2012 Annual Town Meeting warrant at a glance

At Saturday’s Annual Town Meeting, voters will be asked to consider 46 articles.

Article 1
Annual Reports

A housekeeping formality at every Town Meeting, this article asks voters to hear reports from the Board of Selectmen, School Committee, and any other boards with prepared reports to present.

Article 2
Re-Vote of Article 20 of the April 2, 2011, Annual Town Meeting

This article, inserted by the Board of Selectmen, is to borrow $145,000 for a new forestry fire-fighting truck to replace a 1986 model the fire department says is beyond repair. Town Meeting approved a similar article last year, but the town’s bond counsel recommended a re-vote with some changes to the wording.

Article 3
Fiscal Year 2011 Certified Free Cash

The Finance Committee is asking the free cash, unspent money from this year’s budget, be moved in its entirety ($436,754) to the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund.

Article 4
Omnibus Budget

The Finance Committee has prepared a total omnibus budge­t of $20.7 million. The omnibus budget includes funding for all the town’s operating expenses.

Article 5
Reserve Fund Fiscal Year 2013

This is an article to place $350,000 in the Reserve Fund Account for “unforeseen and extraordinary expenses.”

Article 6
Fire Department ­ —Fire Gear Lockers

The fire chief is asking for $7,000 to purchase lockers to store protective fire gear.

Article 7
Fire Department ­ — Thermal Imaging Cameras

The fire department is asking for $12,000 to purchase two thermal imaging cameras that would help fire fighters “see” through smoke, flame, and darkness.

Article 8
Fire Department ­ — S.A.F.E. Program Revolving Fund

The fire department wants to use revenue from the issuance of burning permits to fund a school fire-safety program. According to the article, revenue or expenditures from this account are not to exceed $15,000 in fiscal year 2013.

Article 9
Economic Development Committee — Budget

This is an article to provide the Economic Development Committee with a budget of $1,000 for fiscal year 2013.

Article 10
Public Buildings — Energy Audits

The Harvard Energy Advisory Committee inserted this warrant article to ask for $12,000 to conduct energy audits of the public safety building, the Department of Public Works buildings, the Harvard Public Library, the Center Fire Station, the Still River Fire Station, the old fire station/ambulance building, the Bromfield House, and the old library. The committee says it will use the results of the audits to create money-saving energy-use plans for each building.

Article 11
Municipal Buildings — Facilities Manager

Inspection firm Galeota Associates has identified 588 needed repairs in buildings owned by the town, not including Town Hall, the Hildreth House, and the old library. This article, inserted by the Board of Selectmen, calls for the town to pay $55,630 to contract with a person or group to manage the non-school town buildings and address their maintenance requirements.

Article 12
Municipal Buildings — Repair and Maintenance

This article calls for $40,000 to begin the repairs outlined in the Galeota report (see Article 11).

Article 13
Geographic Information System

The Finance Department inserted this article for $6,700 to provide for Geographic Information Service for the town’s assessing database.

Article 14
Capital Planning and Investment Fund — Appropriation

The purpose of this article is to appropriate $50,000 to the Capital Planning and Investment Fund to replenish money planned to be spent on capital projects in fiscal 2013 and to fund future capital requests.

Article 15
Capital Planning and Investment Committee — CPIC Debt Payment

This is an article to provide $80,825 from the Capital Stabilization and Investment Funds to pay the Capital Planning and Investment Committee’s debt service for fiscal year 2013.

Article 16
Fire Department ­— Replace and Relocate Town Center Air Horn

The fire department is asking for a new air horn, at the cost of $23,195, to replace the current one and to be located at the Center Fire Station.

Article 17
Fire Department ­— Upgrade Radio Infrastructure

The fire department and the Capital Planning and Investment Committee inserted an article to upgrade the town’s radio infrastructure. The Finance Committee did not put a dollar amount on the article, saying it would comment at Town Meeting.

Article 18
Board of Selectmen — Town Hall Building Project

This has been the most-discussed article around town during the run-up to Town Meeting. Last year’s Annual Town Meeting voted to create plans for the renovation of the 140-year-old Town Hall. Working with an architectural firm, the Municipal Building Committee has come up with schematics that require borrowing $3.97 million over 20 years to fund the design and reconstruction of the building.

The Community Preservation Committee has earmarked $1 million in Community Preservation Act funds to contribute to the bond payment. The rest, $2.97 million, will be funded by excluded debt.

According to the Finance Committee, assuming a 4 percent interest rate, this bond would cause a $110 increase per year to the average single-family home tax bill in Harvard.

Article 19
Department of Public Works — Purchase of New Boom Flail Mower

A boom flail mower is used to clear trees and brush from the side of the road. The Department of Public Works says the mower has 20 feet of reach and can cut around stone walls and behind guard rails. The Finance Committee recommends that the cost, $97.895, be taken from the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund.

Article 20
Water Department — Well Pump Replacement

The Department of Public Works is asking for $10,000, to be taken from the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund, to replace a well pump to meet state requirements.

