A Light Turnout to Discuss
$17.5 million in Spending

Residents Gather at the Community School

On a cold Saturday morning, a few dozen town and school officials

were on hand for the Deliberative Session to review the $12 million school budget and the $5.5 million town budget.

Attendees gathered in the school gym

Before the session opened, Town Administrator John Harrington, Moderator Judy Silva, and Budget Committee Member Jeff Venegas conferred briefly.

As people came in, they checked in with the checklist people and received green (Yes) and pink (No) cards in case a vote needed to be taken on some amendment. About 75-80 residents filled the seating and the bleachers. The turnout was slightly less than last year and a lot less than the few thousand registered voters who did not attend.

About 24 town and school officials lined the tables below the performance stage. Several town officials were seated off to the left side of the stage.

Town and School Officials were seated in front of the stage

The School Budget Deliberation

At about 9 a.m. Moderator Judy Silva gave the opening guidance about the session and expected behavior from attendees. The officials then introduced themselves.

Judy Silva presented the budgets for discussion

For the school district, School Board member Keith Klawes presented the 2026-27 school budget of $15,024,829 with the default budget about $1,000 higher. Compare that to the voter approved 2025-26 school budget of $13.95 million. That is a real increase of over $1 million.

Keith Klawes presented the school budget

The school bond is still being paid off at a rate of $810,000/yr. A vote was taken on the school budget and a majority of green cards were raised.

Mr. Klawes then reviewed the remaining 11 articles. Article 11 for Open Enrollment became a hot topic with several residents walking to the microphone and questioning its worth or making other comments. Its intent was to counteract declining enrollment by attracting students from other school districts.

Budget Committee member Jeff Venegas explained that this was a concept created by the state legislature to allow students from one school district to enroll in a school in another district. This seemed like a way to allow better performing school districts to "steal" students from poorer performing school districts. The article was worded to allow students into our district but prevented Allenstown students from leaving our district. This sounded like a limitation on freedom of choice.

The school session did not end until almost 11 a.m. During a brief pause, people had to line up at the checklist station and re-identify themselves but a lot of people bailed out of the meeting.

The Town Budget Deliberation

During the town budget session, the zoning amendments were skipped because they did not involve spending. The reading was going smoothly until it reached Article 23 which asked voters to spend an additional $450,000 to restore solid waste disposal. This was a petition warrant article spearheaded by Selectwoman Kathleen Pelissier and others. One resident objected that the wording was not quite legal and others objected to the dollar amount. The wording was changed and the amount was reduced to $150,000, garnering enough votes to pass. This has an estimated tax impact of 85¢/$1,000. Such a deal!

 Town Warrant Articles Amended Jan. 31

Article 23 would allow the Highway Dept. to buy several dumpsters for about $17,000 and allow residents to once again dispose of household trash at the Transfer Station only. The rest of the funds would be used to pay for disposal for the year. Because this is a warrant article, it expires after a year and would have to be reintroduced or added to next year's Solid Waste budget.

If the article passes at the March 10 election, the town would still have to put out a Request for Proposal (RFP) to find the best vendor to haul away the trash. The days and times when residents could dispose of trash would still need to be determined and the start of trash collection would likely start no earlier than April 2026.

What You Can Do

Print out the amended Town Warrant, read it through, and mark your votes (in pencil).

Don't make knee-jerk votes for the cheaper budget. Remember what many of you screwed up last year by voting for the default town budget.

As Selectman Scott McDonald said at the Jan. 11 Budget Hearing, "Tell the residents how hard everyone has worked on this year's town budget and we hope the citizens will give it serious consideration."

Follow up meeting:
Candidates Night, Weds. Feb. 25, 2026, 7-9 p.m.
Allenstown Community School, River Rd.

Meet the people who are running for office.
For a list of names, see the town web site.