Last Chance To Influence Water Tank Project and Know What It Will Cost

False: Special Town Meeting Asking for Blank Check

True: Water Rates Will Pay for Nearly All Tank Upgrade Costs, With Minimal Increases

Blank Check?

The Select Board Water Tank Working Group hasn’t finalized the actual number that will be requested at the Special Town Meeting (STM), though we can assume this working figure will be close to the figure discussed previously of around $43m, if nothing big changes in their thinking. The funding article in the warrant book has no dollar figure, since the article language in the petition for a Special Town Meeting (STM) needed to be set well before the working group dealt with the issue. This was the case in December as well as the article had no dollar amount, but did include an explanation with the figure.

At the town meeting the article will be introduced for consideration and a verbal motion will be made and shown on the screen and in handouts before the meeting which will include the final number the Select Board Water Tank Working Group recommends shortly. No one is requesting a blank check, as some uniformed people have claimed. The vote will be on authorization of a specific dollar amount to borrow. This is how it was handled in December, though they had an explanation in the warrant book because they had decided on the number well enough in advance to put it in the warrant book. This time we’re waiting for the working group to decide and will introduce that number in the motion to consider the article which the Select Board will have voted on before the STM. At the STM here will be an introduction of the article as presented in the warrant, and then a motion to request a vote that will include a specific dollar amount, and then open discussion before a vote is taken. All above board and fully transparent, though the process was not described fully in advance and allowed some confusion to arise.

Where Is the Money Coming From?

This is the part of the Select Board’s water tank project financial spreadsheet that shows where the funding will come from. The two lines in the spreadsheet that are relevant are at the bottom, funding coming from the WEF (Water Enterprise Fund), and Town Borrowing (funds that would be repaid with taxes, not water rate fees). As the text of our last post said, it was a pleasant surprise for those of us new to the deeper details of this project that the town wisely had set up a fund into which a bit of all of our water rate payments was deposited to cover future capital project costs, like this project. This WEF will subsidize the loan payments to the point that any water rate increases will be very small. Some past tax money is probably included in the Free Cash line, though that could come from other sources and it’s not specified. The very biggest source of funding for the borrowing comes from past and future water rate payments funneled through the WEF. ZERO funds from taxes (Town Borrowing) are devoted to making the debt payments.

The impact on water rates isn’t clear to us from the spreadsheet, but in the hearing on the topic in the Water Tank Working Group, the possible increases were low, in the 1-2% in the case of state supported water project borrowing, or 3-5% if we borrow at market rates, as I recall. No tax increases will result from the project. The full spreadsheet is at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I0zyTkHhg9UZZurXYKF4nPiPygAU8sKd/edit?gid=1029717948#gid=1029717948

If you have questions or concerns, the last opportunity to air them with the Select Board Working Group is tomorrow, Wednesday February 25 at 8:00 am at town hall and on zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83995368513

Sincerely, AlanDay@engageweston.com