Emerson courts resurfacing might be delayed as town weighs capital plan
The resurfacing was the single most expensive item on a list that includes new sand spreader and snow removal trucks.
As debate simmers over pickleball and tennis in West Acton, a similar resurfacing project at Emerson Field might get delayed.
The Emerson effort is part of a larger list of possible capital projects for the 2027 fiscal year. At a tri-board meeting of town budgeting panels, it crystallized questions about recreation needs, the town’s stalled payment-in-lieu-of-taxes effort, and big projects in the not-too-distant future.
“That project needs to get done,” Select Board member Paul Boehm said earlier this month. “The question is when.”
Town Manager Kerry Lafleur and Assistant Chief Financial Officer Ryan Ferrara presented draft spending proposals.
Emerson courts replacement was the single most expensive item — at $852,000 — on a list that also included $800,000 for new sand spreader and snow removal trucks.
Ferrara said the town’s contribution would cover 80% of the cost of resurfacing Emerson’s courts. The Recreation Department would cover the remainder with a fund that collects user fees. Officials say courts at Emerson and West Acton’s Rideout Field both need an overhaul. Rideout’s courts are failing fastest, and the project is happening first. Concordians have spoken up as officials weigh whether to create designated pickleball courts.
Recreation Commission Chair Phil Griffiths said he expects the total costs will come in higher than the original estimates. The Rec Department might have to cover the difference, raising questions about how much it will have for Emerson and other projects, including repairs at the Hunt Recreation Center.
“There’s a lot of stuff,” he told The Acton Bridge.
Down the road
On the town side of the budget, officials continue facing perennial questions about spending and the tax rate.
Lafleur told town leaders it’s “possible that we would recommend pushing [Emerson resurfacing] out another year.”
She said Acton’s private schools use the courts and acknowledged they don’t pay fees. It’s “something that we also feel like we should be working through to understand what their fair share is,” Lafleur said.
Officials have discussed creating voluntary payment-in-lieu-of-tax deals with non-profits that use town services but don’t pay property tax. Those efforts have been on hold, but Lafleur said she hopes to pick them up soon.
Elsewhere in their plans, officials want $100,000 for town building security upgrades and $175,000 for a new Council on Aging passenger van.
“We are talking about transporting seniors,” Ferrara said of the COA van. “It’s something we want to be particularly careful with.”
Long-term spending projections from the tri-board session lacked estimates for expected building projects, possibly including new public works and public safety buildings.
FinCom’s Eric Dahlberg said these will have “huge impacts to tax bills,” and he wanted them reflected.
Three days later, during the panel’s regular meeting, FinCom Chair Lois Wasoff mentioned efforts to start saving for major projects “so that we won’t get hit by the train” that officials know is barreling down the tracks.
Lafleur said officials opted against placeholders because they’re waiting for recommendations from the town’s Land Use Working Group. While she didn’t note items in long-term charts, she said “that does not mean that we do not expect to see a building project.”
