Board of Selectmen Meeting, December 29, 2022

Fine Against Town Waived. Security Concerns About the Community Center. Big Budget Woes

(Sorry loyal readers. I’m behind due to holiday travel and getting sick).

Fine from the Department of Environmental Services (DES)

The Department of Environmental Services has waived a $2k fine against the town for failure to properly inform the DES of an oil take removal. The fault was on the part of the contractor who gave the DES an incorrect date for the removal. The town is withholding payment from the contractor until all issues are cleared up. 

Unsupervised Use of the Community Center

Interim Town Administrator John Scruton is concerned that the Recreation Department is allowing usage of the Community Center on weekends without staff present. John Morin pointed out that this would deprive the Recreation Department of revenue. Scruton felt that the security concerns outweighed this. There was a discussion of how to secure the rest of the building, which was thought to cost only a few thousand dollars. The Board decided to defer this issue until after the election. 

Budget Woes

The Board of Selectmen reviewed the recommendations of the Budget Committee for reducing the draft budget so that it meet the 4% tax cap, even making a few cuts to come in just slightly below the cut-off.

The Board agreed to about half of the proposed cuts in this meeting. They rejected a few, and left several undecided. They concluded the meeting with roughly $40k in cuts still needed to meet the 4% cap. At one point Donna Danis exclaimed, “Damn this 4% cap!”

The Budget Committee pushed to reduce money on any form of printing. They want a system where people who want printed copies must request them; all others get electronic copies.

Most of the cuts were of the nature of a little bit here, a little bit there. The Board often accepted these. Some contentions proposed cuts were deferred to the next meeting. Contentious issues that were covered in this meeting included the following. 

Highway Department Overtime

Proposed cut by $2k. 2022 spent more than $2k over than proposed 2023 budget. Proposed cut by $2k. Rejected.

Highway Department Fuel

Proposed cut by $5k. Represents a cut from level funding. Rejected.

Fire Rescue Diesel

Proposed cut by $1k. Already overspent that figure in 2022. Rejected 3 to 1.

Legal Review of Policies for Library

Interim Town Administrator John Scruton says the library budgeted a legal review of its policies that could cause it to end up in court, as libraries are getting sued regarding what books they have on the shelf. The Budget Committee wanted to cut this from the budget. The Board decided to cut this and take the risk of having to pay legal fees for a lawsuit from the town’s legal budget - a budget that was already cut by $10k. 

General Assistance

This is a fund for providing financial assistance to troubled residents. Proposed cut by $1k from utilities, $1k from fuel, and $2k from miscellaneous. Rejected

Lamprey Health & Seacoast Health

Proposed cut by $500 each, from $4.5k. 2022 used the full budget. 3 to 1 rejected.

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