The Finance Committee this week put the finishing touches on Harvard’s $21,279,523 Omnibus Budget for fiscal year 2014, a roughly 2.8 percent increase from the current year.
Voters got their first look at the numbers when the complete Town Meeting warrant was posted online at the Town’s website on Wednesday. And they’ll get their final say on April 6, when the 2013 Town Meeting convenes at Bromfield.
FY14 Budget Request ($ million)
Source: Town of Harvard Omnibus Budget
Of the budget total, almost $12 million is allocated to the schools, plus approximately $2.2 million in school employee benefits. In total, the schools will account for 69.5 percent of the town’s operating budget, the same as in the current fiscal year. In addition to town funding, school resources include roughly $2.2 million in revenue and offsets from Devens tuitions and subsidies, School Choice income, and the state Circuit Breaker program, not to mention income from the school lunch program and user fees for student athletics and other activities.
Apart from the schools, the operating budget is divided into several categories.
General town government accounts for $1.17 million, public safety for nearly $1.5 million, and physical environment—primarily the Department of Public Works and Transfer Station—for just under $1.3 million.
Human services, including the Board of Health, Council on Aging, and Veterans Services, amount to a total of $174,376, while nearly $580,000 will go for Culture and Recreation, a category that includes the town library, the Parks and Recreation Commission, and the Historical Commission.
As always, employee benefits comprise a sizable chunk of the budget—$3.5 million—but this category is not the budget-buster it once was, rising less than 1 percent due to stabilized health insurance costs as a result of a new insurance program.
The last big category is excluded debt: $964,087 in principal and interest payments on construction of the Public Safety Building, the Bromfield School, the new library, a school roof, and the town sewer project, plus another $23,700 in short-term debt. This figure is almost 2 percent lower than it was in FY13, reflecting a 50 percent reduction in interest payments as the loans are paid down.
More spending in capital and CPC requests
In addition to the Omnibus Budget, voters at Annual Town Meeting will confront 25 warrant articles asking for additional money. Of these requests, 10—totaling $387,563, for such things as fire rescue equipment, a fire pond study, Bromfield House structural assessment and repairs, and debt service on previous capital expenditures—are to be funded by appropriations from the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund (CSIF), while another $157,000 (to refurbish the school parking lot off Pond Road) would be borrowed and the debt service paid by the CSIF.
A final category includes five warrant articles—for a total of $373,500—that will be funded with revenue collected under the Community Preservation Act and administered by Harvard’s Community Preservation Committee (CPC). According to the CPC’s report to the town, it has $415,500 in available funds, and expects to take in a total of $266,100 in FY14 from the 1.1 percent property tax surcharge and matching state funds. This year’s proposed expenditures include $200,000 for the Conservation Fund, $16,000 for the restoration of historic documents, $55,000 to preserve the Bromfield stone wall, $100,000 for the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust, and $2,500 for CPC administrative expenses.
The three remaining big-ticket items on the warrant include the Finance Committee’s request for $400,000 for the Reserve Fund; the Selectmen’s request for $250,000 to establish a trust fund to pay for health benefits owed to future retired town employees; and $175,000 to connect the Center Fire Station and Hildreth House to the new town sewer system.
