News and Views

At Bow’s Annual Town Meeting tonight, Bow residents rejected Granite State Fair Tax Coalition’s non-binding petitioned warrant article that urges local candidates, including the Governor, to reject the no-broadbased tax Pledge which candidates take to vote against broadbased sales or income tax if elected.

The article read:

30. To see if the Town will vote to approve the following resolution to be forwarded to our State Representatives, our State Senator and our Governor:

Resolved: We the citizens of Bow, NH believe in a New Hampshire that is just and fair. The property tax has become unjust and unfair. State leaders who take a pledge for no new taxes perpetuate higher and higher property taxes. We call on our State Representatives, our State Senator and our Governor to reject the “Pledge”, have an open discussion covering all options, and adopt a revenue system that lowers property taxes. (Majority Vote Required)

The Granite State Fair Tax Coalition is made up of groups coming from outside New Hampshire, mostly under the umbrella of the World Council of Churches, which is an offshoot of the United Nations. One of GSFTC’s founders, Mark Fernald, lost his race for the Governor in 2002 when he ran on a pro-income tax platform.

Governor Lynch has taken the Pledge, and promised to veto any sales or income tax, and says he will take the Pledge once again.

More Info: Concord Monitor

Selectmen to meet, talk over new figures
May 16, 2008
Concord Monitor

After Bow voters rejected an $8.3 million operating budget proposal Wednesday, officials must now figure out how to make up for a nearly $400,000 gap.

An amended budget of about $7.9 million was approved at town meeting after debate over whether residents could afford the higher figure. The board of selectmen had aimed to keep increases at 3 percent over last year’s budget, but the numbers were closer to 8 percent. The town projected that nondiscretionary costs, such as rising fuel prices, utilities and insurance, totaled a 4.4 percent increase alone.

Selectmen will meet next week to discuss what the amended figures will mean for the 2008-09 budget year. They have until July 1 to determine where those cuts will come from.

Proponents of the original proposal said that it will be difficult to figure out where to make those cuts and that jobs could be eliminated.

“I am concerned, based upon the cuts we made last year, that we may be looking at cutting employees,” said Selectman Jack Crisp. “It’ll be hard to figure out where else to get the money.”

Last year’s proposed budget was lower than the previous year’s, Crisp said. It was also slashed by voters, by nearly $500,000.
Those cuts resulted in unpaved roads, a reduction in street lighting, and strains to parks and recreation programs, Town Manager Jim Pitts said.

“All I can say at this point is that the cut is deep. I don’t think there’s any way to avoid affecting the level of services we currently provide,” Pitts said. “Between the two years, we’ve had almost a million cut out at town meeting. I think the selectmen will have a very difficult challenge.”

Pitts said it was “entirely possible” services hit by last year’s cuts could face the same scrutiny again.

“It’s up to the selectmen. Our priorities have to be in the areas of public safety. It’s pretty difficult to find cuts in those areas, although they looked at them last year and we’ll look again,” Pitts said.

Bow Police Lt. Dave Girard said he expects the cuts to affect the department, which requested $32,000 in capital reserve funds for an SUV. That request fell outside the operational budget and did not come up for a vote Wednesday. Voters recessed the meeting before getting to all the items on the warrant.

“I’m confident that we’re going to be affected by a certain degree. It’s really in the hands of the town manager and selectmen at this point,” Girard said. “We will live by the decisions made by our elected officials.”

Resident Brad Hutton, who lost a run for the budget committee by 47 votes, voted for the amendment. He said his taxes increased by 19 percent last year.

“I didn’t have a heart problem. I might have one now,” Hutton said. “I think what we’re not seeing here is the whole picture, because the town and school budgets aren’t combined. . . . . It seems to me something’s got to give before this town and all the townsfolk are bankrupt.”

From putting together the budget, Pitts said he fully understands the frustration voters feel over higher prices.

“We’re going through it as well. They can’t do anything about it either, and they’re frustrated and they’re trying to make ends meet. We’re dealing with the same cost increases they are because we’re buying the same things.

The impact on the tax rate wasn’t immediately clear.

“It’s all money, and that’s all important to people. I respect that,” Crisp said.

Separately, voters approved 13 additional articles before the meeting adjourned about 11:15 p.m. The meeting will resume 7 p.m. May 28 at the high school.

Question: In the up coming elections in Bow on May 13th the residents/voters need to keep in mind that the proposed municipal budget is up 8% over last years budget which is actually closer to 13% when you figure in all the separate Warrant Articles that should truly be part of the proposed budget. The Selectmen vote was 3-2 and the Budget Committee vote was 4-3 on this proposed budget.

