From left, Capital Planning and Investment Committee Vice Chairwoman Debbie Ricci, Finance Director Lorraine Leonard, and Selectwoman Lucy Wallace at the all-boards meeting Feb. 16. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Alice von Loesecke (left), chairman of the Finance Committee, watches as Tim Bragan, town administrator, discusses the FY14 budget.
The omnibus budget for FY14 is balanced, and, despite a decline in local aid from the state, there will be no request for an override, for the fifth year in a row.
That was the sunny outlook laid before the town committees that gathered for a final all-boards meeting in Town Hall last Saturday, Feb. 16 to review the spending decisions of Finance Committee, Capital Planning and Investment Committee (CPIC), selectmen, and the schools for the coming year. Their next step will be to prepare the articles that Town Meeting must approve in April to confirm their work.
According to the latest budget summary prepared by Finance Director Lorraine Leonard, town spending will rise 3.1 percent to $23,603,355 in the coming year, with the largest increases coming from town departments and the schools. The money to pay for it comes from a roughly 3.3 percent rise in town revenues.
While the budget submitted by Governor Deval Patrick to the legislature last month would, if approved, result in a drop of 2.7 percent in state aid, that decline is a smaller amount than anticipated. It’s possible that state aid will be increased, Town Administrator Tim Bragan told the group, but the formula for distributing the amount among towns is changing, he said, and wealthier towns, such as Harvard, are likely to receive smaller percentages as the state tries to help those that are struggling.
Included in the budget is an allocation of $250,000 for a down payment on Harvard’s “other post-employment benefit” (OPEB) obligations. Capital committee chair George McKenna has proposed that the town create an “irrevocable trust” to pay for the health benefits that the town will owe its future retirees, benefits that could ultimately overwhelm Harvard’s annual budget without a savings plan. A committee headed by Tim Bragan is awaiting an actuarial study of the town’s future obligations and is expected to issue its report before the end of the month.
Level service
The budget is a level-service budget, which means that town departments should have the money they need to operate at the same level as they did the previous year. But some departments were granted “wish list” requests. The fire department will be able to increase its “call pay” for the first time in nine years and will have money to reward volunteers who take time to get additional training. The police department will be able to operate two-officer shifts around the clock without adding to its permanent payroll. And the budget includes $40,000 for a part-time planner, whose hiring awaits the approval of Town Meeting.
Seniors will benefit from more funds for outreach social services by the Council on Aging, and the fee for a dog license has been dropped for anyone older than 70 who owns one.
CPIC vice chair Debbie Ricci said that the committee had approved roughly $750,000 in capital requests, plus $100,000 for debt interest. She said her group had given priority to projects that were legal obligations or that affected public safety, such as upgrades to Bromfield science labs. The two biggest expenses are $175,000 to connect the fire department and Hildreth House to the sewer, and $157,000 to rebuild the parking lot below the library.
An overide in Harvard’s future?
Though Harvard will enter its fifth straight fiscal year without the need for an override to increases taxes beyond the Proposition 2½ limit, both Finance Committee Chair Alice von Loesecke and Ricci noted that the long-range capital plan is predicting a spike in capital spending in FY16. Ricci said CPIC is considering a one-time override as soon as next year to permanently fund the capital committee so it has the money it needs to pay for the many renovations and repairs of town buildings and other assets in coming years.
