Weston's Selectmen Ask for a Slightly Slimmer Education Budget

“Weston is a one industry town,” with an incredible product, said Selectman David Muller.

The industry? Education. Its product? The students. But that doesn’t mean education is a spare-no-expense effort.

The Weston Board of Selectmen met on Thursday, Feb 17 in the meeting room to discuss possible changes to the . The selectmen proposed a new budget of $45,196,337, $70,000 less than the $45,266,337 budget offered by the earlier this month. The proposition will not go into effect unless it is passed by the Weston Board of Finance.

“[There] needs to be a [more intensive] business rigor to the production of that product,” said Muller. “I believe a small cut should and could be made [to the budget]….and I believe it could be done with zero impact” to the students.

The current teacher’s contract could “change overnight,” said Selectman Dan Gilbert.

“We can’t see another contract like the last one,” said Gilbert. “You won’t find the funds."

The per-student cost comes in just shy of $18,000, said Muller.

The board voted unanimously to pass along the recommendation to the Weston Board of Finance, which will make further changes to the budget as necessary.

First Selectman’s budget unanimously approved

The board also voted unanimously to pass the first selectman’s budget of roughly $11.2 million, which was about $4,000 less than the budget First Selectman Gayle Weinstein .

However, the vote did not go without some dissent.

“I don’t believe we’ll come out on budget because history tells me it won’t,” said Gilbert. “But…this budget was made by very intelligent people,” he noted, and said that he trusted the minds behind it.

At the selectmen's meeting on Monday, Gilbert noted that certain accounts — such as police overtime and the storm budget — might be budgeted too low.

But Weinstein stood by her budget.

"None of these decisions were easy,” she said.

The budget includes a lower librarian’s salary and accounts for a $400 error made in the last proposal. The average annual increase in the first selectman’s budget over a 10-year period has been $710,000, according to the board.

A capital budget of $1.05 million was not changed.

The Board of Finance is scheduled to meet on Thursday, March 10.