First Look at Belmont's $91.7 Million Budget

An overview of revenue and expenditures that tops the $90 million mark.

The first look of Belmont's fiscal year 2014 town-wide budget shows a fiscal outline that shows a nearly $2 million increase from the adjusted 2013 budget. The coming fiscal year's expenses and revenues total $91,736,910, the first time the town's budget has topped the $90 million mark.  Take a look at the 11 page fiscal 2014 budget summary as a pdf file on this webpage. The fiscal '14 budget, approved this week by the Belmont Board of Selectmen and the town's Warrant Committee – the fiscal watchdog for the approximately 300 member Town Meeting – and released by the Belmont Town Clerk, will be presented to the annual Town Meeting for its approval at 7 p.m. on June 3 at the Chenery Middle School. A more detailed version of the fiscal '14 …

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Belmont Water, Sewer Rates To Increase By 4.6 Percent

Water rates to jump to $5.67 per 100 cubic feet while sewer rates will increase to more than $11 per 100.

Belmont residents will be paying more for their water and sewer bills this coming year. But, according to Belmont's DPW Director, the coming fiscal year increase – about double the inflation rate – could be dwarfed by a surge in fees in the next few years from the authority that supplies Belmont's water. The DPW's Peter Castinino informed Belmont's Board of Selectmen at its Tuesday meeting, May 21, that water rates would increase by 3.9 percent and sewer usage by 4.9 percent for a hike of 4.6 percent to most residents and businesses. The Selectmen voted unanimously to approve the rate hike. The current water rate is $5.46 per 100 cubic feet of water up to 3,000 cubic feet. Any amount more than 3,000 cubic feet the rate is $6.28 per 100 …

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The Belmont Special: Selectmen OK Special Town Meeting Warrant

Selectmen also meeting with Capital Budget Committee to discuss prioritizing large town projects. Snow budget busted.

It really isn't all that "special" but when the annual Belmont Town Meeting re-opens in two weeks, there will be a few articles that are noteworthy in their own ways. A proposed warrant of 18 articles was presented by Town Clerk Ellen Cushman and approved Monday morning, May 13 by the Belmont Board of Selectmen for the Special Town Meeting to be held on Wednesday, May 29. See the Special Town Meeting warrant in a pdf file on this page. The most interesting of the dozen-and-a-half articles will be a new by-law (article 11) requiring most homeowners to remove snow from their sidewalks and a citizen petition (article 18) – which is brought before Town Meeting by residents – that will place a year-long hold on the demolition of single family …

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Letters to the Editor

Letter to the Editor: Belmont's Need for Leadership

"Where is the leadership in this town? It is not the job of a Library Trustee alone, or the responsibility or the school committee members, to do this work."

To the editor: I am amazed and disappointed at the situation this town found itself in at the School Committee meeting last night. The members of the School Committee were in an impossible situation and had no good way out. The Library Trustees found themselves literally cutting and pasting possible alternative ideas for locations for a ball field to save the future of the new library. Where is the leadership in this town? It is not the job of a Library Trustee alone, or the responsibility or the school committee members, to do this work. The Selectmen should have stepped up with professionals to find a way to make it work. I have to believe that there is a way to both support the sports programs and move our library to a more appropriate …

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Delay Delayed: Demolition Halting Article Pushed Back 'Til June

Late action by Bylaw Review Committee and incorrect addresses forced Selectmen to reassign Demo Delay bylaw to last day of Town Meeting.

"What a mess!" An exasperated Mark Paolillo leaded back into his chair with a look of frustration on his face after hearing the latest news concerning the proposed demolition delay article on the Warrant set to be placed before representatives at the annual Town Meeting set to start tonight, Monday, April 29 at Belmont High School. The chairman of the Belmont Board of Selectmen heard from town officials at an "emergency" meeting of the board this morning, Monday, April 29, that a last minute move by the By-Law Review Committee to take out a list of approximately 210 buildings to be "protected" by the new bylaw that the Belmont Historic District Commission placed into the article. In addition, he was told that nearly a quarter of the …

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Belmont Selectmen OK New High School Proposal

Cost for renovation and an addition to existing school building now pegged at around $75 million.

