Finance Panel Postpones $11.75M Land Purchase Vote

Finance Committee · Meeting of September 3, 2026

Milton's Finance Committee postponed a vote on an $11.75 million land purchase after members said they lacked key details. Select Board Chair Winston Daly told the committee the town has a framework deal to buy the Labarais property for $11,750,000, pending a signed purchase and sale agreement. A related $1.2 million article to study a school at the site is tied to withdrawing from the MSBA's Gile Road process, something member Andrew called confusing: "That doesn't make any sense to me." Member Lee Michael pushed to separate the land purchase from school planning, while member Nikki Boyson warned "it just feels like it's to block housing from going there" without a clearer rationale.

A motion to recommend the purchase got no second and was put off to next Wednesday. Separately, the committee approved Community Preservation Act funding of roughly $981,000 for the Tucker Playground project on a 9-0 roll call with one abstention, and previewed a citizen petition requiring town meeting approval of police surveillance technology, including existing Flock cameras, by May.

In the full story:

• Labarais Property Purchase, Article 6
• School Feasibility Study Funding, Article 7
• Tucker Playground CPA Funding, Article 4
• Surveillance Technology Citizen Petition
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,437 words

Source: the Finance Committee meeting of September 3, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.