Article 21
School Department — School Zone Signs

This is another expenditure to be taken from the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund: $13,000 to replace the flashing school zone signs on Massachusetts Avenue.

Article 22
The Bromfield School — Replace Carpeting with Vinyl Composite Tile (VCT)

This is to replace the carpeting in “various locations” in the Bromfield School with vinyl composite tile, at a cost of $22,500 from the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund.

Article 23
The Bromfield School — Ongoing Energy Project

The School Department is asking for $52,500 from the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund to continue the work of the Harvard Energy Advisory Committee to identify and put into action energy-saving measures at the schools.

Article 24
The Bromfield School — Alarm System

This article would take $10,600 from the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund to pay for an alarm system to be installed at the Bromfield School.

Article 25
School Department — Pond Road Parking Area

This is for $75,000 from the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund to grade and pave the schools’ Pond Road parking area.

Article 26
The Bromfield School — Tennis Court Lighting and Resurfacing

The Bromfield tennis courts need work, the School Department says. It will cost $24,500 from the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund to resurface them and repair the lighting there.

Article 27
Reconstruct and Repair Littleton County Road

The Capital Planning and Investment Committee voted in February to recommend the town fund the reconstruction of Littleton County Road through excluded debt, rather than from the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund. Public Works Director Rich Nota had asked for $250,000 for fiscal 2013 for the next stage of repairs, but the capital committee said it would be better to finance the entire project by borrowing $750,000 as excluded debt.

Excluded debt is borrowing with debt service excluded from the calculation of the Proposition 2 1/2 levy limit—for the life of the loan.

Article 28
Update of Master Plan

The Planning Board inserted this article for $100,000 for Phase II of the project to update the town’s 2002 Master Plan. The Master Plan Steering Committee says some of the money will be used to hire a consultant to study the impact of Devens on Harvard, both if the town reclaims the portion of Devens within its historical borders or if it does not. The money will also be used for outreach and education, the steering committee says. The end result, the committee says, will be an answer on how the town wants to proceed regarding Devens and a Master Plan that reflects that.

In a 3-2 vote, the Board of Selectmen voted not to recommend the passage of this article. “We’ve studied Devens to death,” said Selectman Bill Johnson. “We don’t need more data for Devens.”

Article 29
Community Preservation Committee Report

This article is for Town Meeting to vote to hear the report of the Community Preservation Committee on the fiscal year 2013 Community Preservation budget.

Article 30
Preservation of Historic Town Documents

The Community Preservation Committee and town clerk inserted this article to take $24,000 from fiscal 2013 Community Preservation Act revenue to restore and preserve historic town documents.

Article 31
Harvard Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund

Another Community Preservation article, to transfer $34,395 to the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

Article 32
Conservation Commission — Invasive Species Control

The Conservation Commission says it’s time to “fight back” against invasive plant species that are choking conservation land. It’s asking for $50,000 of Community Preservation money, with which it plans to hire Polatin Ecological Services to control invasive species in parts of the Clapp-Scorgie-Tufts-Smith land, the Williams land, the Powell land, and the Bare Hill Wildlife Sanctuary.

Article 33
Congregational Church — Restore Columns at Entrance

The Community Preservation Committee and the Congregational Church of Harvard inserted this article to use $2,500 of Community Preservation funds to restore the front entrance columns at the church.

Article 34
Cemetery Commission — Shaker Burial Ground Tree Removal

The Cemetery Commission and the Community Preservation Committee inserted this article to use $11,500 of Community Preservation funds for tree removal in the Shaker Burial Ground.

Article 35
Community Preservation Committee — Administrative Expenses

This is for $2,500 of Community Preservation money to pay the Community Preservation Committee’s administrative expenses.

Article 36
Modification of CPA [Community Preservation Act] Surcharge

The Community Preservation Committee and the Finance Committee have recommended this article to raise the Community Preservation Act property tax surcharge from 1.1 percent to 3 percent. The Community Preservation Act is a state law that allows participating communities to add a property tax surcharge of up to 3 percent to be used for projects that “preserve community character,” including land conservation, housing, and renovation of historic buildings.

The Finance Committee says increasing the surcharge to the maximum will make Harvard eligible for more state matching funds and decrease the need for excluded debt to pay for proposed projects to renovate the Hildreth House and the old library. If this article passes Town Meeting, it would have to be approved by voters at the November general election.

The Finance Committee estimates this surcharge would increase the average single-family home tax bill in Harvard by about $170 per year, permanently.

In 3-2 vote, the Board of Selectmen voted earlier this month not to recommend the article. Those opposed said it would be a mistake to vote for the increase without a specific plan for using it.

“If we can’t go to the taxpayers with a project certain that this money will be used for, what we’re saying to them is, ‘Give us your money and let us hold onto it until we define those projects,'” said Selectman Bill Johnson.

