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.