Finance Director Lorraine Leonard told the Finance Committee Tuesday evening that there will be roughly $100,000 available to partially offset the cost of funding four union contracts and associated nonunion contracts in the current fiscal year. The amount of a Proposition 2 ½ override that will be brought before voters at an October town meeting and election has not been determined because two of the town’s four union contracts and all town and school nonunion contracts are yet to be settled.
In framing the discussion about an override amount to put before the voters at the October 3 Special Town Meeting, Leonard described updates to the omnibus budget that was approved at the Annual Town Meeting in March.
“Walking into town meeting,” Leonard said, “we had a deficit of $1,022,” and a one-year agreement with the public works union reached just before town meeting, and funded under a warrant article, cost the town an additional $11,000. On the plus side, she told the committee that state aid figures for the current year came in at $141,992 over the figure estimated for the Annual Town Meeting.
As reported previously in the Press, most of this “found” money, a combination of revenues and charges, comes from a refund of a previous year’s overcharge to Harvard’s retired teacher benefits account, combined with a slightly smaller percentage increase than expected to the cost of those benefits for this year. Leonard then adjusted the net amount of $129,970 downward by $30,000, because “the anticipated local receipts number used at Annual Town Meeting was estimated too high,” she explained. So roughly $100,000 is available.
With two union contracts and all town and school nonunion contracts yet to be settled, neither Leonard nor Town Administrator Tim Bragan was willing to go on record Tuesday evening with an estimate for the amount that will be needed in addition to the $100,000 currently available. Leonard used an override number of $275,000 in the worksheets she distributed, but both she and Finance Committee Chairwoman Debbie Ricci emphasized that this number was for discussion purposes only.
Leonard confirmed the previously reported $226,000 figure needed to fund the teachers’ contract. Bragan reported that he would be in negotiations on Wednesday and Friday this week to try to reach settlements with the dispatchers and public works unions. In an earlier conversation, he told the Press that he anticipated $32,556 in new contract costs for the recently settled police contract.
The committee voted in favor of a motion by Cindy Russo to support the selectmen’s decision that sources such as the town’s reserve and stabilization funds should not be used to fund the ongoing cost of labor contracts. Russo also lobbied for greater townwide communication than is customary for a special town meeting. “It’s an unusual situation—a substantial override at a special town meeting,” she cautioned; “The impact of the override passed at the Annual Town Meeting hasn’t even hit the tax bills yet, and they’ll be voting on another override.”
Bragan explained that unlike the teachers’ contract, the ratification of the three town union contracts (DPW, police, dispatchers) is contingent on town meeting approval. He provided the committee with a timeline for the Special Town Meeting, and recommended that a tri-board meeting (selectmen, finance, and school) be held in early September to determine a funding mechanism for all contract costs.
On September 11, the selectmen will decide an override amount; on September 18 the warrant will be signed and closed. The Special Town Meeting will be held October 3, followed by the town election on October 16.
