Town Meeting approves $92.7 million budget and Sherman's Bridge purchase

WAYLAND — May 17, 2022 — Wayland approves $92.7M budget and buys 8.34 acres on Sherman's Bridge Road. The 2022 Annual Town Meeting, gaveled in outdoors by Moderator Dennis Berry, passed the fiscal 2023 omnibus budget 103-44, a $9.2 million capital plan 125-29, and a $1.5 million Community Preservation Act acquisition of 27 Sherman's Bridge Road by a 155-23 vote. Finance Committee Chair Pamela Roman said the 4.46 percent budget increase reflects a "return to normalcy" and restores the town's $500,000 OPEB contribution. School Committee Vice Chair Ellen Grieco defended a $47.16 million school budget covering 2,764 students at $17,063.95 per pupil. Voters also moved $1 million to the Capital Stabilization Fund 129-14 and appropriated $70,000 from the recreation revolving fund — not taxation — to settle ADA trail litigation at Oxbow Meadows. The Public Ceremonies Committee created the C. Peter R. Gossels Award for Good Governance and named the late Lewis S. Russell Jr. its first recipient.