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.