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9-02-2025 12:04am
OPINION: Responsible Municipal Spending Means Voting NO, Again, on Existing FS1 Plans
Darlene Cancell
Editor
By Allison Drescher
On September 9th, the town of Westwood will vote again on the FS1 or Fire Station One Project. This ballot measure failed in June, so we will be asked to vote again by special election for a $38M proposed fire station, costing $72M with interest. The ballot vote is required to pass for the town to implement the tax override – or debt exclusion, the tax increase.
One camp deems the project excessive, too large, costs too much and too extravagant for a town of 16,000 residents. The contrasting view is that life-safety warrants the price tag, and our fire fighters deserve every amenity. Both have merit; however, those who oppose the project do not have malice for the fire fighters and disagree with the process the town has used to approve, yet another, tax override.
Both should be respected as a viable position on the matter.
Taxpayers are told it is $1/day – the real estate tax increase is $372 per year. The borrowing runs for 30 years, so it’s actually $11,160 per tax bill on an average $1.2M of value ($372/year x $1.2M home value x 30 years), over the duration of the bond.
A “listening session” was held on June 26th. It was well-attended and had a lot of resident participation. It was fairly moderated by Select Board Chair Gotti. New concerns emerged not heard before – two residents feared losing their jobs to artificial intelligence. A real possibility is that overrides may no longer be a choice, but in this economy reflect the viability of real estate taxes in the town. What can residents afford to pay facing cost escalations on every level?
The session has 428 views on YouTube is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qETHaQTBNqQ&t=5588s
FS1 is an example of the way the town leadership has handled large projects and increased spending in town. We are told retrospectively about the umpteen public meetings and the projects steered by committees that we should have attended. But, upon closer examination, these committees are carefully cherry-picked to consist of project proponents and stakeholders in Town Hall’s position. During times of prosperity residents pay less attention, they may no longer be able to afford to take that approach.
Real estate taxes have increased dramatically in the past five years. Westwood elects to annually re-assess property values and does so aggressively. Many towns cannot keep up with full re-evaluations every year. It is this significant annual change in home values which is crushing the taxpayers, raising the town’s revenue, while allowing Town Hall to claim the tax rate is decreasing – excluding overrides. While factually correct, taxes continue to rise. Changes from FY 2023 to 2024 reflected a $237,881 increase in average home value, while the following year reflected $38,203 bump. https://www.townhall.westwood.ma.us/home/showpublisheddocument/32842/638676113704200000
Westwood’s mill rate remains high but has decreased to $12.80/$1000. Comparatively, Nantucket is $3.28/$1000, Wellesley is $10.28/$1,000 and Brookline is $9.87. https://dls-gw.dor.state.ma.us/reports/rdpage.aspx?rdreport=propertytaxinformation.taxratesbyclass.taxratesbyclass_main
There is major spending coming behind the FS1 project. Last spring, the School Committee began discussions with Dore & Whittier, the same consultant who has engineered most major projects in Westwood, of potential improvements or new-builds into the hundreds of millions of dollars. In fairness, not all of them will be actualized and there will be state participation, but these are big numbers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKCOgLc-gb8&t=5165s
In a stunning determination, the Select Board kicked off the meeting directly following the FS1 defeat, with discussion of 56 page study of municipal buildings which warrant attention. That list can be seen here: https://www.townhall.westwood.ma.us/home/showpublisheddocument/35209/638880784783100000
Our real estate taxes could all triple and we would not be able to meet these needs with approximately 5,000 tax bills issued in town.
Fundamental questions for Westwood are – are resident’s financial concerns regarding project spending being taken seriously by our leadership? Why do all major building improvements fall 100% on the shoulders of the taxpayers? Is there an over-reliance on tax overrides?
Please head to the polls on September 9th at Westwood High School to cast your ballot. Westwood voters are smart and well-educated. They don’t need to be told what to do – but voter turnout will determine the future of spending in Westwood, on FS1 and the multitude of other expenditures, tax overrides, in our future.
Thanks to Allison Drescher for contributing this opinion article to Westwood Minute. Ms. Drescher is a resident of Westwood, a principal and manager of a family-owned real estate portfolio in and around Boston, and president of the Small Property Owners Association. She can be reached at westwoodtaxpayers@gmail.com.
Westwood Minute takes no position on the opinion articles that it publishes, but seeks accurate and thoughtful commentary on topics that matter to our community, from a variety of differing viewpoints. Feel free to reply with your reaction below, or submit another perspective to WestwoodInAMinute@gmail.com.
For hyperlocal news, events, and opinion, subscribe to Westwood Minute!
