Recently in Town Budget Category
It's that time of year again! Town Meeting is fast approaching! We recommend that everyone take some time to read the Town Warrant for this year. Click below to see each Warrant Article.
There are several articles this year that we recommend paying particular attention to.We have highlighted a few of the Warrant Articles for readers to consider.
Article 9 for $718,804 for Road Improvement Program. No where does it mention that the bond dollars that the Town paid off for the Transfer Station las yeart, has been rolled into this project budget. Please vote No on this article.
ARTICLE 9
To see if the Town will vote to appropriate the sum of Seven Hundred Eighteen Thousand Eight Hundred Four dollars ($718,804) for a road improvement program, and to meet said appropriation with funds from a NH Department of Transportation Highway Block Grant of One Hundred Forty Three Thousand Two Hundred Fifty Nine dollars ($143,259) and the balance of Five Hundred Seventy Five Thousand Five Hundred Forty Five dollars ($575,545) from taxation.
Project Budget
Paradise Drive (Reconstruction of 2,000 +/- lf) $400,000
Randall Road (Remove pavement rebuild base 550 +/- lf) $12,000
Winaukee Road Shim & Overlay (7,000 +/- lf) $200,000
Geneva Point Road 1” Overlay – Shim (2,000 +/- lf) $32,181
Engineering $74,623 TOTALS $718,804
Note: Inclusion of any road on this list was based upon a condition assessment and budget estimate prepared in January of 2010. It is no guarantee of work being undertaken on the identified roadway. Final construction decisions are made upon detailed engineering and actual bids received. Recommentd vote NO
(Recommended by Selectmen 5 - 0) (Recommended by Advisory Budget Committee 5 – 0)
Article 10 To amend Article 21 from 2009 Town Meeting to extend appropriation date to Dec 31, 2011. Please vote No on this article. This is something that never should have happened. Let Fox Hollow wait its turn. Time to put this one to bed.
ARTICLE 10
To see if the Town will vote to amend its action under Article 21 of the 2009 Annual Town Meeting, relative to the appropriation for Fox Hollow Road intersection improvements, by striking the date of December 30, 2010, at which time the appropriation was to lapse, and inserting in lieu thereof the date of December 30, 2011.
(Recommended by Selectmen 5 - 0)
(Recommended by Advisory Budget Committee 5 – 0) Recommend vote NO
ARTICLE 11
To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of Three Hundred Thirty One Thousand dollars ($331,000) for a program of capital improvements and expenditures, and equipment as generally illustrated below.
a. Fire Equipment $ 13,000
b. Mosquito Abatement $ 52,000 X
c. Police Cruiser $ 32,500
d. Municipal Buildings Energy & Maintenance Upgrade $ 30,000
e. Highway Dept. Street Sign Upgrade – Phase 2 $ 15,000
f. Highway/B&G 1 ½ Ton w/Accessories $ 80,000 X
g. Highway Dept. Brush Chipper $ 30,000
j. Town Hall Generator $ 30,000
l. Fleet Passenger/Cargo Vehicle $ 25,000 X
m. Town Hall & Old Fire Station Repairs/Paint $ 23,500 Amend Article to eliminate ‘X’s
Total $ 331,000
(Recommended by Selectmen 5 - 0)
(Recommended by Advisory Budget Committee 5 – 0)
Article 14 Phase 2 & 3 of Moultonboro Neck Pathway. This wasn't done right to begin with, so why should we throw good money after bad to extend this? Please vote No on this article.
ARTICLE 14
To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of Thirty Seven Thousand Five Hundred dollars ($37,500) for a program of capital improvements to the Moultonboro Neck Pathway (Phase 2 and 3) and to meet said appropriation by Thirty Seven Thousand Five Hundred dollars ($37,500) from taxation and to designate the appropriation as non-lapsing, per RSA 32:7, VI, until December 30, 2012 or whenever the project is certified as completed by the Board of Selectmen, whichever shall first occur.
(Recommended by Selectmen 5 - 0)
(Recommended by Advisory Budget Committee 5 – 0) Recommend NO
ARTICLE 34
To see if the municipality will vote to establish an Expendable Trust Fund under the provisions of RSA 31:19-a, to be known as the Milfoil Control Trust Fund, for the purpose of ongoing management of milfoil in the town’s waterways and to designate the Selectboard as agents to expend both principle and interest from this fund under rules and regulations to be promulgated. Further to raise and appropriate the sum of Two Hundred Thousand dollars ($200,000) to be placed in this fund.
(By Petition)
(Recommended by Selectmen 5 - 0)
(Recommended by Advisory Budget Committee 5 - 0) Recommend vote Yes
The Real BIG issue is the Town Budget. Frankly, there need to be more cuts. Some of the above mentioned, should be eliminated from the budget until such a time as our economy has improved for all of our residents. Then, they may be revisited. Please send the BoS back to the drawing board and make some more cuts! Vote No!
