The Capital Planning and Investment Committee (CPIC) voted to recommend 13 capital requests for fiscal 2020 at the committee’s Dec. 10 meeting. After denying two requests, the committee recommended spending $1,461,800, paying for $335,300 from the Capital Stabilization Fund (CSF) and $1,126,500 by borrowing. Another $200,000 from the Devens Fund (requiring only the approval of the School Committee) will pay for two more projects.
CPIC rejected the Conservation Commission’s request for $100,000 to contribute to the purchase of a 22-acre parcel on Willard Lane to prevent its development. Board members agreed that the commission could accomplish its goal of maintaining a link between conservation lands on opposite sides of the parcel by purchasing part of the lot (it may be subdivided into two to seven lots, according to different estimates) or paying for a deeded easement for a nature trail, solutions likely to cost less money. CPIC also rejected the Fire Department’s requests for $43,000 to install upgraded fire alarms in private businesses, which the department argued would improve response times through a direct connection to the station. At a previous meeting, Fire Chief Rick Sicard had said the installation of these alarms should pay for itself through monitoring fees, but he did not present any further data. CPIC members agreed to reconsider the plan next year after Sicard acquires information about how many Harvard businesses express interest in the alarms.
CPIC agreed to recommend just $20,000 for refurbishment of a street sweeper for the DPW, a job estimated to cost $60,000. DPW Director Tim Killhart had requested CPIC funding to repair the street sweeper instead of asking for his department’s regular yearly small capital allotment of $40,000. CPIC instead approved $40,000 to maintain the precedent that the DPW always get its small capital allotment. In addition, it approved $20,000 toward the cost of the sweeper.
CPIC members recommended funding many projects using debt this year because they expect Harvard’s debt rating to be better this year than in subsequent years, allowing borrowing at lower rates. The committee expects the rating to drop when the debt load of the new Hildreth Elementary School building appears on the books. Because of this incentive, CPIC also recommended projects that members had considered delaying until later, such as the renovation to add air conditioning to Cronin Auditorium at the Bromfield School.
School Superintendent Linda Dwight made the case for approving the Cronin renovations and the science wing air conditioning by noting that the policy of deferring spending was part of the reason HES needs to be replaced. She suggested that CPIC make it a policy to invest some money each year in renovations and upgrades to prevent Bromfield from suffering the same fate. While CPIC originally intended to pay for these two projects using debt, Dwight noted that work on debt-funded projects could not begin until July 1. This would be inconvenient both because competition leads to higher prices for school projects during the summer and because Dwight hoped to have the air conditioning ready for use by spring 2019. Accepting Dwight’s argument, CPIC voted to pay for the gym bleachers and the light-duty DPW truck using debt and instead use CSF funds on the time-sensitive projects.
Harvard’s capital bylaw requires that any request for spending greater than $20,000, or with a useful life greater than five years, must be reviewed by CPIC, which rates and then recommends to the Select Board which expenditures to fund.
With CPIC having rated all fiscal 2020 capital requests, the next step is to present its recommendations to the Select Board and Finance Committee. CPIC will do so at the Select Board’s Dec. 18 meeting.
