Belmont Warrant Committee Backs CPA Projects, Paramedic Training Before Town Meeting

BELMONT — April 29, 2026 — Belmont Warrant Committee recommends favorable action on CPA projects and paramedic training ahead of May 4 town meeting. The committee, meeting April 29 under Chair Paul Richter and with Town Administrator Patrice Garvin in attendance, voted 16-0 to back all five Community Preservation Act project motions under Article 16 — including $500,000 for Community Path right-of-way acquisition, $250,000 in phase two design matching funds, and a reduced $65,000 for Beaverbrook invasive species management — as well as a $125,000 pilot paramedic training appropriation, noting that Belmont faces a multi-year risk of losing its advanced life support capacity if it cannot retain and train in-house paramedics who generate more than $1 million in annual ambulance revenue. A citizen petition that would transfer naming authority over town assets from the Select Board to town meeting was voted down 15-0, with Select Board Chair Matt Taylor arguing the change would make it "quite difficult" for the town to secure naming-rights or sponsorship revenue. The committee tabled a fiscal impact statement petition after its author emailed the chair just before the meeting to say he plans to move the article be referred to a special committee for further study, and deferred a vote on the retirement COLA article — which carries a projected $3.5 million net cost over six years with a balloon payment of $9.1 million in fiscal 2032 — to the May 13 meeting.