Cost Savings-Local: July 2008 Archives
July 29th, 2008
BY MICHAEL KITCH
MEREDITH — The Board of Selectmen threw a tight rope around the 2009 town budget after a lengthy debate at a workshop yesterday, asking Town Manager Carol Granfield to limit any increase in expenditures to 2-percent and incorporate job performance in any cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). The guidelines represented something of a victory for Selectmen Colette Worsman and Miller Lovett, whose past efforts at paring budget increases have failed to win support from their colleagues. Yesterday, however, Chairman Peter Brothers found himself in the minority when both Bob Flanders and Chuck Palm met Worsman and Lovett halfway. The board set its ambitious objectives despite a memorandum from Brenda Vittner, director of administrative services, indicating that projected increases in the cost of utilities, fuel and salt as well as wages and benefits would boost spending by at least $339,500, .......
Gilford police introducing measures
to cut back on fuel consumption
BY MICHAEL KITCH
The Laconia Daily Sun July 24th, 2008
GILFORD — With the high cost of gasoline, local police departments are stepping up their efforts to conserve fuel in order to keep cost as close to budgets, which did not anticipate the sharp spike in prices during 2008, as possible. Yesterday Captain Kevin Keenan of the Gilford Police Department issued a special order to all officers prescribing a series of measures designed to reduce fuel consumption by the police fleet. “It is difficult for law enforcement to make drastic cuts without compromising the level of service,” he said, “but we want to be as proactive as we can be. We have a lot of area to cover,” he continued, estimating that each front-line cruiser on patrol burns between 18 and 20 gallons of gas every 24 hours. Dustin Muzzey of the Department of Public Works said that by July 18, the town had spent $86,933, or 62- percent, of its overall annual fuel budget of $140,000, a significant share of which is allocated to the police. Except in special circumstances, two cruisers will be on the road......
