Harwich Finance Committee Endorses $7.6 Million Capital Plan, Advances Town Meeting Articles

HARWICH -- March 12, 2026, Harwich Finance Committee unanimously adopts FY2027-2031 capital plan and clears more than two dozen town meeting warrant articles in a single session. Chaired by Robert McCready, the eight-member panel approved approximately $7.66 million in FY27 capital spending items, including a $577,500 ambulance via excluded debt, $795,000 in DPW vehicle replacements, $1 million for DPW workshop design work with $11.2 million in construction costs slated for FY28, and $500,000 for annual harbor dredging. Member Dana Morneau called the plan "the best capital plan that I have seen" over nine years, while cautioning that bundling $1.065 million in free-cash-funded nonoperating appropriations, including a $220,000 preschool subsidy and a $350,000 OPEB trust contribution, risks repeating a past cycle that once forced the town's largest-ever override. The revolving funds authorization passed 5-3 over objections that the recreation account's ceiling was being nearly doubled from $175,000 to $400,000. The committee indefinitely postponed recommendations on two community preservation articles funding Chatham Penrose projects, mirroring a Harwich Select Board vote taken earlier in the week.