Nantucket Finance Committee backs $1.2 million DPW design funds, clears regional planning commission vote

Finance Committee · Meeting of March 3, 2026

Nantucket's Finance Committee unanimously backed a $1.2 million supplemental appropriation for Department of Public Works facility design work and approved, 7-1, compromise legislation to reconstitute the town's regional planning commission. CFO Brian Turbert told the committee the design funds would come from certified free cash rather than a debt exclusion, meaning "there would be no impact to the taxpayers for this particular piece." DPW Director Drew Patnode, attending the March 3 meeting remotely, said value engineering and an advisory work group meeting since December have put the project on track to come in below the original $67 million schematic estimate, though he cautioned that true costs will only be known after the project goes to bid. Member Joseph H.

Wright abstained on Article 74, the regional planning commission compromise, saying 13 commission members is too large a body; all other members voted in favor. The committee also set the airport fuel revolving fund limit at $8.5 million for fiscal year 2027, up from $6 million, after the account reached its cap in the current year.

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Source: the Finance Committee meeting of March 3, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.