The Community Preservation Committee has no plans to change its recommended expenditures for the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1, or to withdraw its support at Annual Town Meeting for an increase in the tax surcharge that funds it, said vice-chair Debbie Ricci, who has been running the nine-member committee’s meetings for most of the year in the absence of its chair, Donald Boyce.

Ricci told the Press this week by email and by phone, “We are not reconsidering our vote” to use Community Preservation money–roughly $95,000 per year—to service the debt on $1 million of the estimated $3.9 million 20-year bond that will be needed to pay for renovation of Town Hall.

“I have no idea how that rumor got started,” Ricci said.

Ricci also said that, to her knowledge, no member of the committee had proposed a “reconsideration” of its support for Article 36 of this year’s Annual Town Meeting warrant, which would raise the Community Preservation surcharge on residential and commercial tax bills from 1.1 to 3 percent. Last month, the six committee members present narrowly endorsed the change by a vote of 3-2-1. The article was placed in the warrant by the Board of Selectmen and has the backing of the Finance Committee. To go into effect, it must be approved both at Town Meeting this weekend and at the town election on May 1. Selectmen have voted 3-2 against endorsing it.

“It’s too late to make any changes,” said Ricci, though she admitted there was regret among some Community Preservation Committee members that if the higher surcharge passes, the additional money it generates cannot be used to pay for more of the Town Hall project.

The problem is one of timing, she said.

In Article 18 of the warrant, Town Meeting attendees will be asked to use $1 million of the Community Preservation funds to service the bond that will pay for detailed design and construction of Town Hall. Once that amount is approved, state law prevents the Community Preservation Committee from increasing it at a later time, a prohibited act known legally as “supplanting.” Though the Town Meeting Moderator has the power to reverse their order, Article 18, as its number implies, will likely be voted on before Article 36.

So why was the Community Preservation Committee still planning to discuss Article 36 at its meeting Wednesday evening?

“We’re meeting to make sure we’re ready for Town Meeting,” Ricci said. “We also wanted to discuss, with more members present than last week, if the Town Hall vote fails and if we are asked, would we be willing to say the consensus of the committee is that if the surcharge is increased, we would support a larger bond for a possible revised Town Hall project.”

Only the Community Preservation Committee can recommend how Community Preservation money should be spent. Those recommendations can be found each year in its report (which appears this year on page 21 of the Annual Town Meeting Warrant book).

Only Town Meeting, however, can approve the actual spending. Each allocation appears as a separate article in the Town Warrant and will be voted upon Saturday. The five recommended allocations for fiscal 2013 will, if approved, total $124,895, leaving a balance of $340,000 in the Community Preservation fund for the coming year.