You may also be interested in reading:
- LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Evidence is Compelling to Invest in New Fire Station 1
- OPINION: Voting "No" on the Fire Station Override Is a Vote for Fiscal Responsibility and Affordability in Westwood
- LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Westwood Firefighter Calls Deteriorating Fire Station 1 "a Health Crisis," Urges Residents to Revote YES for Approval of Funding Mechanism
- OPINION: Resident Urges a "No" Vote to Excessive Spending and Charter Changes at Westwood's Town Meeting (published May 2025)
Replies
Nancy James
Neighbor
9-02-2025 3:37pm
I’m not sure I’m following the “Why do all major building improvements fall 100% on the shoulders of the taxpayers? Is there an over-reliance on tax overrides?” Could you please clarify? Who else would fund it? I realize for schools we received funds from MSBA.
I thought that commercial and residential taxpayers fund town operations - and capital improvements. I’m aware of the debt exclusions for the library and Pine Hill but have there been others?
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Nancy James
Neighbor
9-02-2025 5:36pm
While I agree that many of our voters are smart and well educated, smart and well educated doesn’t automatically mean well informed.
I’ve been following this project for some time but like many, took a much deeper dive when I heard that the project was considered by some to be extravagant and excessive. The repeated comparisons to Lexington were interesting to me, having grown up in a neighboring town. Calling the project “too extravagant for a town of 16,000 residents” is misleading. I asked a lot of questions, took a tour of the existing FS1 and watched replays of the public information sessions and committee meetings. There are many different factors that determine what’s needed from a building perspective; it’s not population driven. If Westwood were shaped like Norwood, we could absolutely have one fire station in the center of town. It’s not. We could go round and round about how Lexington (and other towns, quite frankly) differ from Westwood. The bottom line is each town has unique needs. I would encourage voters not to take commentary at face value because it’s not an apples-to- apples comparison as it’s been explained previously.
I’ve also read repeatedly that a “no” vote doesn’t mean that opponents don’t support firefighters and this article states that the pro side thinks our firefighters deserve “every amenity.” Two of the shortcomings of the existing station are more than “amenities”; they are requirements and here’s why:
Not having proper decontamination zones directly impacts the health of firefighters. Those working in such conditions are twice as likely to develop certain types of cancers than the general population due to exposure to hazardous conditions in the line of duty. Others may disagree, but I don’t find that to be an extravagance.
In addition, the number of bathrooms has been claimed to be excessive. I reviewed that claim as well. At a high level, my understanding is that 4 of the bathrooms in the living space contain showers for firefighters to utilize when returning from a call, likely having been exposed to pathogens and carcinogens. It’s critical that they shower within the first hour after exposure to carcinogens. We may differ on that as an extravagance as well. The other bathrooms are required by building code.
Healthy dialogue is great; misstatements, not so much. I would really welcome and encourage perspective re: what specifically is considered excessive and what specifically should be removed from the design?
Ada Zhong
Neighbor
9-02-2025 7:47pm
An opinion should not be labeled as “misleading.” And don’t forget—you’re sharing your opinion too.
Nancy James
Neighbor
9-02-2025 9:25pm
If it’s not an accurate representation of how the size of a fire station is determined, I’ll absolutely call it misleading.
Sam Elliot
Neighbor
9-04-2025 6:22pm
As an FYI - it appears the Westwood Hometown Weekly has a connection to the Town SB and Staff. Their publications these past weeks has been skewing the info in favor of the station without directly doing so as a responsible news publication should do. They're re-printing what appears to be a the scrip as developed and given to them by the Town.
And try leaving a comment on any of their articles. At the bottom of the article it reads, "Comments Closed". While there are no comments to read if they ever were Open.
Ada Zhong
Neighbor
9-02-2025 7:43pm
Here’s the history of Overrides in Westwood:
https://www.townhall.westwood.ma.us/home/showpublisheddocument/25373/637864786222230000
1. Debt exemption for Pine Hill School: $87,820,386, even after receiving MSBA funding.
2. Main Library debt will not be paid off until 2031.
3. High School debt was fully paid off in 2023.
Darlene Cancell
Editor
9-02-2025 9:12pm
Thanks, Nancy and Ada, for the comments. As the conversation may continue, I'm re-circulating a reminder to readers about the community conduct guidelines for discussions on the Westwood Minute platform:
1. State your opinion/reply/comment respectfully.
2. Give other community members the benefit of a doubt. You deserve the same.
3. Keep comments constructive and argue the issue, rather than attack the person. Arguing against a person's position is fine, but please avoid name calling.
4. Disagreeing, taking an unpopular position, or arguing a point are NOT reasons for removal. Westwood Minute is very reluctant to remove any comments and posts -- free speech and open debate is important, along with the practice of engaging in constructive disagreements. However, personal attacks, profanity, self-serving promotions, and discriminatory or inflammatory remarks are subject to removal.
5. Confusing posts may be removed to keep postings relevant and useful to readers, but again, the goal is to avoid removing any postings whenever possible.
