The land use boards’ proposed fiscal 2022 budget would maintain level service in the short term while reducing expenditures by 5.8%. Director of Community and Economic Development Chris Ryan presented the budget to the Finance Committee Jan. 20 and answered questions during a Jan. 26 Press interview.
According to Ryan, the land use boards can offer the same level of services as last year while requiring less funding because some of the department’s expenditures can be reduced without affecting the short-term services rendered. The department’s proposed budget enables it to continue providing its immediate services to residents as well as it has in past years, so residents who need a permit approved will see no drop in service quality.
The expenditures that were cut were the ones that enable longer-term planning, such as education, training, attending planning seminars, and consulting with specialists. According to Ryan, such activities have been significantly reduced due to COVID-19 safety precautions, so Harvard is not missing out on as much as it would be by making these cuts during a different year.
Ryan described all the remaining budget items as vital to the day-to-day function of the land use boards. The proposed budget lists his own $616 American Planning Association membership and dues as the next item to be cut, if further cuts are deemed necessary. At the Finance Committee meeting, he offered to pay this fee himself. “I am willing to sacrifice for a year to help the town during this time,” he told the Press. According to Ryan, most employers require a planner to have this certification and thus pay to maintain it. It also offers access to a variety of technical planning resources and discounts that Ryan considers indispensable.
Ryan also hopes the $400 annual license for the ArcGIS software will be moved out of the land use budget to a general information and technology account. According to Ryan, Geological Information System, or GIS, software is important to the function of multiple town departments, but most are currently using a different system, CAI AxisGIS, which is paid for by the assessors department. Ryan said the ArcGIS system allows its users to run more detailed and complex analyses, which makes it invaluable for planning purposes. He hopes that other departments may eventually switch to the ArcGIS system, but he said the extra training necessary to do so means that maintaining two GIS systems will be necessary in the short term.
