Dateline: Feb. 11, 2025

[New Feature: Sticky Headings]

Budget Deliberative Session

A Deliberative Session was held at 9 a.m. on February 1 at the new Community School. A pleasant surprise was seeing over 100 residents in art tendance.

To safeguard the new parquet flooring in the gym, they installed large sheets of smooth fabric that were very easy to walk on.

At the tables in front of the stage sat an array of 22 officials for the town, Select Board, SAU, School Board, and Budget Committee.

For the Town

For more information about the town side of things, go to the town web site:

  2025 Town Meeting/Budget page

  Town Budget and Warrant Articles (73 pages)

Town Budget Facts

Proposed Town Budget: $6,164,887
Default Town Budget: $5,507,875
2024 Approved Budget: $5,516,375
Increase: $648,512 or 10.5%
Estimated Tax Impact: + $1.69/$1,000

Proposed Sewer Budget: $2,787,177
Default Sewer Budget: $2,743,500
2024 Approved Budget: $2,707,225
Increase: $79,952 or 2.8%
No tax impact because costs are paid by users of sewer services.

Moderator Judy Silva read the warrant articles one by one, stopping to allow residents to ask questions or make comments. The town budget elicited few questions but certain increases needed to be explained.

Health Insurance Increases

Due to increases in premiums from the health insurance provider, an additional firefighter, and employee plan changes, this line item increased 14.8% ($145,380).

Highway Dept. Budget Increases

After the February 1st meeting, Road Agent Chad Pelissier went into some detail about his department's budget. He explained that "The Highway Administration and Road Maintenance budgets were kept to a 7.1% increase, so the greatest impact was the cost of trash or solid waste disposal. In August 2024 the Selectmen signed a new contract with Casella. This year the cost will be for a full year's service - $470,476. This is a 24.7% increase or about $280 per year for a $400,000 home."

He cautioned voters about going for the lower default budget because that would result in reduced town services. He offered these examples.

"If instead of paying for the Casella contract, the town might have to switch to private trash disposal, and the monthly cost to residents would be $118 for Casella, $127 for Zero Waste Co., or $49 for Purmore Disposal in Manchester. Any of these alternatives would be much more expensive than the Casella contract. In addition, the cost of asphalt has increased $10 per ton, so the default budget would adversely affect our ability to complete paving projects planned for this year."

Mr. Pelissier provided another significant but underreported fact. He emphasized that "my employees have developed valuable skills and most have CDL licenses." He showed a table in which he had catalogued the cost of projects done by the Highway Dept. from 2023 to 2024 including installing pipe, catch basins, sewer covers, loam, gravel, and curbing. If contracted out, the cost would have been $510,235 compared to the in-house cost of $67,111, a two-year savings of $443,124.

Fire Dept. Budget Increases

After the February 1st meeting, Fire Chief Eric Lambert discussed the major aspects of the budget for the Fire Department (FD).

He explained that "The part that people overlook is the fact that the Ambulance line for the former Tri-Town payment has disappeared as it has been merged with the FD budget. For 2024 the two budgets were $616,703 plus $187,500 equaling $804,203. With our two Allenstown ambulances, we don't have to pay them anymore.

The 2025 budget is $871,521 which is an overall increase of $67,318 or 8.37%. Funds from the revolving fund ($60,000 for insurance payments for ambulance transports) will offset more of the costs."

He added this cautionary statement: "The Fire Dept. provides 24/7 coverage with two people who cross staff both the ambulance and fire apparatus. If we are reduced to a default budget, it could affect the level of service to a point that you may not have both ambulance and fire coverage at specific times of the day or week."

Chief Lambert provided these documents, an easy to read graphic comparing the 2024 and 2025 budgets and a slide presentation for the 2025 proposed FD budget. In the slide presentation, this is about $0.13/$1,000 or $52/yr. for a $400,000 home.

