• Contact Us
  • Events calendar
Entering Swellesley
Pinnacle, Wellesley

The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

  • Advertise
  • Wellesley Square
  • Deland, Gibson Insurance Athlete of the Week
  • Camp
  • Private schools, sponsored by Riverbend
  • Business index
  • Contribute
  • Eat
  • Schools
  • Top 10 things to do
  • Embracing diversity
  • Kids
  • About us
  • Events
  • Natick Report
  • Seniors
  • Letters to the editor
  • Guidelines for letters to the editor
  • Live government meetings
  • Raiders sports schedules & results
  • Fire & police scanner
  • 2023 Town Election
 
Needham Bank, Wellesley
Write Ahead, Wellesley

10 takeaways from the Town of Wellesley’s FY20 annual report

January 14, 2021 by Bob Brown 2 Comments

wellesley annual reportWellesley’s 139th Annual Town Report is out, both online and in hard copy, and as usual it is filled with lots of interesting facts and figures.

The information in this roughly 400-page report for the period between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020 (fiscal year 2020), is sort of warped considering that it contains a solid four months of pandemic-influenced data, so that must be taken into consideration when reading through it.

Here are 10 items that popped out for us. (What jumps out to you? theswellesleyreport@gmail.com)

Unprecedented report: The word “unprecedented” somewhat surprisingly only appears twice in the entire report, once under Wellesley Free Library’s report and once under the School Committee. COVID appears 77 times. Disappointingly, not a single “abundance of caution.”

unprecedented annual report

Affordable Wellesley. A word you might not expect to find in the report, “affordable,” actually does make several appearances, including here: “In January, the Town attained the state mandated 10% affordable housing threshold with the approval of the 40R project at the Wellesley Office Park.” Not to say the town doesn’t have plenty of work to do in diversifying its housing stock, but it’s a start, and makes it harder for developers to exploit loopholes.

Diminishing demo targets: While teardowns are not uncommon in town, there are nowhere near as many as there were just a few years ago, when anywhere between 90 and and 100 was the going rate. There were 44 this past fiscal year, down from 45 the year before, which was up a few from the high 30s the fiscal year before that.

Big earners: It’s impossible to go through the report without snooping into who is making what. A couple of town employees make enough individually to hit Wellesley’s $189K residential household median income mark, including top earner Wellesley Public Schools Supt. David Lussier. He seems to have made the right move by not leaping from his newspaper route back in the day and into a journalism career.

Wrong way carbon footprint: The Sustainable Energy Committee reports that Wellesley’s 2019 greenhouse gas emissions increased 0.5% above 2018 levels, bringing overall reductions to just under 12% since 2007. While electricity emissions decreased, commercial sector natural gas emissions jumped 36%.

Price check please: The Department of Weights and Measures checked 900 items in local retail stores to ensure they were priced (scanned) correctly (98% accuracy is the standard). Only three of eight retailers inspected passed the test. “More work needs to be done in this area to ensure correct and accurate pricing in retail stores,” the report reads. So check those receipts people!

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Wellesley Public Schools hired its first director of DEI, and among accomplishments was planning the launch of an equity toolkit for educators.

Locked in: The Fire Department section is chock full of interesting numbers, but the one that raised our eyebrows was 96 for “person locked in home, car or elevator.” What? Locked out of home or car would make sense, but…As it turns out, this number does represent a bit of both A common situation is for a kid to get locked in a bathroom, or parents to get locked out of a house and a kid get locked in and doesn’t know how to open the door.

Police get sign language training: All officers attended basic sign language training, which provided them with an introduction to American Sign Language and key phrases they might need in the field.

Wellesley Farms: The Wellesley Health department issued 23 livestock permits, up from 19 the year before.

More: 15 things I learned from Wellesley’s annual report (Jan. 24, 2020)

 


  • Thank you Swellesley Report supporters & on to Year Sweet 16
print

Filed Under: Education, Government

Comments

  1. S Hawkinson says

    January 14, 2021 at 8:11 pm

    As the copy editor, I used an “abundance of caution” to get rid of this phrase. 🙂

    Reply
    • Bob Brown says

      January 15, 2021 at 3:46 pm

      good call

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Linden Square, Wellesley
Riverbend, Natick

Tip us off…

Please send tips, photos, ideas to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

 

Advertisements

Wellesley Square, Wellesley Merchants
Wellesley, Jesamondo
Beacon Hill Athletic Club, Wellesley
Fay School, Southborough
Sexton test prep
Feldman Law
Wellesley Theatre Project
Volvo
Cheesy Street Grill
Mature Caregivers
Admit Fit, Wellesley
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Never miss a post with our free daily Swellesley Report email
Name: 
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

You can subscribe for free, though we appreciate any contribution that supports our independent journalism.