It's been a while since Belmont first attempted to get into the state "queue" to be considered for funding a new High School. "This is the ninth annual Statement of Interest submission," Dr. Thomas Kingston, Belmont's schools superintendent told the Belmont Board of Selectmen early Monday morning, April 8, which signed the request that was sent this week to the Massachusetts School Building Authority. In the month since the Statement was approved by the Belmont School Committee, the anticipated price tag of renovating the 257,000 sq.-ft. building and constructing a new 34,000 sq.-ft. science wing is now expected to be in the lower-end of a range between $75 million to $100 million, said Kingston. The request is due to "deficiencies" facing…

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Belmont Selectmen Pool Vote 'Fatal' to New Library Prospects

Despite hope decision "not the death" of library proposal, expert sees no place to find a space to replace loss of playing field.

The unanimous vote by the Belmont Board of Selectmen Monday, April 8, to recommend a "pool-only" option for the future of the historic Underwood Pool has effectively caused a fatal blow to the $18.5 million proposal for a new Belmont Library, according to several who have been involved in the process.  While Matthew Lowrie, the chairman of the Board of Library Trustees – which sited the new library on school department land across Concord Avenue from the present 45-year-old institution – hoped the vote "is not the death of the [new] library" proposal, a long-time member of the task force on finding and creating athletic fields said while technically possible, finding a replacement multi-sports field for the land to be taken by the new …

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Town Meeting To Decide Medical Marijuana Delay Bylaw

Board of Selectmen accept Planning Board-written amendment on interim controls.

Belmont Town Meeting will vote at its annual gathering in April on an interim amendment to delay for more than a year changing the town's zoning bylaws to permit marijuana dispensaries to do business. Written by the Belmont Planning Board, the interim controls for medical marijuana uses – which was brought before the Belmont Board of Selectmen for its approval on Monday, Feb. 11 – would allow the town to begin a careful regulatory review on where treatment centers could be located and how they dispense its goods, according to Belmont Town Administrator David Kale. Under the bylaw, a proposed center will be shut out from opening its doors as it will not be permitted in any zoning district including all overlay district. Those controls would…

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'Officer' K-9 to Join Belmont Police Ranks This Year

Anonymous $24,000 gift will provide police with dog, training and food for three years.

How much is that police doggie in the window?  For Belmont Police Chief Richard McLaughlin, a $24,000 gift from a resident who wished to remain anonymous will now allow the department to have its first ever K-9 officer. The Belmont Board of Selectmen voted unanimously on Monday, Jan. 7 to accept the gift to allow the Belmont Police Department to purchase a dog and fund the initial and added training as well as covering the cost of veterinary care and food for three years. "I can't thank this person enough for allowing the department to have this opportunity," said McLaughlin. Whenever Belmont required a K-9 unit to assist in tracking down a suspect or search for drugs in a vehicle, it would need to send out a request to the Arlington …

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Belmont Selectmen To Push for Return of School Resource Officer

In light of Sandy Hook, members seeking way, funds to reinstate an officer at Belmont High School.

Board of Selectmen Chairman Mark Paolillo remembers when his father, former Cambridge Police Chief Anthony Paolillo, first assigned a school resource officer – an unarmed uniformed police officer – at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School in the 1980s. "It was a great addition to the school and he felt they were able to resolve many potential issues," said Paolillo. In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings Friday that left 26 students and teachers along with the gunman dead at the school, Paolillo and the other members of the Board of Selectmen – Andy Rojas and Ralph Jones – indicated that restoring a school resource officer to at least Belmont High School would be high on their list of priorities for this budgetary …

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