Kingston Finance Committee Votes to Recommend $1.9 Million in Capital Projects for Town Meeting

KINGSTON — May 13, 2026 — Kingston Finance Committee backs $1.9 million in capital spending with Town Meeting weeks away. The committee voted 4-0-1 Wednesday to recommend favorable action on six capital projects totaling $670,139.94 in free cash expenditures — including a Fire Station 1 roof replacement, three police vehicles, emergency medical equipment, and a school tractor — and separately recommended approval of $1,235,072 in fiscal year 2027 lease payments, a package that includes $411,820 to retire the final two payments on the fire department's 100-foot ladder truck using a 2020 developer contribution from Amazon and Trammell Crow. The committee also approved a $461,856 IT budget for FY27, a net $13,000 increase driven by trend-based line-item corrections identified by the town accountant. More than $1.1 million in capital requests went unfunded, including an $85,000 joint police-fire dispatch server and roughly $486,000 in remaining cardiac monitors and stretcher lifts. The meeting ended with two members disclosing likely imminent departures — one running for town moderator in Saturday's election, another planning to sell his home and leave Kingston — leaving the committee potentially one seat away from losing quorum ahead of a May 26 warrant-article vote.