Rick Hiland
Bow NH

BCC Answer: Mr. Hiland is a Bow Budget Committee Member and the BCC doesn’t feel that it can’t add anything to Mr. Hiland’s question.

Bow Schools Staff Count as of February 6, 2008

Proposed Municipal Budget of Bow

Budget Analysis

In the aftermath of last year’s budget cuts when selectmen turned off 222 street lights in Bow, voters are now faced with a proposed budget that’s up about $602,000 from last year.

This year’s warrant articles go to voters at the Bow Town Meeting Wednesday, May 14, at 7 p.m., at Bow High School.

The warrants, discussed at a Wednesday, April 9, public hearing held by the Budget Committee, will include 30 articles.

Voters will see two recommended operating budgets, one from the Board of Selectmen and the other from the Budget Committee, with a difference of $15,000. Selectmen recommended, by a 3-2 vote, to support an $8,332,912 budget, while the Budget Committee’s recommended budget, by a 4-3 vote, is $8,317,912.

During last year’s Town Meeting, selectmen came prepared with a budget of nearly $8.2 million, but then newly elected Selectman Tom Keane proposed to cut the budget to $7.7 million, an amendment that passed voter approval 114-89.

At the April 9 public hearing, Budget Committee Chairman Dan de Vasto told the 40 residents in attendance about the situation the town faces.

“Everyone is cognizant of keeping things down and not cutting our throats in the process,” said de Vasto. “Some think we can spend more, some think we can spend less. We try to find a happy medium.”

A large portion of the crowd at the public hearing were members of the Fire Department, as five of the warrant articles to be voted on at Town Meeting involve fire and rescue.

The Fire Department is proposing the purchase of a pumper truck, which will have no tax impact as the money will be taken from a capital reserve fund, if the article is approved.

In addition, voters will be asked to put $160,000 in the fire truck capital reserve fund and purchase a new fire truck to replace one that has been in use since 1984.

The purchase of self-contained breathing apparatuses will depend on whether the article is approved because the latter asks voters to put $60,000 into a capital reserve fund used for rescue equipment.

In addition to the self-contained breathing equipment that would be purchased if approved, residents will be asked to allow the Police Department to purchase a $32,000 special utility vehicle, using the remainder of the rescue equipment fund.

“I think it’s very important for voters to support these articles. It’s for their protection. We’ve maintained the equipment for years now, and it’s simply time for new equipment,” said Bow Fire Chief Dana Abbott.

Other than the operating budget, the item with the biggest tax impact will be $365,000 for road paving, an item that will mean a 31 cent tax increase per $1,000 assessed property valuation.

If approved, the proposed operating budget would have a $3.99 increase on the town rate per $1,000 assessed property valuation. That means the owner of a $300,000 home would see an increase of about $1,197 over last year.

If the 10 warrant articles with tax impact are approved, that same owner would pay an additional $1,467 in taxes. De Vasto said after seeing the action at last year’s meeting, he hopes to see a larger crowd at the May 14 Town Meeting.

“I’m only hoping that based on last year’s activities, more voters will come and express their opinions on things,” he said. “There’s a philosophy of a large number of people who feel there should be no increase at all. Using that as a yard stick to measure, most of these things will be controversial to some people.”

Source: Bow Times

Here are the Town and School Moderator Rules and Voter Rights for both town and school meetings.

Documentation: Town and School Meeting Rules

Every year there is a warrant article that asks the taxpayers to spend the undesignated surplus on a specific item and presenter almost always says that this warrant article won’t raise taxes. This is a myth and as the frustrated stick figure on our home page is trying to point out, spending will raise your taxes. Spending the undesignated surplus just spends the money that suppose to lower your taxes.

The linked PDF file shows how much money would go back to the taxpayer if the undesignated surplus isn’t spent. The spread sheet is an analysis of raw data provided by the Bow School District. It highlights the million dollar surpluses of the last 2 years before an end of year spending spree (also known as end of year expenditures) that include the purchase of curtains and a $40,000 paving job. It also demonstrates how warrant articles that spend undesignated surplus really do hurt the taxpayer.

In all fairness the Bow school district isn’t the only entity that goes on end of the year spending sprees. The Selectmen have been known to buy police cruisers in the last few months of the fiscal year instead of returning the money to the taxpayers.
Taxpayers need to watch closely how their elected officials spend their money.

Documentation: Spending the Surplus

Concord Monitor
February 11, 2008

Police departments using Bow’s dispatch center will see their costs double in the coming year.

Facing a tight budget, Bow’s selectmen are asking neighboring towns to pay their share of costs for the dispatch, beginning in July.

