For members of the Finance Committee, the months of January and February are the most intense as they scrutinize the level-spending requests of nearly 20 departments and committees for the coming fiscal year and ready their recommendations for review by the Select Board in February. The Select Board is ultimately responsible for the budget submitted to Spring Town Meeting, but for now, the work of reading the requests, questioning department heads and committee chairs, and preparing a draft budget is, by Harvard’s charter, in the hands of FinCom.
So far, FinCom members have relied mostly on written questions and answers in seeking to understand each of the fiscal 2022 requests that fill their notebooks. Few departments and boards have been asked to appear before them via Zoom, and when they have, the questions asked have been brief and perfunctory.
But as our reporting this week and last on DPW, the Fire Department, and the schools has shown, many boards are struggling to maintain acceptable levels of service with the same budget they were appropriated for fiscal 2021. In spite of these constraints and the increase in property tax revenue allowed by Proposition 2 ½, a Finance Department projection prepared in October for Special Town Meeting—and yet to be updated—forecast a fiscal 2022 deficit of nearly $200,000, raising the possibility of further cuts.
We can only hope such a worst-case scenario does not come to pass. It’s always possible that prudent budgeting and unforeseen state and federal aid will allow some currently unaffordable needs to be met. We agree with the Select Board that any extra cash should be distributed according to a prioritized list of needs, rather than allocated evenly across organizations at some fixed percentage of their budget. And we think that this year is the right time to look to free cash for some of that needed relief. The Select Board has promised to adopt a policy for its use in fiscal 2022.
Although Harvard’s bylaws require that a portion of free cash be used to top off the town’s stabilization fund, with an unappropriated balance of $1.5 million sitting in town coffers as of September 2020, now is the time to consider setting aside some amount to support next year’s operating expenses. We’re in the midst of a pandemic and economic crisis, after all.
