Recently in Budget Committee Category

Lot's of meetings this week in Town:

School Board Meeting: Tuesday June 9th, 7pm Town Hall

Planning Board: Wednesday June 10th, 7:30pm Town Hall

ABC : Thursday June 11th, 5PM Town Hall

ABC/Selectmen/School Board: Thursday June 11th 6pm Town Hall

Selectmen: Thursday June 11th, 7pm Town Hall

The BoS meeting tonight @ 7pm will contain a review of warrant articles for the 2009 Town Warrant. A few in particular have gotten the attention of some citizens who have told the MCA they are opposed to resurrecting the already voted down community center.

In brief, the Selectmen will attempt to place an article on the warrant to change the meaning of the Municipal Building Fund so that money can be taken from this fund for other purposes than from which it was originally intended. They would like to see a broad use of the fund to include site planning, equipment, repairs, etc. They also want to use up to $100,000 annually for “emergencies”. We disagree with this. Once a precedent is set, what will stop monies from being drawn from other trust and reserve funds for purposes other than what was intended?  Most of the money proposed to be withdrawn this year is for a soccer field to be designed and built at the Lions Club property as part of a 10-15 year “build out” for a possible community center. This is what voters said no to on Article 9 last year. We understand that the roof of the Town Hall needs major work and probably replacement. Put a warrant article for that purpose. Most of us in town can differentiate the necessity for a new roof vs. the non-necessity of a new soccer field in these difficult economic times.

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MCA

The budget process is over. Both the town and the school district have presented  budgets for 2009-10.

The Town Budget that will be voted on at Town Meeting represents a decrease of approximately  $159,261 or -1.5%.

The School District did not quite fare as well with an increase in spending of $256,476 or +1.89%. 83% of the Districts increases were due to salaries and benefits.

The Library Budget shows and increase of $19,420 or +4.59%. The increase was reported by the ABC to be entirely due to salaries and benefits.

Click here for the Final ABC recommendations and budget numbers.

 A fairly long discussion regarding two warrant articles that seek to raise $100,000 in new taxes and changes also occured at this meeting. The MCA was there and the following is what was discussed ( not in the Selectmen workshop minutes)

MCA

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OFFICE OF SELECTMEN

6 HOLLAND STREET

PO BOX 139

MOULTONBOROUGH, NH 03254

Selectmen’s Workshop January 29, 2009

MINUTES

Present: Karel A. Crawford, Ed Charest, Jim F. Gray, Joel R. Mudgett, Betsey L. Patten, and Carter Terenzini, Town Administrator

Also Present: Advisory Budget Committee: Jean Beadle and Gary Haracz, Kathy Garry

The Chair called the meeting to order at 6:05pm

The Town Administrator handed out a variety of documents on the drafts to date and led off with a recent communications from the Town Clerk relative to whether or not she could or would be able to open on Thursdays with the Selectmen’s proposal on her budget. It was the general consensus they had agreed to increase the hours of the two staff members to 64 under their understanding this would enable the office to be open that extra day. Karel would speak with the Clerk and there may be a need for her to come back in for another conversation.

On other budget issues, the changes to date on the “Build To” were affirmed and a consensus was to strike the States Landing study. The Town Administrator began a review of the Warrant. There was a question from Nat King as to why

the “endorsement” of the Master Plan was an article. After lengthy discussion of the merits of such an action to gain a formal town-wide endorsement of this, as opposed to the Planning Board’s statutory role in adopting the plan, it was determined to kick this back to the Planning Board for consideration.

The Town Administrator noted he had submitted to Town Counsel a question on whether or not we could omit certain language of statue relative to the Heritage Commission rolling over unexpended funds. While we were certain we could not expand the scope of statute the question was whether or not we could constrict the scope of statute. There was lengthy discussion of the Article which adopted additional language relative to effectively creating a Public Works Department.

Mr. Charest was concerned that people running for and voting for the Highway Agent needed to understand the scope of the position. The TA said that was why he was trying to bring this article forth now so that the scope of the job changed as did the new Highway Agent. The Town Administrator also noted it had been agreed that the Transfer Station would not be brought under the DPW umbrella until after the retirement of the current Supervisor.

The Town Administrator was asked to draw Article #14 (Credit Cards) down to its simplest bare bones elements. He noted the Selectmen would then develop Rules and Procedures to implement it.

On Article #17 (Building Fund) the Town Administrator was asked to provide that any insurance reimbursement or disaster relief (FEMA) would flow back into the fund automatically.

The order of Articles was reviewed with the Town Administrator being asked to move the operating budget to the last as well as looking at the possibility of tightening up (i.e. reducing) the number for the

planner.

On Article #22 the consensus was to change the end date in the non-lapsing language to 2010 and on Article #23 the elements related to the withdrawal from the Building Fund were to be moved behind it (the non-lapsing date was to be rolled back to 2012 here). It was noted the ABC report was due for the February 5th meeting with the ABC Chair noting she needed a bottom line number. Some quick math was done and the number was $8,249,747.

The Town

Administrator will do a revised comparison of the budgets and the next Draft of the Warrant to email out by the close of business the following Wednesday.

The Chair set a continuing budget/warrant workshop for February 12, 2009 at 5:00 pm. Motion by Joel, seconded by Betsey to adjourn at 8:03 p.m.

All in Favor.

Respectfully Submitted, Approved:

Carter Terenzini, Town Administrator Karel C. Crawford, Chairman

Cooperation between departments and town administration is credited with keeping Meredith's budget low this year, officials say.
On Monday, a public hearing was held for Meredith's proposed 2009 budget. This year's total budget request is $12,679,816.97, a decrease of $250,420.03……

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"We are in no way implying that we do or do not support the rec project; we’re simply pointing out that the town shouldn’t start spending money it will probably never see."

You can count your chickens before they hatch – it’s what we call estimating. But counting chickens before the rooster arrives at the coop – that’s another matter entirely. We’re talking about the plan to construct playing fields on the Lions Club land on Route 109, and specifically the thought that part of the nationwide $825 billion economic stimulus package, currently under debate in Congress, could go toward the project. Town Administrator Carter Terenzini explained  that the Parks and Recreation Department was looking into doing the project in phases, the first of which would focus on addressing drainage issues on the land and building the fields. The town would likely be asking for $300,000. The second phase would cost $130,000, an amount that Terenzini said they hoped to get through volunteer efforts and parts of the economic stimulus package. As selectman and State Representative Betsey Patten pointed out, the New Hampshire House is already talking about potential projects using economic stimulus funds, and that the more populous places in the state would be the more likely candidates to receive funding. In fact, on Monday morning Gov. John Lynch and the state's congressional delegation met to discuss the stimulus package. A press release quoted Lynch as saying the meeting was an important step in deciding “how New Hampshire can most effectively use funds to protect our most vulnerable citizens and create jobs." That was the sentiment repeated by Senator Judd Gregg and Congresswoman Carol Shea- Porter as well – that these funds need to create jobs and otherwise boost the economy. Improving the state’s infrastructure is high on the list as well. So how does the Town of Moultonboro factor in? It probably doesn’t. The project isn’t going tocreate many jobs or boost the economy. It may improve the well-being of the community, but in the grand scheme of things, it is a trivial project to the rest of the state. We are in no way implying that we do or do not support the rec project; we’re simply pointing out that the town shouldn’t start spending money it will probably never see.

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