Select Board pulls library HVAC articles from Town Meeting warrant

LINCOLN — March 9, 2026 — Lincoln pulls library HVAC articles after independent tax advisers flag a funding gap of up to $500,000. Town Administrator Tim Higgins told the Select Board on Monday that two energy-tax firms found the federal credit estimate of $1.6 million should be cut to $1.1 million on a conservative basis, opening a $200,000 to $500,000 hole in the $5.4 million ground-source heat pump plan. The board reached consensus to pass over both the ground-source and conventional-boiler articles and target an October special Town Meeting. Finance Director Colleen Wilkins said a $756,000 fiscal-2027 reserve fund can cover an emergency boiler failure. The board also postponed endorsement votes on the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional Agreement update — the first since 1988 — and the revised Dark Skies bylaw to March 23. Three residents urged the board to take up the Hanscom benefits misallocation, in which more than $2 million was charged to Lincoln taxpayers between 2021 and 2025 with roughly $500,000 returned.