Board of Selectmen Meeting, October 16, 2023

Budgeting

The board began the long task of developing next year’s budget. The first step in this process is that the various department heads present proposed budgets. The board reviews these proposals, giving particular focus to budget line items with proposed increases. Department heads may also propose warrant articles to in this process to address particular financial issues. 

Police Budget

The Police Chief presented a proposed $969k budget that included major spending increases for salaries, overtime, training, and equipment. All 8 officers have received salary increases this year. The department will exceed its overtime budget this year. The department uses overtime to cover vacations, illness, training, and understaffing. The spending increase for training is mostly due to the increased prices of ammunition. 

Some contract services have increased prices, particularly for prosecution and body cams. 

The department will exceed its budget for gasoline this year - a budget that had been reduced by the Budget Committee last year. However, because of the town’s new lower gasoline costs due to the installation of its own fueling equipment at Smoke Street this month, no increase in the gasoline budget is being proposed. 

Parks & Recreation Budget

The Director of Parks and Recreation noted that the department’s $128k budget is deceptive because most of its spending comes from user fees, not taxes. The department’s actual operating budget is much larger than this. 

Demand for recreational services continues to increase strongly. Last year the department ran 33 programs and events. This year so far it has already run 56. 

Even though the department substantially raised fees for its summer camp and school aftercare programs, both programs still had waitlists. 

The director proposed large salary increases for next year’s budget. 

Capital issues that need to be addressed are that the gym floor and wrestling mats need to be replaced and the bandstand needs repairs. The department’s passenger van is in good shape, but it is unsuitable for transporting elderly people, who are an increasing clientele for the department. 

The Director proposed a warrant article to create a town recreation commission. Many NH towns have these. They are typically composed of 5 volunteers appointed by the board. 

Elections Budget

The elections budget is composed of three budgets:

• Supervisor of the Checklist

• Town Clerk

• Moderator

The Supervisor of the Checklist presented the proposed budget. One bit of good news is that the town is no longer legally required to place ads for elections. This allows a $6k reduction in the budget. 

The Supervisor proposed increasing salaries from $9.8k to $19k, based on the increased number of hours being required in the department, proposing a total budget of $27k.

The proposed budget for the Moderator and election staff is $13k.

The Supervisor proposed two warrant articles. One was to buy a new ballot-counting machine. The town’s current machine is old. Replacement parts for it are now nearly unavailable. The other was to change the Moderator’s compensation from a stipend to hourly, as the hours the Moderator has had to put in have increased since the town switched from traditional town meetings, requiring a lot more effort in recruiting and managing election workers.

Zoning Compliance

A citizen complained that the town was failing to enforce its zoning regulations concerning a 6-acre property that was chronically out of compliance and for which the owner was currently applying for additional variances. Major problems are that the property was granted a variance to be a 4-unit multi-family but is now being run as a 13-bedroom boarding house. The parking lot was expanded without a permit. A shed was moved without a variance to within 8 ft of the property line. It has since been returned to its original position. 

The citizen has had to pay for surveying and legal fees to protect his property. In 2021 he filed a complaint with the town attorney who replied that any further modification of the property would require town approval. The citizen claimed that the town has failed to comply with this and that the town has failed to enforce its regulations.

Hard Water Problems in the Old Town Hall

The Old Town Hall was renovated and put back into use a couple of years ago to serve as office space for the town’s school district. Plumbing problems have arisen due to the high iron content of the water, causing sediment to accumulate inside the pipes to the point that water barely gets through to the toilet. A quote for $6.4k has been received to put in a treatment system and to flush the pipes to restore functionality. Unfortunately, the capital reserve fund is nearly depleted. Only $16k remains. The board agreed that something had to be done. The board requested the Town Administrator get additional quotes and to investigate less expensive alternatives, such as a filter system.

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