The Finance Committee voted Tuesday to recommend passage of the Select Board’s proposed operating budget for fiscal 2025, spending that requires the subsequent passage of the second of two tax overrides at Town Election to be implemented in full.
The committee’s 5-1 recommendation was among a baker’s dozen of votes taken on financial articles in this year’s April 6 Town Meeting warrant. The articles were approved by the Select Board last week; FinCom’s job was to review them and decide whether to recommend them to voters. Most passed unanimously, 6-0, except for the recommendation of the Capital Planning and Investment Committee that the town borrow approximately $9.9 million to renovate the Department of Public Works facility on Depot Road, which eked out a 3-2 recommendation.
Article 10—the omnibus budget for fiscal 2025—is the largest financial article on this year’s warrant. A majority of voters at the April 6 Town Meeting must first pass it and then, three days later at Town Election, vote for the extra tax dollars needed to pay for it.
The proposed budget totals $34 million, the amount that department chairs say they need next fiscal year to pay for police and fire protection; public works; the education of Harvard’s children; and other services as well as employee benefits and debt. The amount is approximately 4½% more than the town will spend in the current fiscal year, but includes four additional full-time employees that departments and schools say they need to keep up with a growing demand for their services.
At the ballot box, voters will be offered two tax overrides. The first ($423,902) provides enough money for the schools and town departments to deliver the same level of service they provide today while ensuring the fire, police, and public works departments have the equipment they need. Passage of the second override (an additional $329,062) pays for some of the new personnel the town and schools say they need: a DPW assistant; additional hours for the Board of Health administrative assistant; a special education teacher; and a full-time athletic director for the schools. Passage of the second, according to Town Adminstrator Tim Bragan, includes the amount of the first, a total, boost of $752,964.
Town officials now refer to the two overrides—once known as Tier 1 and Tier 2—as “the level-service override” and “the mid-level override.” The first promises to maintain the town’s current level of service in fiscal 2025—provided taxpayers are willing to pay more than the annual Proposition 2½ tax increase allowed by state law.
The second override gets its name from its dollar amount, which is roughly half the amount of the “full-growth override” that FinCom recommended last month. The full-growth override proposed to add six more positions to the town’s payroll, but it was rejected by the Select Board, 3-2.
One might think of the first override as a basic bundle, analogous to the least expensive service agreement an auto salesman might pitch a buyer preparing to purchase a new car. The mid-level plan resembles an extended service agreement, adding services to the basic package and making them permanent. The full-growth override was more like a premium service package, but the Select Board chose not to offer it, and it will not be on the Town Election ballot.
The vote by FinCom to recommend Article 10 was 5-1, with Mike Derse the lone dissenting voice. In a brief phone interview, he said he would have preferred a level-service budget, one that did not depend on a mid-level option. He felt it was fiscally irresponsible to push for additional employees in such a challenging year. But he agreed voters should make the choice. In recommending the budget as presented in the warrant, FinCom has implicitly endorsed both the level-service and mid-level options.
Debt for DPW renovation plus other one time expenses
In other business, the committee also
endorsed—narrowly—the recommendation of the Capital Planning and Investment Committee to borrow $9.9 million to renovate the Department of Public Works facility on Depot Road. The vote was 3-2 in favor, with Derse and Hady Lattouf opposed. Member Noyan Kinayman temporarily lost his Zoom connection and was not present for the vote.
The committee also took positions on five so-called small warrant articles, one-time expenses that will be paid for with money from other sources, including the Stabilization Fund and free cash. These are not ongoing operating expenses and include money for a network security risk assessment, an additional voting machine, merit pay for nonschool employees, and a thorough update of personnel policies. However, the committee voted unanimously not to recommend money for a master plan update, the consensus being that there was no pressing need for one.
With their work on the fiscal 2025 budget done, FinCom members can at last relax. It’s now up to the Select Board to make its own recommendations and approve the final warrant at its March 5 meeting.
