Select Board members got a preview Tuesday night of the questions that will appear on this fall’s Town Election ballot.
There are four, Town Administrator Tim Bragan told the board. Two ask voters to allow the town to borrow money as excluded debt to pay for the purchase of a building on Lancaster County Road and a new tower truck for the Fire Department. The purchase price of the building, which is intended to replace Hildreth House as Harvard’s senior center, is $1.4 million, but the additional amount needed to renovate and equip the building as a senior center has yet to be determined.
The town’s cost for a new tower truck is $900,000, thanks to a sizable federal grant. Both proposals have yet to be approved by the Capital Planning and Investment Committee.
The amount of each borrowing must first be approved by a two-thirds vote at Town Meeting. Then, at Town Election a majority must vote to add principal and interest on the borrowed amounts to the property tax levy as excluded debt.
The two remaining questions on the ballot are nonbinding resolutions concerning the Bromfield House. The first asks whether the town should sell only the structure at 39 Massachusetts Avenue, but retain the land for future uses. The second asks whether the town should sell both the structure and the land to a buyer to be used as a private residence. The questions have been placed on the ballot by the Select Board, which seeks a sense of voters’ preferences. Town elections provide a larger sample of voter sentiment than Town Meeting, the board has said.
Town Election will be held Nov. 2, two weeks after Town Meeting. Polls will open at 3 p.m. and close at 8 p.m.
Bromfield House. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
