These bleak, cold days of winter make the stream of dire warnings we have been hearing about the town budget especially difficult to bear. Town leaders have been struggling with budget issues since at least the inception of Proposition 2½. For many winters the town has prepared for spring, and the annual town meetings it brings, by looking for ways to trim the budget. But this year is different. While in past years there has been a hope that state aid and other factors would provide relief at some point, this year it seems there is little hope in sight. As Town Administrator Tim Bragan put it last week, “The sky is falling, plain and simple.” Department heads have been told that staff cuts—made to meet the cuts in the current fiscal year’s budget—are to be considered permanent. And they believe that more belt-tightening will be required to establish a budget for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.

Like the December ice storm that seemed at first to have wreaked havoc on only Harvard, but was later found to have brought widespread destruction to the whole region, the economy that is freezing Harvard’s finances is also threatening cities and towns across the state—across the whole country—in a seemingly unending downward spiral. The need for sacrifice for the common good is apparent, and has engendered cooperation among town boards struggling to figure out how Harvard is going to pay its bills.

This economy brings with it a challenge for town officials and citizens alike: How can Harvard become resilient when faced with crisis, when faced with setbacks that seem to bring with them no light at the end of the tunnel? Just as in the ice storm—where citizens came together to help clear the roads of debris, help each other out, and develop creative solutions to deal with power and heating challenges—these times call for a gathering of community and for people to take individual responsibility for contributing creative ideas that will help Harvard become sustainable in the face of an uncertain financial future.