I’m concerned that Harvard is now and will increasingly be unaffordable for young families, seniors, and Harvard’s next generation of adults that grow up here. I’m skeptical that the state will decide that Harvard, with its high property values and affluent average household income, is deserving of even more general aid ($1.2 plus million). I don’t think economic development of the commercial district will result in adding millions of dollars of nonresidential tax revenue (currently $0.8 million) to Harvard’s $24.5 million budget.
I find it useful to compare how Harvard’s fiscal situation compares with surrounding towns (like Bolton and Stow) using the Massachusetts Division of Local Services (DLS) Community Comparison Reports.
What I think I’m seeing in these data is that Harvard has the same structural issues in 2014 that were described in the 2012 MPSC Phase 1 Report, the 2011 DLS Report, the 2010 EDAT Report, the 2009 FIAT Report, all the way back to the 2003 Devens Focus Team Report, the 2002 Master Plan, and the previous two Master Plans.
It seems that Harvard has been whistling past the fiscal graveyard for more than a decade, and perhaps several decades. Maybe Harvard can whistle on for several more decades. Maybe that’s what our AAA S&P rating means.
Maybe not?
Tim Schmoyer
Stow Road
