It’s not over until it’s over.
Although a request for additional funds failed to pass at Special Town Meeting (STM) last week, voters will have at least one—and perhaps two— chances to keep alive the plan for restoring Town Hall that has been advocated—with minor adjustments—by a majority of the Selectmen and its long-suffering building committee for the past two years.
That’s because a special election remains on the calendar, where a favorable vote on a single ballot question could revive the project, which many STM attendees probably assumed was dead as they left Cronin Auditorium at the Bromfield School last week.
That Special Election is scheduled for Nov. 5 in the Bromfield cafeteria. On Wednesday evening this week, the Board of Selectmen met for two hours to discuss how to respond to a positive or negative vote, but was unable to reach a decision in the absence of more information about nine options laid out for them by Town Administrator Tim Bragan in a 16-page memorandum. Nevertheless, the Board did agree that it needed to have warrant articles ready to sign the night of the election in order call another STM for Nov. 20, its earliest opportunity to place new options before the town.
STM and Special Election: A two-step process
To understand what lies ahead, it’s necessary to step back and consider the interlocking roles of the article that Town Meeting rejected last week and the upcoming Special Election ballot question. In Massachusetts, town meetings can appropriate money and specify its source, but a Town Election is needed if that source involves an increase in taxes beyond the 2½ percent annual increase permitted by state law.
Article 1 on the Oct. 16 STM warrant asked voters to appropriate an additional $1.1 million dollars to pay for the renovation and expansion of Harvard’s 1870s-era Town Hall and proposed to finance the extra expense with so-called “excluded debt.” This amount was to be added to the $3.9 million already appropriated for the project in order to cover projected increases in the cost of construction (See “Town Hall building costs explained” and “Other towns fight the same battle” on page 1).
The measure failed to obtain the two-thirds vote required for its passage. Of the more than 400 STM attendees, 154 opposed the article and 225 favored it, 28 votes shy of the 253 needed.
Excluded debt requires a ballot
The term “excluded debt” is a bit of a misnomer, since it is hardly “excluded.” Such debt is typically financed with a 20-year municipal bond whose principal and interest payments are then added to the total tax levy, above and beyond the yearly 2½ percent increase permitted by Massachusetts law. Such a move increases a homeowner’s annual property tax, hence the need for a broader mandate that only a townwide referendum can provide.
So when the Selectmen placed Article 1 in the STM warrant, they also scheduled a Special Election for Nov. 5 to approve its financing. The ballot contains one question: do voters agree that the additional money needed for Town Hall should be funded by excluded debt? But many wonder: if STM failed to appropriate the money, why is the election even necessary?
Nov. 20, a critical date
First, according to Town Clerk Janet Vellante, once a special election has been announced, state law says it cannot be cancelled. Ballots must be printed and whether or not anyone shows up, polls will be open all day in the Bromfield cafeteria, staffed by election officials and volunteers.
But second, and more important, should voters approve the ballot question, state law permits the Selectmen to call another Special Town Meeting and to ask voters once again to approve the original $1.1 million appropriation and fund it with excluded debt, hoping for a better outcome the second time around. Calling a new STM requires 14 days notice, though state law allows the Selectmen 90 days from the election. Given that general contractor for the Town Hall project has agreed to hold his bid price until Nov. 20, the Selectmen are aware that they would need to have warrant articles ready to sign the night of Nov. 5 in order to hold another STM on Nov. 20.
In effect, this process gives voters two more chances to keep the current Town Hall project alive. If the measure passes, the Selectmen will be encouraged to return to STM and ask for the extra money one more time. If voters fail to approve the ballot question on Nov. 5, they will have issued a do-not-resuscitate directive to the Selectmen, telling them, in effect, to move on. Of course, the Selectmen have the power to call another STM whenever they choose, whether the ballot passes or fails.
Town gets to decide
In September as the higher cost of the Town Hall renovation became known, the Selectmen vowed to let the town decide how to proceed. The ballot question grants that wish and unlike a Town Meeting lets residents cast their votes throughout the day, a convenience that almost always leads to a higher turnout and, in the eyes of some, a more representative vote.
Proponents and opponents of the current Town Hall plan have vowed get-out-the-vote campaigns to bring voters to the polls. But on Tuesday afternoon, neither the election date nor a copy of the ballot question had been posted at the Harvard town website. At their meeting Wednesday evening, the Selectmen urged Town Administrator Bragan to fix the website and make sure that a banner announcing the election is hung soon over Mass. Avenue. The Selectmen with try to meet again next week to consider their options further.
