Finance panel recommends defeating multiple citizen petitions, debates stormwater fee and nonbinding resolutions

The Westborough Advisory Finance Committee on March 7 moved to recommend defeat of a block of citizen petitions and nonbinding resolutions and specifically recommended that town meeting defeat a citizen petition challenging the newly adopted stormwater fee.

Committee members debated whether voting on nonbinding opinion articles gives them undue legitimacy and whether passing or debating them consumes limited meeting airtime. Several members said they would prefer to limit debate by voting the block at once, while others said proponents retain the procedural right to present at town meeting and that members can abstain if they do not wish to endorse an opinion.

On the stormwater petition, speakers raised administrative and equity concerns: one member questioned whether the stormwater fee properly targets impervious areas (parking lots, large commercial sites) and whether the town was incurring extra administrative cost to implement a separate charge. Another member argued the fee shifts burden away from residents to nonresidential impervious surfaces, which could be equitable if implemented transparently. The committee voted to recommend defeat of the citizen petition regarding the stormwater fee by a recorded committee vote of 7–1.

Other warrant business: The committee recommended several smaller items including a $19,500 transfer from free cash for fire department network switches and a $5,000 allocation to the Historical Commission after the commission reduced its requested amount.