The Swellesley Report

Wellesley Executive Director Meghan Jop this week at the Select Board meeting shared a presentation on the fiscal year 2025 budget guidelines, leading into all-board meetings next week that will delve even deeper into the topic. You can review Jop’s presentation, and Select Board discussion, via Wellesley Media’s recording of the Sept. 26 meeting.

The town has begun discussing a more individualized approach to departmental budget guidelines, with special attention paid to impacts expected from union settlements and to any new jobs planned, such as webmaster and mobility manager positions contemplated for the Select Board budget (the mobility manager would be charged with addressing the town’s worsening traffic and implementing sustainability plans). The guidelines also include recommended cost-of-living increases for non-union employees.

A flat 3% expense increase is recommended in the initial guidelines for most departments, though some, such as information technology (rising software subscription costs) and the Town Clerk’s office (4 elections) are anticipated to need more. The town is looking at an overall 3.5% budget increase for schools, though serious discussions with the school administration have only begun. It’s looking at a 5% budget increase for the rest of the town, taking into consideration some extraordinary costs associated with fire department overtime and additional personnel, plus continuing to make up for parking/traffic revenue that hasn’t fully bounced back since the pandemic. Guidelines will be adjusted further as FY24 budgets are recast to reflect updated financial information.

Board Chair Lise Olney said she appreciates guidelines, after a successful “longtime focus on our capital needs,” that put a focus on the town’s human assets through competitive compensation packages. Wellesley and other municipalities have had big challenges in hiring and retaining talent.

The individualized approach to departments, added Select Board member Tom Ulfelder, “demonstrates to the town that we are sincere in our effort to prioritize our human assets.”

Furthering such efforts, Jop noted toward the end of the meeting that the town has been awarded a $50,000 state grant that will support a job classification and compensation study that it seeks to start in the new year, hopefully after filling its HR director role.

Member Beth Sullivan Woods said the guideline discussion is valuable heading into the all-board meetings, though did raise concerns about baking new headcount into the budget. She’d rather see the town work through the Advisory Committee to defend adding personnel in needed areas incrementally.

Under the town’s 5-year cash capital plan, about $10.8M was identified for FY25, though town leadership will have a better sense of actual requests by the end of November. From there, the town will need to figure out how much to cut from its plan, or how to cover expenses, such as through free cash, borrowing, or grants. Ulfelder emphasized this is the same process of cash capital give-and-take that has happened for years, with strong reserves of late helping to address some one-off projects, like the new public safety radio tower.

The town has a healthy pot of reserves, at $34M, or more than 18% of budgeted operating revenues. The overall projected budget is currently estimated to be about $190M for FY25, with unknowns such as state aid and health insurance remaining to be solidified.

The Swellesley Report is just 1 of 150 U.S. news publications chosen to be highlighted in Google News Showcase. Please follow us there.

Wellesley Special Town Meeting warrant Article 13, sponsored by the Planning Board, aims to address the lack of diverse housing options in town by amending the Zoning Bylaw in several ways. Wellesley has had an inclusionary zoning bylaw since 2004 that requires a portion of units in new housing developments to be offered at affordable rates, and has amended the bylaw a couple of times since.

One motion under the article would apply inclusionary zoning to new projects developed in more areas of town, including those in Lower Falls and those using Residential Incentive Overlay district zoning, as did the Nines project at Wellesley Office Park (the early-stage condo project at 192-194 Worcester St. could be another RIO candidate). The Planning Board proposal would extend inclusionary zoning to all residential projects requiring site plan review, such as those down the road that fall within MBTA Communities zoning, which is focused on boosting multifamily housing near public transportation but does not specify affordable housing. Currently, inclusionary zoning is triggered by projects of significant impact that are more involved than those that merely requite a site plan review and may affect the town’s capital infrastructure, such as stormwater management.

(Look for Wellesley at the Annual Town Meeting in Spring to come forward with an article focused on MBTA Communities that involves getting rid of Project of Significant Impact special permits for new multifamily developments in such zoning areas, as they go into effect in 2025.)

A second motion would redefine affordable housing under Wellesley’s inclusionary zoning rules. Rather than make developers of new residential projects include 20% of units priced at 80% or less of the area’s median income (AMI), as is the case today, they would instead need to make 15% available in that range and 5% available at 81%-140% of AMI in an effort by the town address workforce housing needs, such as for local teachers, first responders, or other government employees, especially those who are just starting out. Local workers, and those with kids in the school system who might live in Boston, can be given preferential access to such housing (total assets can be factored in as well).

Note that AMI, defined by the federal government, includes an area much wider than just Wellesley, all the way up to New Hampshire and down to Buzzards Bay. Still, it is addressing here the big gap between the median single-family home price in Wellesley of $1.8M and more affordable prices, say in the $350K-$640K range for moderate income households bringing in between $106K-$187K per year (a whole other category might need to be defined for those working in journalism…).

For Wellesley, it’s important to have a certain amount of affordable housing first of all to meet demand, but also to adhere to state rules. By maintaining at least 10% of its overall housing stock as affordable, Wellesley avoids exploitation by developers of the 40B process, which allows for building projects under relaxed zoning rules. More than 11% of Wellesley’s housing stock is deemed affordable.

Wellesley Planning Director Eric Arbeene briefed the Planning Board on the article on Sept. 19 (see Wellesley Media recording) and the Advisory Committee on Sept. 20 (see Wellesley Media recording), and entertained further discussion.

Among the benefits of divvying up the inclusionary zoning requirement between 80% or less of AMI and 81% to 140% of AMI would be that those renting apartments at 80% of AMI wouldn’t automatically get booted from town if they start making more than that. They still wouldn’t be able to stay in a unit designated for 80% of AMI, but they at least might get to move into a different unit in town for those in the 81% to 140% bracket.

There was some discussion at both Planning and Advisory about whether 81% to 140% is the best range, or if something slightly tighter, like 81% to 120% might address a bigger need. Arbeene acknowledged that the town hasn’t surveyed its employees to get a precise estimate of how many of its workers might actually want to live in town if they could afford it (the idea was brought up at both meetings that not all town employees probably want to live locally, running into their students or whatever when off the clock).

Planning Board Chair Tom Taylor, a guest recently at a meeting of local housing advocacy group Building A Better Wellesley, said his sense from that group was that a range of inclusionary zoning would be acceptable.

The Advisory Committee is in the process of vetting articles on the Special Town Meeting warrant. That meeting kicks off on Nov. 6.

Fill out simple subscription form to receive our weekday email newsletter.

Our newsletter is free, though we appreciate any financial support for our independent journalism venture.