ARTICLE 41
To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate, subject to any and all changes made at this meeting, the sum of Eight Million Two Hundred Fifty Three Thousand Six Hundred Seventy dollars ($8,253,670) to pay the general operating expenses of Town Government for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2010.
[Note: This operating budget warrant article does not include appropriations contained in any other
warrant articles.] Recommend vote NO
One article of interest is Article 17, the naming of the Lion's Club property to Veteran's Memorial Park. This is a wonderful tribute to our veterans that have, are and will serve our country. This is not an opportunity to make it a children's contest. This is for adults. Frankly, kids don't care about the name of a field or a park. They just want to play. Please support this article with a Yes vote. It's a shame that all the BoS and the ABC did not show support for this article.
ARTICLE 17
Shall we adopt the name for town property located at 139 Old Route 109, formally known as the Lions Club Property, to be named the Veterans Memorial Park. And that any field or ball park be named Veterans Field. And that if more than one ball park or ball field, that name used will be Veterans Field 1, Veterans Field 2. This name shall remain in effect until changed by future warrant article.
(By Petition)
(Recommended by Selectmen 2 Yes - 0 No - 3 Abstain) Recommend vote Yes
(Recommended by Advisory Budget Committee 1 Yes - 0 No - 4 Abstain)
All of us in the Lakes Region, whether we live on lake front property or not, are ultimately going to be affected by the infestation of Milfoil in our lakes. The amount of tourism dollars that are spent in the area has a direct impact, not only on hotels and seasonal operations, but year round businesses that depend on the lake for attracting people to the area. If businesses are affected, so will the number of job opportunities for summer residents, students, and year round residents, all of whom, are tax payers, in one way or another.
Each of us has an obligation to learn more about this weed and how to begin to eradicate it from our lakes. Otherwise, we will eventually live around a great big swamp!
Please visit some of the following websites for more information:
www.squamlakes.org/sla/milfoil/htm
We encourage citizens to actively participate in discussions, forums, lectures etc, regarding the invasion of this weed, to learn as much as possible in order to persuade our local government to take the eradication of it much more seriously and back it up with dollar support. This weed has a much more serious effect on our economy in the long run, if left unattended, than anything else currently before us.
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.
.
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
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.
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OFFICE OF SELECTMEN
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
Selectmen ( Two Open Seats)
Al Hume
Terence Jatko
Joel Mudget
Jim Gray
School Board ( One Open Seat)
Kathy Garry ( Uncontested)
Road Agent-
Scott Kinmond,
Dave Rossetti,
Ed Wakefield,
Daniel Burbank, Sr..
Zoning Board ( Two Seats)
Raymond Heal
Herbert Farnham
Jerry Hopkins
Treasurer ( Uncontested
Laura Hilliard
Trustee of the Trust Fund ( Uncontested)
Kenneth Taylor
Supervisor of the Checklis ( Uncontested)
Laurie Whitley
.
Library Board of Trustees ( Two Seats Uncontested)
Barbara Putnam
Roger Simpson.
Moultonboro Planning Board ( Three Seats Uncontested)
Jane Fairchild
Joanne Coppinger,
Natt King
.
By
eplummer@citizen.com
The Citizen February 3, 2009
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……
"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
"People in the private sector who have had their wages and salaries frozen have every right to expect similar direction in the public sector"
Editorial The Citizen
Friday, January 30, 2009
Local municipal and school officials in the area are working at what they characterize as cuts in their budget proposals. In most cases what that means is that they are working at minimizing increases.
For example, the proposed budget for the
It is not only the weather that has turned cold. The economic climate has turned icy, too.
Town administrators and school superintendents and school boards are faced with having to provide the best affordable services at the least possible cost.
Among the hard realities of budgeting for the coming fiscal year are these: The number of people who are out of work is increasing. There is little reason to expect increases in earnings. Investment values are melting. Energy costs are rising again. People have less money for discretionary spending.
There is little expectation of a change any time soon.
People in the private sector who have had their wages and salaries frozen have every right to expect similar direction in the public sector.
It is not only about wages and salaries. It is also about levels of service.
Provide funds for what has to be done. Do not abandon maintenance but approach new projects with caution.
This is not a time to expand programs. There might be program expansions and projects that are desirable or timely in the eyes of some people but are they affordable on the part of many? Probably not.
The expansion of a program is seldom if ever an emergency undertaking. What might be immediately beneficial to one family might add to the difficulties of another.
Cities and school districts must continue to whittle at their respective debt burdens. And it is false economy to add to the burden during difficult times, thinking it will be repaid in more prosperous times. Who among us can say when prosperity will return?
It is cruel to add to the tax burden of the unemployed and it is shortsighted to take from people and institutions who have not been hit as hard — yet.
Historically, taxes travel in only one direction and there is no sign of reversal later this year. While people toil to make ends meet and owners of businesses struggle valiantly to put their books in the black and maintain work for their employees, the tax collector will not be denied, though through no fault of his or her own.
