CPIC recommends spending $1.27 million of its funds in FY27; leaner year to follow

The Capital Planning and Investment Committee met Dec. 4 and voted to recommend 14 of the 17 requests it received from town departments. All but one would be funded by the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund, and the other, a project to repair a collapsing culvert on Eldridge Road, would be funded by excluded debt.

Four departments got all their wishes this year—the schools, the Park and Recreation Department, the Department of Public Works, and the Facilities Department.

The capital committee finally approved the school’s request to replace about 350 Bromfield lockers that are in poor condition, something it has been asking for since 2021. It also got a thumbs-up for its request to replace the seats in the Cronin Auditorium and make the space compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. That project was voted down by a narrow margin at last year’s Annual Town Meeting.

Other school recommendations included a new van to take small groups of students to practices, games, and events to save money on bus fees; funding for the fifth and final section of replacement flooring for Bromfield; and money to replace flooring in the cafeteria of the new elementary school that has failed because of the adhesive used. The school’s final request for a new shed behind Bromfield to store theater department materials was also recommended.

In an effort to avoid the town’s habit of deferring maintenance, Facilities Director Jeff Hayes asked for new roofs for three town buildings—the Still River Fire Station, the old ambulance building (which houses some fire equipment and the town vault), and the beach house. He also requested new siding for the beach house and new flooring for the Public Safety Building and Town Hall.

The Park and Recreation Commission asked for funds to renovate the tennis courts, which can no longer be just resurfaced. The cost of the project, estimated to be about $225,000, will be shared between CPIC and the Community Preservation Committee. CPIC’s contribution will be the smaller of the two at just $70,000.

Park and Rec.’s second request was for improvements at Bare Hill Pond, including a new raft for one that failed last summer and is beyond repair, some additional “no wake” buoys, and funds to extend the boat dock (on the playground side of the beach) to accommodate more boats.

The Department of Public Works asked for $800,000 to replace a collapsing culvert on Eldridge Road. Because the project is so expensive, CPIC recommended that it be paid for with excluded debt. The town is applying for grants, but it may not know the results of those applications until after Annual Town Meeting. The DPW also asked for its annual road maintenance funds, which it combines with Chapter 90 funds from the state to improve roads that most need attention each year. On the list for next year are Old Shirley Road, Craggs Road, Mill Road, and portions of Pinnacle and Littleton roads.

The Police Department asked for three additional portable radios. Two are for its new officers, and the third is a dedicated spare. CPIC recommended that request, but it turned down Police Chief James Babu’s request for a new drone. Chief Babu was asking for a state-of-the-art drone with better imaging capabilities than the department’s existing drone. He is still waiting for funds that the state Legislature has approved for the drone to be released, and CPIC members expressed hope that those funds will be available soon. Member Nate Finch voted to recommend the purchase, but the other four members voted against it. This was the only non-unanimous vote of the day.

New fire station on hold again

The Fire Department requested funding for a schematic design for a new fire station as well as money to purchase a parcel of land to build the station on. Fire Chief Rick Sicard has been asking for funding for a new station for several years following a study that showed the existing station, built in 1976, is outdated, too small, and unsafe for the firefighters that use it. But after the plans for a new Department of Public Works building were put on hold following the discovery of buried trash from the old landfill on the existing DPW site, the future of a new fire station has also been put on hold.

Talks to merge the two facilities on a single new site are in progress, according to Town Administrator Dan Nason. Given that development, CPIC thought it was premature to recommend either design of just the fire station or setting aside funding for an unidentified parcel of land. Neither request was recommended for fiscal 2027.

Leaner times are coming

Estimates for the recommended requests total $1,215,000, and the current balance of the capital fund is just over $2 million. In addition to yearly requests, CPIC also pays principal and interest on debt for a fire truck and a dump truck the town voted to purchase in fiscal 2011, as well as on debt for the upgrade to the municipal water system, approved by voters in fiscal 2012. Those payments will total $58,838 next year, bringing the amount needed from the capital fund in fiscal 2027 to $1,273,838.

If voters approve all the items on CPIC’s recommended list, the capital stabilization fund would be drawn down to about $735,000. Each year, the fund is replenished with “free cash,” the money the town has left over from unexpected revenues and lower than anticipated expenditures. In fiscal 2027, Harvard will receive the state certified free cash it is due from fiscal 2025, just over $1.5 million.

But, because the town took money out of the General Stabilization Fund to pay for property takings on Ayer Road, a necessary expense before the project to upgrade and repair Ayer Road could begin, not all that money will go to the capital fund. Harvard’s capital planning bylaw requires that whenever the balance of the town’s General Stabilization Fund, as of July 1, falls below 5% of the preceding year’s omnibus budget, free cash must be used to restore it. That will leave only $809,000 to replenish the capital fund, according to Finance Director Jared Mullane. As a result, CPIC will have about $1.54 million to spend in fiscal 2028, nearly half a million less than this year.

At the Select Board’s Dec. 16 meeting, Vice Chair SusanMary Redinger presented the list of this year’s capital recommendations as well as the requests it didn’t recommend. She acknowledged that there will be less money than usual in the fund next year. But, she said, the committee considered its recommendation justifiable based on necessary maintenance or enhancements to town assets. The town will vote on CPIC’s recommendations at Annual Town Meeting in the spring.