by John Osborn ·
Friday, March 14, 2025
The Select Board voted Tuesday night to reconsider the fiscal 2026 budget it approved just one week ago.
The new proposal makes no change to the additional $1.37 million that town departments, committees, and the schools say they need to provide the municipal and educational services residents expect. But it does increase the amount included in the first tier of the board’s two-tier tax override by approximately $157,000, with the additional money allocated to the schools.
The vote for the revised proposal was 4-1, with Charles Oliver voting “nay.” Earlier Oliver had objected that because the schools had added an assistant principal and assistant superintendent to their staff midyear, a request that included them should not be considered level service.
The problem facing the board—and ultimately taxpayers—is that the expenditures the town and schools have requested for fiscal 2026, which begins July 1, 2025, total approximately $1.37 million more than the town expects to receive in revenue.
To make up the difference, the board must ask voters to approve a tax override, an increase in the taxes collected from Harvard’s property owners beyond the annual 2.5% plus an allowance for new construction permitted by state law.
Tuesday night, the board opted once again to offer voters two funding choices, or tiers, at the ballot box in May:
Tier 1: Vote to raise an additional $939,839 in property taxes, enough to pay for 70% of the expenditures that the town and schools have requested.
— or —
Tier 2: Vote for an additional $434,550 to bring the total override amount to $1.37 million, enough to pay for the requested budget increases this year. Passage of Tier 2 implies passage of Tier 1.
Passage of Tier 1 would provide town departments nearly 100% of their requests, including a front-office receptionist, Department of Public Works administrative assistant, and a part-time beach director—but only 71% of the schools request.
In an email to the Press Tuesday night, School Committee Chair Abby Besse wrote that if only Tier 1 passes the schools would be unable to hire a special education teacher or purchase new literacy materials mandated by the state. The money would, however, preserve all but approximately $61,000 in staffing and contractual commitments, she said. “This is an improvement from last week’s Tier 1 but is not level service.”
By contrast, all of the town’s new hires, except the addition of a police officer and additional hours of administrative support for the Board of Health, would be covered by their Tier 1 allocation of $250,675.
Don Ludwig, who remains on the board despite continuing calls for his resignation, said that the mix between town and schools is always going to change. “Every year there’s going to be pulls on one side or the other. This year there happens to be a lot of needs on the town side.”
If neither tier is approved, the town will be forced to remain within the limits of Proposition 2½ and forgo any of the requests for personnel and expenditures that would have been covered by Tier 1 or Tier 2. In addition, the schools say they would be unable to meet their contractual obligations and would be forced to cut as many as 11½ full-time employees.
The Select Board’s decision is contrary to that of the Finance Committee, which two weeks ago recommended a one-tier override to cover the level-service budgets of every town department and the schools. Select Board members have been more cautious, preferring two tiers, with the first tier less than $1 million, recalling that voters rejected a $752,964 override in last year’s Town Election.
A tax calculator provided by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue shows a vote for the Tier 1 amount of $939,839 would add $455.09 to the annual tax bill of a single-family home assessed at $875,152. A vote for Tier 2 would add another $210.04 for a total increase of $665.12.
Tuesday’s meeting drew an audience of more than 40 attendees. During opening public comment, speakers, including Besse, urged the board to support a single override, as recommended by the Finance Committee. While at least one member of the Finance Committee was present, none spoke in support of their Feb. 27 recommendation.
The Harvard Town Charter assigns FinCom the task of preparing an annual budget, recommending how much to spend each year on municipal services and the schools—and how to pay for them. But FinCom’s role is advisory and it is the Select Board’s job to present the coming year’s budget at Town Meeting.
The Select Board will meet next week, March 18, to approve the warrant for this year’s Annual Town Meeting at which time the format of next year’s budget request will be determined.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the Tier 1 and Tier 2 override amounts approved by the Select Board March 11 as well as their impact on taxes. The numbers that appear in the print edition are incorrect. We have also chosen not to publish online the table, “Proposed override tiers for FY26”, that appears in the printed paper because of its many inaccuracies. As of Thursday afternoon, neither the Select Board nor town administration had responded to requests for a more accurate accounting. The Press will post a corrected table once our reporters have verified its contents.