Meetings about proposed town spending topics in FY2027 — the town operating budget, water rates, and replacement of the Lincoln Public Library’s HVAC system — are coming up in advance of the Annual Town Meeting on March 29.
Water Commission
First up is the Water Commissioners public hearing on proposed water rates on Tuesday, March 3 at 7:00pm (agenda and Zoom link here). That hearing is technically the continuation of a Feb. 18 meeting, which drew no attendees. “We have scheduled this second session on March 3rd to ensure full community outreach, as the previous February 18th meeting was only posted on the Water Department’s website and not advertised in the local news outlets,” said Water Department Superintendent Rick Nolli.
The Water Department is proposing a 13% rate increased for its customers, matching last year’s increase (10% in March 2025 and another 3% in September 2025). The department warned residents last year to expect rate increases of 10% in each of the three following years to pay for capital projects, particularly the Lincoln Road water main replacement project. In March 2025, voters approved $6.79 million in capital spending in fiscal 2026, most of which was funded by bonding.
Library HVAC
The replacement of the Lincoln Public Library’s HVAC system will be the topic on Monday, March 9, when the Select Board will hold an information session and answer questions during its meeting on Monday, March 9 at 7:00pm (project overview here; agenda and Zoom link will be posted here).
Articles 7 and 8 of the Town Meeting warrant ask whether the town should replace the 35-year-old gas-fired boiler and air conditioning system with a ground-source heat pump solution for $5.40 million (or about $2.5 million net cost to the town after grant funding), or pursue a more conventional system replacement. The Community Preservation Committee recommends bonding the $2.5 million and paying the debt service for that bonding from Community Preservation Act funds.
If approved by voters, “the project will not cause any tax bill increase to residents, although it will incrementally crowd out other CPA-eligible projects in the future,” the Select Board said in its January 2026 newsletter.
FinCom budget session
The Finance Committee will host a virtual budget Q&A session on Wednesday, March 11 at 7:30pm (Zoom link here; password: fincom). The session, which will be recorded and posted, will not include a presentation of the budget itself; for that, residents are encouraged to watch the February 12 FinCom meeting (the budget discussion starts at 14:50) and review the financial report and warrant.
The FinCom is proposing a budget of $54.54 million, an increase of 2.5% over last year.
“All residents have the right to deliberate at town meetings, and we will certainly do our best to respond to comments and questions. But, to keep our in-person Town Meeting as short and focused as possible, we hope to address comments and questions in this virtual Q&A session before we meet in person,” FinCom Chair Paul Blanchfield wrote in a Feb. 24 message on LincolnTalk.
Leave a Reply