Click on Entering Natick sign to read our Natick Report

Entering Natick road sign

Most Read Posts

  • Sign up now for summer camp in Wellesley (and beyond)
  • Letters-to-the-editor day in Wellesley—important election-time updates
  • Wellesley business buzz: Board business liaison phased out; Help ID top business leaders of color; Hospital taps new president
  • Business buzz: Nantucket wine bar to boast Wasik's cheeses; Needham Bank has new Wellesley branch manager; Thanks to new sponsor Beacon Hill Athletic Clubs
  • Wellesley Veterans Parade will be one big wonderful Tea Party

Upcoming Events

Jan 31
9:00 am - 11:00 am Recurring

Coffee and Conversation with the Wetlands Administrator and Staff

Jan 31
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Families Eat Together online presentation

Feb 1
11:59 pm

Deadline for Wellesley Hills Junior Women’s Club grants application

Feb 3
Featured Featured 10:00 am - 6:00 pm

Sara Campbell winter warehouse sale

Feb 4
Featured Featured 10:00 am - 6:00 pm

Sara Campbell winter warehouse sale

View Calendar

Popular pages

  • Wellesley’s 7 official scenic roads

Recent Comments

  • David B on Does Wellesley need a new traffic light? Slow down before you drive to any conclusions
  • LADY WELLESLEY on Wellesley police officer injured in crash at intersection of Grove and Benvenue
  • Peggy Heffernan on Wellesley police officer injured in crash at intersection of Grove and Benvenue
  • Beth Dublin on Wellesley police officer injured in crash at intersection of Grove and Benvenue
  • Erika on Where to buy the Wellesleyest stuff in Wellesley

Links we like

  • Danny's Place
  • Great Runs
  • Jack Sanford: Wellesley's Major League Baseball Star
  • Tech-Tamer
  • The Wellesley Wine Press
  • Universal Hub
  • Wellesley Sports Discussion Facebook Group

Categories

  • 2021 Town Election (24)
  • 2023 Town Election (3)
  • Animals (428)
  • Antiques (49)
  • Art (592)
  • Beyond Wellesley (52)
  • Books (376)
  • Business (1,558)
  • Camp (11)
  • Careers/jobs (53)
  • Churches (82)
  • Clubs (236)
  • Construction (300)
  • Dump (130)
  • Education (3,189)
    • Babson College (252)
    • Bates Elementary School (18)
    • Dana Hall School (36)
    • Fiske Elementary School (11)
    • Hardy Elementary School (47)
    • Hunnewell Elementary School (46)
    • MassBay (57)
    • Schofield Elementary School (26)
    • Sprague Elementary School (19)
    • St. John School (2)
    • Tenacre Country Day School (11)
    • Upham Elementary School (35)
    • Wellesley College (613)
    • Wellesley High School (996)
    • Wellesley Middle School (204)
  • Embracing diversity (84)
  • Entertainment (814)
  • Environment (772)
  • Fashion (144)
  • Finance (15)
  • Fire (173)
  • Food (358)
  • Fundraising (641)
  • Gardens (164)
  • Government (604)
    • 2020 Town Election (47)
    • 2022 Town Election (15)
  • Health (866)
    • COVID-19 (203)
  • Hikes (6)
  • History (400)
  • Holidays (440)
  • Houses (162)
  • Humor (47)
  • Kids (867)
  • Law (8)
  • Legal notices (10)
  • Letters to the Editor (73)
  • Media (72)
  • METCO (4)
  • Military (13)
  • Morses Pond (109)
  • Music (580)
  • Natick Report (30)
  • Neighbors (280)
  • Obituaries & remembrances (86)
  • Outdoors (655)
  • Parenting (63)
  • Police (778)
    • Crime (395)
  • Politics (554)
  • POPS Senior Profile (10)
  • RDF (6)
  • Real estate (344)
  • Religion (138)
  • Restaurants (340)
  • Safety (155)
  • Scouts (2)
  • Seniors (127)
  • Shopping (163)
  • Sponsored (6)
  • Sports (1,012)
    • Athlete of the Week (12)
  • STEM (108)
  • Technology (165)
  • Theatre (397)
  • Town Meeting (23)
  • Transportation (240)
  • Travel (17)
  • Uncategorized (1,244)
  • Volunteering (350)
  • Weather (179)
  • Wellesley Election 2019 (21)
  • Wellesley Free Library (280)
  • Wellesley Holiday Gift Guide (2)
  • Wellesley's Wonderful Weekend (20)

© 2023 The Swellesley Report
Site by Tech-Tamer · Login