Town Finance Director Lorraine Leonard said this week that Harvard should receive $155,000 more than expected from the state for the 2008 fiscal year. Almost all of this “found” money, she said, comes from the refunding of a previous year’s overcharge to Harvard’s retired-teacher benefits.

Citizens hoping to exert more influence over the financial analysis of an Ayer Road 40B development project left last Wednesday’s Zoning Board of Appeals meeting disappointed. The board voted down their request to replace the ZBA’s financial analyst with a person the citizens believe is more impartial.

The new library was closed Tuesday through Thursday this week to allow for the installation of new shelving in the nonfiction section, according to Library Trustee Chairwoman Ginger Kendall.

The new library opened its doors to the town last Saturday. Estimates of attendance ranged from 600 to 800 and the crowd filled the sidewalk area and flowed up the hillside and into the parking lot. The celebration marked the end of seven years and $7.5 million of planning and execution.

As the number of students at the elementary school creeps upward, the school department is starting to consider just what the town should do when the school reaches full capacity.

Four major developments are in the works for Harvard: Two 40B developments are advancing slowly but surely through state and local permitting processes. Another 40B proposal is at the beginning of the pipeline. And a conventionally zoned plan for an assisted-living and commercial complex remains on the drawing board.

News from the offices of Senator Pam Resor and Representative Jamie Eldridge.