Town boards and the Harvard Press have provided much information on the upcoming fiscal 2026 budget and override and the $1.7 million deficit projected for fiscal 2027. However, details are missing on the longer term impact of the town’s structural deficit. If the full override is passed, based on town finance projections, the average taxpayer will be asked to pay around $900 more every year for at least three additional years to balance future budgets, assuming current revenue projections and no new personnel. Why? Personnel associated costs, including salaries, benefits, and retirement benefits, are over 70% of our budget and are increasing 5-14% each year, well above the 3% average annual growth in revenues. Simply put, Harvard has more personnel in government and education than our revenue can support. Other price increases in annual budgets are beyond our control, adding to the problem.
A frequent comment is we have a “bare bones” budget. In the past five years since FY2020, when federal and state pandemic funding was plentiful, the town and schools added 18 new positions. Town government added three positions and increased the hours for several existing positions, at an annual cost of around $250,000. The schools added approximately 15 new positions to their staff. Standard academic positions fell by 3.5, administrative positions increased by 2.5 and facilities by 1.0, and pupil services positions increased by 15 (five special education teachers and 10 others—adjustment counselors, behavioral analysts, and learning assistants). Current salary cost for the pupil services positions is about $1 million and $350,000 for the administrative positions. Annual savings from the reduction in academic positions is about $150,000.
When you vote on the override, keep this in mind: a full override funds two more full-time positions and two part-time positions for the town and one more full-time position for the schools—in addition to the new staff detailed above. The additional staffing increases the deficit, guaranteeing large overrides into the future. A partial override includes two new positions—one full-time and one part-time—and reduces existing personnel by a small amount. This will not eliminate the need for future overrides, but will reduce their size. Given that the structural deficit will take a multiyear effort to solve, town and school officials need to work together to develop a realistic long-term plan to address Harvard’s fiscal issues. The sooner this situation is fixed, the better for all of us.
Alice von Loesecke
Warren Avenue
