by John Osborn ·
Friday, December 17, 2021
In an unusual late December Special Town Meeting that ended almost as soon as it began, 70 townspeople gathered in a sunlit upper Town Hall meeting room on Friday morning and, with no debate, quickly approved both articles on the meeting’s one-page warrant.
The articles were put forward by the Select Board, which called the emergency Special Town Meeting two weeks ago to correct an error in the amount of this year's town budget—and the taxes necessary to fund it—and to ratify the votes taken on articles at the second session of Annual Town Meeting held Oct. 16.
Article 1, which passed unanimously, reduces the amount of Harvard’s fiscal 2022 budget by $914,332—from approximately $34.0 million to $33.1 million—correcting the amount appropriated at the first session of Annual Town Meeting on May 15. Its passage decreases the total amount the town must raise in taxes by the same amount, from approximately $30.7 million to $29.8 million, thereby lowering the amount property owners will be asked to pay this year. Harvard’s assessors estimate the fiscal 2022 rate needs to be set $17.89 per $1,000 of assessed property valuation to fund the revised budget. But the final number will be determined by the Department of Revenue, hopefully before Dec.31.
Article 2, which also passed unanimously, ratifies the votes taken at the Oct. 16 session of this year’s Annual Town Meeting, including $2.6 million for a new senior center and $965,096 for a fire truck.
Select Board Chair Stu Sklar explained that the article had been added at the request of the town’s bond agency, which, he said, “wanted us to wear a belt and suspenders.” According to Sklar, the agency, which packages and markets Harvard’s bonds to municipal bond investors, sought assurance that the October votes authorizing the two expenditures are valid. Voters approved debt financing for both measures at Town Election Nov. 3, but Sklar told the Press the agency thought it was unusual for such large borrowings to be taken up at a fall town meeting.
“More like two belts and suspenders,” commented Town Counsel Mark Lanza after the meeting. In a brief conversation he said the bond agency had been uncomfortable with what it perceived to be a discrepancy between state law and Harvard’s Charter regarding the timing of an annual town meeting. State law says that a municipality’s annual meeting must conclude by June 30. Harvard’s Charter says the meeting “shall be held during February through June,” but while the document allows for multiple sessions, it does not say when the final session must conclude. By passing Article 2 by more than the required four-fifths vote, today’s Special Town Meeting eliminated whatever ambiguity might exist. Lanza said that in his experience, a town charter always trumps state law on such questions.
Today’s meeting was the first large public gathering in Town Hall in more than a year. Masks were required. Clerk Marlene Kenney and Assistant Clerk Catherine Bowen planned for slightly more than 70 attendees. Seats were lined up to face the massive meeting table at the front of the hall, where Kenney and Moderator Bill Barton were seated. Most attendees arrived shortly before the start of the session, signing in with registrars Steve and Nancy Cronin, collecting their ruby-red voting cards and a copy of the warrant, and heading for a seat. After a pledge of allegiance and two votes, the meeting was over. There was no debate on either article. Total elapsed time: less than five minutes.
Town officials had been worried that less than the required quorum of 50 voters would attend. In the end, the seats were nearly full. In an informal poll, attendees said they had learned of the meeting from the Dec. 10 issue of the Harvard Press, by word of mouth, or from a townwide alert emailed to subscribers at 9:30 a.m. yesterday morning.
Residents cast their votes Dec. 17 in upper Town Hall during a 5-minute town meeting held to correct a mistake in the amount appropriated by Town Meeting for the current fiscal year. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)