Reporting this week’s stories has made clear just how poorly residents (and some officials) understand what’s required to enact a budget for fiscal 2025. It’s a novel process that requires two separate votes, one at Town Meeting and another at Town Election. Officials say the approach lets voters choose how much they’re prepared to spend on municipal service—fire, police, DPW, and so on—and schools in the coming year, without having to call another Town Meeting later this spring. But for many residents who are used to a simple up or down vote on the annual budget, this year’s process is a mystery.
Voters are being told they must first approve the $33.9 million budget printed in the Town Meeting booklet. Later, at Town Election, they must decide how much of that budget they’re willing to support: the full $33.9 million, a lesser, “level-service” amount of $33.5 million, or $33.1 million, the dollars available to the town, without an override, by increasing the levy on property owners by the 2½% permitted by state law, and drawing on other available revenues.Three options, essentially: two tiers of an override, or no override at all.
Novelty can be its own worst enemy, as one resident wrote the Press following a poorly attended (and broadcast) informational meeting in upper Town Hall Tuesday night. In Harvard, what voters don’t understand, they reject, the reader observed.
In this week’s Press you’ll find a Consider This op-ed by the chairs of the Select Board, Finance Committee, and School Committee, who make the case for supporting the largest of the three budget options. We also recommend you get your hands on a copy of this year’s Town Meeting booklet. The Finance Committee “Spotlight,” which appears on the booklet’s opening pages, thoroughly explains the rationale for offering two overrides and how to vote, depending on your preferences. Sadly, the printed booklet is available only at Town Hall or online at the town website, a restriction town leaders may come to regret.
At the Press we’ve taken the additional step this week of interviewing department heads and reporting what they say “making do” without the extra dollars of an override would mean for their departments. Watch for additional reporting in our upcoming pre-Town Meeting edition of the Press, which will be distributed to every home in Harvard and within the historical town boundaries of Harvard at Devens.
At Tuesday night’s informational meeting, School Committee member Shannon Molloy offered a “cheat sheet” to guide voters at Town Meeting and the ballot box. Elsewhere in this issue, we’ve quoted it. But repetition never hurts, we’ve been told, so here it is again.
A cheat sheet for voters
Regardless of how you feel about either override, vote “Yes” for the fiscal 2025 omnibus budget (Article 10) at Town Meeting. Then, at Town Election:
- If you oppose any override, vote “No” on both Questions 2A and 2B.
- If you support the level-service (tier 1) but not the mid-level growth (tier 2) override, vote “Yes” on 2A and “No” on 2B.
- If you support the mid-growth override (2B) vote “Yes” on 2B, which includes 2A dollars.
- If you support 2B but also want to ensure that 2A passes, vote “Yes” for both.