Sewer Department Budget

Next, one resident asked Mr. Backman, Sewer Dept. Superintendent, to explain to attendees that the Sewer Dept. budget was not funded by taxes. He agreed and stated that "the costs of operating and maintaining the sewer system are paid by residents, businesses, and septage haulers that utilize sewer services, not by property taxes."

Town Warrant Articles

Articles 2 to 8 consisted of changes to the Zoning Ordinance that were approved by the Planning Board in 2024. These dealt with residential solar panels, set backs, parking spaces, home-based child care, and fences. Article 4 removed Chapter 20 on Solid Waste Management in favor of the newer Town Ordinance CO-215.

Article 11 asked if you wanted to eliminate SB2 and return to final voting on the budgets at the Deliberative Session instead of the March election. Election of officers and other items would remain on the March ballot.

Several residents commented or asked questions. One resident asked to change the wording to explain what "other items" meant. The town attorney said the vague wording "was proscribed by the state and could not be altered," causing one to wonder if they ever conducted a focus group to see if voters understood what was written.

One resident expressed initial ambivalence for article 11 but was very pleased that the meager 30 attendees at the January hearing was replaced by over 100 people at this meeting. He told residents to give themselves a hand for being there. He stressed that people needed to stop complaining about taxes and government on social media where other complainers lurked and show up at this type of meeting where they could have a civil debate and politely discuss their concerns. This elicited a hearty round of applause.

For the School District

After a short recess, School Board member Keith Klawes used a slide presentation to review the school budget. The School Board made a strong effort to keep the budget as level funded as possible. The result was that the proposed budget was about $25,000 less than the default budget.

There were 356 students in grades K-8 and 151 high schoolers attending Pembroke Academy.

He stressed the need for residents to contact their state reps and insist they fix the growing burden of local school taxes.

Mr. Klawes showed that the Regular School Program would cost $4,569,875 while the Special Ed. Program would cost $3,381,594, which was an increase of $247,121. The school bond payment was $810,000.

School Budget Facts

Proposed 2025-26 School Budget: $13,950,191
Default 2025-26 School Budget: $13,975,134
2024-25 Approved Budget: $13,658,612
Increase: $291,579 or 2.1%
Estimated Tax Impact: + $0.09/$1,000
Special Education: 26.72% of the budget

  2025-26 School District Facts at as Glance

  2025-26 School District Warrant articles and other documents (57 pages)

School Warrant Article Commentary

Judy Silva resumed her moderator duties and read the rest of the warrant articles. Articles 2 to 6 concerned transferring money from the Unassigned Fund Balance (UFB) into Capital Reserve Funds. The UFB consists of current taxes that were not spent.

Article 7 proposed spending $77,580 to fund an extra school bus. Principal Shannon Kruger offer these details at the previous public meeting.

"Our buses grew more crowded this year and while we can seat younger students three to a seat, it is not realistic when we add backpacks and snow gear. There are similar challenges with the older students who also have backpacks but also instruments and/or athletic gear. To make sure that everyone can sit comfortably and safely in their seats, the School Board approved additional bus services for the remainder of this year."

Articles 8 & 9 received the most comments and questions. One resident pointed out that the Selectmen had signed a Purchase & Sales Agreement for the two old schools the previous Monday and delivered them to the School Board for signature at their Feb. 6 meeting. The resident said this positive progress in the long, drawn-out negotiations made these articles unnecessary, counterproductive, and not worth approving. Another resident asked about the proceeds from such a sale. Jack Finney, SAU 53 Superintendent, said "the proceeds would have to be given back to the state as part of the original grant," making the sales of no value to the school district and putting the schools in the hands of unknown developers.

Candidate Details

Candidate statements are available on the Town web site's main news panel and also online in the new Hooksett Bridge News web site (TBD).

  Candidate Statements – Who is running and why

Election Details

  2025 Town and School Election Ballots - TBD

  2025 Election Results - TBD

What You Can Do

Review the foregoing information and decided how to vote. If you still need more information to help you understand the budget issue, go to the 2025 Town Meeting/Budget page and read the 2025 Budget Committee Information Packet.