The Devens Economic Analysis Team (DEAT), created by the Board of Selectmen in March, is working to establish a process for collecting and maintaining economic and financial data on Devens “that can persist across time and become an ongoing resource for the town,” according to its chairman, Victor Normand, who met with the Press last week to discuss the team’s progress.
The team is charged with analyzing the current state of Devens finances as they relate to Harvard and preparing a report of its findings for presentation at the 2011 Annual Town Meeting. Topics to be included in the report are the financial impact of any changes to the educational agreements in place between Harvard and MassDevelopment; definition of opportunities for regional sharing of municipal services among Devens and host communities; and the identification of financial implications of any proposed changes to the Devens Reuse Plan, zoning, or bylaws that could affect future development in Devens.
According to Normand, “The job of this committee is providing good, reliable financial and economic tools to be used to evaluate proposals that come forward.” Acknowledging that there is a lot of work to be done, Normand hinted that the DEAT report to Town Meeting could be a status report. “If we have to go back to selectmen and ask for more time, we will,” he said.
Normand said that understanding the expense side of Devens is probably the most difficult task before the team. “Most of that information will not come from Devens or MassDevelopment,” he explained. “Ideally, the team would like to find a town the size of Harvard, but with a substantial commercial tax base” to allow for cost comparisons of services such as the police force or fire department.
Normand said this is where DEAT’s work will add value, providing “reliable numbers the town can use as a reference point.” He added, “What we want to do now is build a process to gather this information and then keep it current going forward, so whatever decisions need to be made in the future, whether they have to do with housing, education or jurisdiction,” there would be a baseline from which decisions could be made.