For more on these guidelines, click here. If you have any questions or concerns, reach out and email WestwoodInAMinute@gmail.com.
Thanks for participating in our community discussion!
Sam Elliot
Neighbor
9-04-2025 11:50am
I think this whole situation has revealed more than it being just about FS1. I'm personally appalled, that after a vote was taken, and the majority of the voters said no, that the outcome of that vote was TOTALLY ignored by the Select Board. That, in an of itself, is not only a reason to vote 'no' again, but to send the message that we're now questioning who we elected to these positions.
Past and current administrations have had almost 10 years to address the fire station, but instead, got lost along the way (or was it planned?) as to what should have been prioritized.
Now it's been delayed (on purpose?) and presented as 'Armageddon'. That's how they operate.
To think that the Select Board dismissed the voters and then did ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING to address the desire of the 'no' voters. Then goes ahead and wastes more of our tax dollars to have another vote!
What's wrong with this picture? You have to ask yourself.
What happens if this second vote turns in favor of building the fire station as proposed? Will the 'no' voters get to have another round of voting because they didn't win?
They sure as heck will not!
The audacity of the Select Board to ignore the voter's decision is beyond words and communicates a lot about what this Town has been for quite some time. It has clearly become a 'regime'.
A regime put in place some years ago under the latter years of the Jaillet Administration. Although a very smart, hands-on manager, thoroughly knowledgeable and an educated individual, he unfortunately got very angry in his latter years and started implementing power grabs (i.e. - police chief to report to him and subsequently the Fire Chief) to increase his compensation and likewise, his retirement dollars. And that regime transcended down through the administration under his control. Unfortunately, much of it (the attitude) exists today. That is, they will not be told what to do!
We've been operating with only the Select Board running the Town. Though only part timers, they've been very much driving the bus as our TA was nothing but a 'Yes' man. Other than publishing the Westwood Wire (where everything is great in Westwood), you never heard or heard from him.
And here we are. If this doesn't pass again, will there there be another vote? Until the Select Board gets what they want? Who's is charge here? It's 16K+ against 3. Send the message again. Vote NO!
P.S. - If we ever get through this, I think we should be thinking about a recall of the entire Select Board and break up this authoritarian government. Additionally, we should expand the Select Board to 5 members and break up this go-along to get-along mentality. We need opposing. pragmatic points of view. And it's proven that we can't get there with only the opinion of three.
Brian Haak
Neighbor
9-04-2025 3:14pm
The Select Board had no intentions of ever listening in their 'listening session'.
On an unknown date, the Town had requested, via Vertex/Dore & Whittier, to ask the Contractor, J&J Contracting, Inc, if they'd hold their Bid amount of $38.1. Vertex received a letter back from the Contractor, dated June 11, 2025, that they would hold their Bid amount of $38.1M until September 16, 2025. The date of the 'Listening Session' was June 26, 2025. Clearly, the SB was never going to deviate from the proposed plan/size of the fire station going into the 'Listening Session'. They were intent of going forward with a re-vote. No matter what they heard in that "listening Session' and were never going to address the concerns of the 'no' voters regarding size and expense.
Speaking of that 'Listening Session', I noted, upon re-listening to it, that it mostly consisted of the SB pleading to the audience that the fire station had to be being built as is. Or else, they were talking amongst themselves about justifying it being built as Bid. Also, no questions were posted. That feature was turned off.
So here we are, right where they intended us to be. As someone else asked, what happens if it doesn't go in favor of the previous majority of 'no'? With the minority get to have a re-vote? Probably not as the Select Board is the only authority to call for one.
Something is terribly wrong about all of this.
Martha Sullivan
Neighbor
9-04-2025 4:49pm
It seems that especially over the course of the past few years, opposition seems to pop up late in the process for town projects, especially complaints about spending. Meanwhile these projects spend years in planning, with resident working groups and information sessions provided consistently along the way. For folks who are genuinely concerned with the course of the spending, perhaps getting involved during the planning process would be more beneficial than opposing a project that other residents have already invested so much time and energy into getting right.
As to why the repeat vote, I have not been closely engaged with the process, but from a random citizens point of view, it seems that after the town meeting vote, people may have thought that the ballot vote was a given and would have shown up if they had realized it would be so close? That could merit a repeat vote without needing to be some kind of conspiracy?
s j
Neighbor
9-05-2025 10:54pm
Wait is this re-vote legal?
3. Special Election Requirements:
• If the article in question involves a ballot question, such as a debt exclusion under Proposition 2½ (as seen in the June 3, 2025, special election for the Fire Station), it must follow Massachusetts General Laws, which require approval at a town meeting before being placed on a ballot. There is no statutory prohibition on resubmitting a failed ballot question, but the Select Board would need to restart the process by including the article in a new town meeting warrant