Article 37
Revolving Funds

This vote is required to continue the revolving funds for the Council on Aging (with revenue or expenditures not to exceed $35,000), the Fourth of July Committee ($25,000), the Harvard Ambulance Service ($100,000), and the “costs associated with the reutilization of the old Library” ($20,000).

Article 38
Personal Property Tax Exemption

The Board of Assessors has asked for this article to increase the personal property tax exemption in town from $2,500 to $5,000, as a time- and paperwork-saving measure. It would have little impact on the budget, according to the Finance Committee. State law allows the exemption to be as high as $10,000, as set by a town or city’s legislative body.

Article 39
Amend Town Bylaws ­— Chapter 36. Finance Committee

This amendment to the town bylaws would allow the Finance Committee to temporarily make associate members voting members for the purposes of achieving a quorum. According to the proposed amendment, “The associate members will be impaneled by seniority, with the most senior associate member being impaneled first.”

Article 40
Home Rule Petition — Means-Tested Senior Citizens Property Tax Exemption

This article, inserted by the Board of Selectmen at the request of the Elderly and Disabled Taxation Aid Committee, is to petition the state Legislature to enact special legislation that would set a cap on property taxes on qualifying seniors in Harvard at 10 percent of their household income.

To qualify for this exemption, a property owner would have to be at least 67, and, if married, their spouse would have to be at least 60. The qualifying annual income levels would be $51,000 or less for a single applicant, $64,000 for a single head of household applicant, and $77,000 for married applicants filing jointly. The applicant would have to live in the real estate to be exempted at least a day over six months each year, and the applicant, or at least one of joint applicants, must have been a Harvard resident for at least 10 consecutive years prior to filing for the exemption. Also to qualify, the assessed value of the applicant’s primary resident would have to be no greater than the average assessed value of a single-family home in Harvard, plus 10 percent.

While the Board of Selection voted to make no recommendation on the article, the Finance Committee recommended against it, saying it could overtax the town’s overlay budget (the allowance for tax exemptions and abasements), forcing the town to dip into the operating budget to make up the difference.

Article 41: Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 59, Section 5K — Senior Work-Off Abatement Program

The Council on Aging inserted this article to amend the town’s senior tax work-off program so that seniors who are physically unable may have a proxy do their work. The amendment would also change the limit on the program from $1,000 to 125 service hours credited at the state’s minimum hourly wage. The Finance Committee says it doesn’t anticipate the amendment would necessitate a change to the $10,000 now budgeted for the program.

Article 42
Amend the Protective Bylaw — Affordable Accessory Apartment

This zoning change, inserted by the Planning Board, would define an affordable accessory apartment. It would pave the way for a program to provide local homeowners with grants of up to $15,000 for renting to low- or moderate-income tenants. The grants replace the tax incentives called for in the a 2007 plan which was overwhelmingly approved by Town Meeting, but were rendered unusable when the home rule petition enabling the tax breaks was shelved by the state Senate in 2008. The simple grants proposed now would be funded by Community Preservation Act money and administered by Harvard’s Municipal Affordable Housing Trust.

The process for a homeowner would involve several steps, including getting a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals; selecting an income-qualified tenant from a list to be provided by a qualified project administrator; signing a 15-year deed restriction that legally requires the apartment to be rented at a state-defined rate; selecting a tenant according to the state’s fair housing policy; applying for the incentive grant; and agreeing to yearly inspections.

Homeowners who want out of the program before the 15-year period could break the covenant, but would need to repay the grant.

Article 43
Amend the Protective Bylaw — Signs

Also inserted by the Planning Board, this article is a series of changes and additions to the town’s zoning concerning signs. The complete text of this rather lengthy article is available on the Planning Board’s website: www.harvard.ma.us/Pages/HarvardMA_BComm/Planning/index.

The article gives a seven-point overview of its intent:

• To avoid signs that are confusing, distracting, or impair visibility along the road.
• To protect areas of residential or agricultural character from business signs.
• To protect public ways, parks, and reservations from business signs.
• To encourage wall signs on buildings, rather than standing signs.
• To encourage the combination of signs, rather than several smaller signs.
• To limit the number of signs to those which are “accessory or have special public usefulness not generally characteristic of off-site signs.”
• To limit the number and size of signs to only what’s necessary for their purpose.

Article 44
Amend the Protective Bylaw
Re: Solar Photovoltaic Installation

This article, inserted by the Planning Board, would add a new definition and section to the town’s zoning law to deal with commercial solar photovoltaic installations. The Planning Board has since backed away from the article, saying its members need more time to understand the issues, to know where the state is going on zoning policy, and to get a broader sense of what the town wants. This could take six months to a year, the Planning Board says.

The Planning Board will be recommending that Town Meeting take no action on the article.

Article 45
Acceptance of Gifts of Property — Conservation Land

This vote is required to accept land donated to the town to be used as conservation land.

Article 46
Acceptance of Highway Funds

This vote is required to accept state funds to be used for road repairs and improvements