Kingston residents at the Annual Town Meeting on Saturday approved a $63.7 million operating budget for Fiscal Year 2027, authorized borrowing $700,000 for a new ambulance, and passed sweeping land conservation measures — before closing with a narrow 52-49 recorded vote to indefinitely postpone acceptance of a subdivision roadway entangled in a dispute over a speed hump the town said it could not legally compel residents to remove.
The centerpiece of the meeting, Article 7, appropriated $63,674,830 to fund the town’s general fund operating budget for Fiscal Year 2027. The budget was presented by Finance Committee member Derek Billnitzer and passed unanimously on a voice vote with minimal discussion.
When a voter asked whether the budget represented wants or needs, Billnitzer was direct: “This is not a budget where we are asking for more than is needed for this town to maintain level services.” He added that the school district cut services to meet its number. When pressed on whether FY28 would be sustainable, Billnitzer offered a sobering assessment. “That is the $63 million question,” he said. “Expenses are rising across the board, as we all are personally aware. The town is no different in incurring those costs.”
Billnitzer also noted that the Finance Committee is currently operating with only three of its seven authorized members — a consequence of Cowett’s election as moderator — and urged residents to volunteer to join. Without a quorum of four, the committee cannot take official votes.
Article 6, which drew brief but pointed questioning, transferred $500,000 from the Stabilization Fund and $318,113.89 from Free Cash to cover the FY2026 snow and ice removal deficit. Town Administrator Scott Lambiase confirmed that the Stabilization Fund balance stands at $3.6 million and certified Free Cash for the year was $3.1 million. The article required a two-thirds vote and passed unanimously.
Article 28 contained six separate Community Preservation Committee appropriations totaling $894,956, generating the most extended discussion of any single article.
The first motion transferred $43,120 in CPA affordable housing funds to the Kingston Affordable Housing Trust, which holds approximately $1 million. Finance Committee members who opposed the transfer argued the trust has no active projects. Jean Landis-Naumann, chair of the Affordable Housing Trust, countered that the funds are being held to partner with developers on projects that would expand affordable units — noting the town currently sits at about 5% affordable housing against the state’s 10% goal and has at least one 40B project pending. The motion passed with minimal opposition.
The second motion, appropriating $119,670 to purchase approximately half of a 10.35-acre parcel at 20 Maple Street for conservation purposes, drew considerable debate over both its language and its substance. Conservation Agent Matt Penella acknowledged the warrant description contained errors — references to “8 Maple Street” and “approximately one acre” were misprints — and clarified the article concerned only the dam, wetlands, riverfront, and buffer zone east of the existing development at 20 Maple Street. The purpose is to allow the Conservation Commission to breach the Maple Street Dam, improve fish passage up Stony Brook into Blackwater Pond, and improve stormwater resiliency on Route 3A.
Pine DuBois of the Jones River Watershed Association, which has been working since 2004 toward the dam breach, urged voters to act now rather than defer. “Having ownership of this land would make it so much easier,” she said. Resident and lifelong Kingston native Dot MacFarlane, 83, drew applause with a plainspoken case for fish passage: “Those fish are feeder fish. When they get out into the water, they become food for the bigger fish that we eat.” Opponents argued against these conservation articles, saying the town has sufficient conservation land and that removing parcels from the potential tax base is a recurring cost. The motion passed with minimal opposition.
The third motion, $387,166 to purchase a 3.82-acre parcel at 83 Wapping Road to improve access to Hathaway Preserve, also drew debate. Resident Ken Moalli argued the $375,000 purchase price was excessive for what he characterized as a degraded bog, and that the existing access easement was already adequate. Penella offered a detailed rebuttal, explaining the parcel allows the town to convert a rough, unseen two-track entry into a visible, fenced parking area off Wapping Road, extending the trail system and improving safety for visitors. He also walked through a cost-benefit analysis: a single-family house on the lot would generate roughly $8,000 in annual taxes, but a family with one child would cost the town more than $15,000 in school expenses per year. The motion passed with minimal opposition.
Motion four appropriated $75,000 for professional restoration of 70 to 100 of the most deteriorated gravestones in the Old Burying Ground. Historical Commission Chair Craig Dalton explained that the commission is addressing the worst stones first, noting the cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places and contains the graves of Major General John Thomas, Hannah Thomas (the first female lighthouse keeper in the United States), and Commodore Jane Seaver, who christened the USS Constitution. Finance Committee members voted against the expenditure; Billnitzer said stone aging is natural. The motion passed with minimal opposition.
Motion five appropriated $20,000 to rehabilitate six rotted windowsills and exterior paint on the Stephen Drew Heritage House, and motion six appropriated $250,000 to rehabilitate the tennis and basketball courts at Gray’s Beach Park. Both passed with minimal opposition.
Article 40, accepting Timber Ridge Lane and Sequoia Drive in the 34-home Tall Timber Estates development, passed with minimal opposition despite the Planning Board’s stated opposition to accepting new private roads given the town’s strained maintenance budget. Highway Superintendent Shawn Turner told voters the roads are in good condition and present no significant cost concerns. The article passed.
Article 41, seeking acceptance of Captain Jones Way and Barrows Brook Circle in the Jones River Estates subdivision, became the meeting’s most charged moment and ultimately produced its only recorded vote. A resident of the subdivision delivered an extended presentation arguing the roads function as a de facto public connector between Routes 27 and 106, are used by emergency vehicles, school buses, and roughly 240 vehicles on a typical morning, and were kept open at the town’s own request years ago to address fire apparatus access issues.
The complication: a non-standard speed hump in the subdivision needs to be replaced with proper speed tables before the highway department would consider the road up to town standards. Subdivision residents said they had signed notarized agreements and engaged an engineer, with estimated removal and replacement costs of $27,000. But Town Counsel Kate Feodoroff advised that once town meeting accepts a road, it accepts it as-is, and there is no legally enforceable mechanism to compel residents to complete the improvement afterward.
Select Board Chair Kimberley Emberg offered an amendment conditioning acceptance on the speed hump issue being resolved at no cost to the town. The amendment passed, but Feodoroff reiterated the amendment was not legally binding. Billnitzer moved to indefinitely postpone the article. In the closest vote of the day, indefinite postponement carried 52-49, sending the article to a Special Town Meeting currently scheduled for Oct. 21.
One resident’s parting words as the meeting adjourned captured the stakes from the subdivision’s perspective: “The road is being closed. It’s closed. We’re done.”