There’s no way to put together an annual budget without making assumptions about what’s likely to happen 12 months from now, and at Tuesday’s Finance Committee meeting, Finance Director Jared Mullane explained the assumptions behind his preliminary forecast of a nearly $1 million deficit in fiscal 2025.

Starting next month, owners of rental properties will be required to provide water quality test results to occupants upon request.

This year’s review of capital requests got off to a rocky start on Sept. 21, when Capital Planning and Investment Committee members balked at the price tag and questioned the urgency of updating the town’s Master Plan. 

With fewer and fewer people available to serve as reserve police officers, Police Chief James Babu has proposed hiring civilians to manage and direct traffic at work sites along public roads.

Sharlene Cronin resigned from the School Committee effective Aug. 31. Cronin was first elected to the School Committee in 2018 and reelected in 2021.

A draft report by Gale Associates concluded that town athletic fields, while in fair condition, are overused. Gale’s suggestion is to convert at least one rectangular playing field to synthetic turf, which will withstand heavier use, and possibly add lighting to extend availability.

Next year’s cost-of-living adjustment recommendation of 5.48%, approved by the Personnel Board last week, was met with skepticism at the Sept. 19 Select Board meeting.

Barely two months after the start of fiscal 2024, departments and committees are already scrambling to prepare budgets for the next year, due Oct. 6, just three weeks from now. And like the ominous rain clouds of the past week, surging costs threaten to swamp town revenues to a degree that could require a property tax override.

At its past two meetings, the School Committee has voted to approve two new job positions for the school district’s central office. Both will give added prominence to the management of school finances.

According to a state vehicle census, Harvard is making progress toward reducing its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. 

Kathryn Costello was getting ready to run some errands last week when her adult daughter, Rachel, told her there was a police roadblock just down the street from their home on Finn Road. She had been out walking the family’s dog, and as she was coming back, she met a police officer. “Go home and stay inside,” Rachel said the officer told her.

Again this year, the Bromfield School is among the top 10 Massachusetts high schools, according to rankings in both U.S. News & World Report and Boston magazine.

Harvard commuters are one step closer to leaving their vehicles at home. The town requested and received a quote from the Montachusett Regional Transit Authority for a shuttle service from two “drop-and-ride” locations in Harvard to the commuter rail station in Littleton. 

Harvard’s three cemetery commissioners have made the decision to honor a couple’s request for green burials at Bellevue Cemetery, which was made several months ago.

The Personnel Board voted unanimously at its Sept. 13 meeting to recommend a 5.48% cost of living adjustment to the fiscal 2025 wages of the town’s nonunion, noncontract employees. 

Late Tuesday afternoon, residents around Eldridge and Stow roads saw police cruisers gathering nearby and a state police helicopter hovering overhead. An announcement on the Harvard police Facebook page warned, “Please avoid the area.”

Brendon Forrest is the temporary food service director for the Harvard school district, and he says his main goals are to offer food that is nutritious, appealing, and varied.

When the Select Board met in June to discuss its goals for this fiscal year, high on its list was finding ways to generate revenue. To that end, the board voted at its Sept. 5 meeting to ask the town to approve a local option excise tax on short-term room rentals at this fall’s Town Meeting.

The Select Board has voted to allow nonresidents to become voting members of town committees. The vote at the board’s Aug. 22 meeting was unanimous, with the decision coming down to the town’s need to get as much help as possible.

Retired police officer Greg Newman has now served as Harvard’s constable for nearly 10 years, and at the Aug. 22 Select Board meeting he was appointed to another three-year term.