Dash interviews seven Warrant Committee candidates

Moderator Committee Applicant Interviews · Meeting of August 17, 2026

Belmont's town moderator interviewed seven Warrant Committee candidates, with appointments due by August 31. Town Moderator Adam Dash questioned Brian Curtis, Max Hoyer, Jonathan Hakim, Kevin Smith, Kathy Cohane, Marie Warner and Timothy Fallon; Hoyer and Fallon also applied for the Bylaw Review Committee. Hakim told Dash "95 percent of Belmont's tax revenue comes from residential property taxes," a constraint nearly every candidate cited given the state's 2.5 percent annual levy cap.

Kevin Smith compared a heavily amended warrant article to "the Epstein files" and asked for an explanation of "the recent snafu with yard waste." Marie Warner, seeking a fifth year on the committee, cited past budgets as large as $150 million managed in her finance career. No votes or appointments were made; public comment on candidates is open through August 26, with one more Bylaw Review Committee applicant to be interviewed August 19.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
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• The complete report — 2,021 words

Source: the Moderator Committee Applicant Interviews meeting of August 17, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.