“The intent was to offset the additional cost to us for providing dispatch service to other towns,” said Town Manager Jim Pitts.

The dispatch center is run by the Bow Police Department and takes calls for departments in Allenstown, Dunbarton, Epsom and Pembroke. The center is staffed by five full-time employees, two part-time employees and one 32-hour-a week position, said Bow Police Chief Jeff Jaran. The town is budgeting about $400,000 to run the center, said Finance Director Bob Levan.

Under the old fee system, the four towns would have reimbursed Bow for $79,000 of the total cost. Now, Bow will get back $165,000.

Jaran said he first examined the dispatch fee structure when he arrived almost four years ago. At the time, towns paid a flat fee.

“There was no rhyme or reason to how any particular town was being charged; there was no formula,” he said. “These towns were not paying their fair share.”

The fee did not take into account the size of the department, the town’s population or the number of calls for service, he said.

About three years ago, Jaran created a fee that charged towns based on the number of calls for service. “I knew it was a stopgap measure, but I felt was it was more equitable,” Jaran said.

After budget cuts this year forced Bow selectmen to cut services and search for new sources of revenue, the selectmen came up with the new pay scale. The new scale includes a $10,000 base fee, plus a fee for service based on the number of calls in 2006. It goes into effect July 1, giving police departments the chance to include the new figure in their budgets for town meetings.

Local police chiefs say they understand Bow’s position, but it has made their budgeting more difficult.

“With the increase, it’s difficult when we’ve been on a default budget for three years to try to get the budget to pass,” said Epsom Police Chief Wayne Preve. “You’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

Epsom relies on Bow’s dispatch on nights and weekends, and its fee increased from $19,000 to about $42,000.

Preve praised the dispatchers, who take 911 calls and radio information to officers. “Without them we could be going into a situation where we have no idea what we’re going into,” he said.

He understands that Bow is just trying to raise money to cover costs. But he also plans to find out if there are other options, like moving to the Merrimack County Sheriff’s dispatch center. “We’re satisfied with dispatch, they do a good job, but we’re weighing everything,” Preve said.

Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland said he plans to stay with Bow. Like Preve, he understands the reason for the increase.

“I wouldn’t expect anything different from the taxpayers in Bow to expect us to pay our reasonable fair share,” he said.

But he, too, faces difficulties. Allenstown’s fees grew from $21,000 to more than $40,000.

“Any increase in costs is passed directly to taxpayers, and we’re already in a default budget now,” Mulholland said. If increases cause the budge to fail, Mulholland said his department could face cuts, including layoffs.

Those who want to move from Bow have limited options. Merrimack County dispatches for 13 towns, and its fees are lower than Bow’s new fees. The county brings in a total of $150,000 from the 13 towns, said Sheriff Scott Hilliard, although the county is reviewing the rates.

But Hilliard said the dispatch could not easily add four more towns. The dispatch would need more radio frequencies, which are difficult to get, and more personnel. It would also need a new terminal, which would be a tight fit in the current space, in the basement of the Merrimack County Courthouse. Infrastructure improvements could cost more than $200,000, Hilliard said.

Hilliard said he is talking to the commissioners and to the county delegation, which approves his budget, to find a solution. One answer to the frequency problem could be finding towns to sign over their frequencies to the county. Another could be obtaining grant money for mobile data terminals that allow dispatch calls to go out via computer.

“I understand the communities’ needs and hear them, and as their sheriff I’ll take their requests to the delegation and hopefully we can work together to resolve the issue,” Hilliard said.

Jaran said the state police and areas like Hooksett also have their own dispatch centers. “But the bottom line is cost and increased service drives personnel costs and everyone’s budget is tight,” Jaran said. “No one community is willing to carry the burden of costs for communities that should be paying their fair share on their own.”

Eventually, Jaran said, the solution could be a larger regional dispatch center for Merrimack County, where communities could pool personnel, equipment and technology. “I believe that’s the wave of the future,” he said.

PDF of Dispatch Fees [56KB]

Meeting to continue after two-week break
By SHIRA SCHOENBERG, Monitor staff

Even as Bow voters cut more than $400,000 from the town’s operating budget at Wednesday night’s town meeting, they ensured that at least one town project will move forward - the study of a proposed public-safety complex.

In the first three hours of the meeting, voters considered just two articles - the budget, which was cut from $8.1 million to $7.7 million, and a warrant article, which failed, urging selectmen to move ahead with a municipal water and sewer system.

But before adjourning for two weeks, voters also approved eight funded warrant articles, including $25,000 to design a new public-safety building for the police and fire departments. Voters set aside $163,000 to reconstruct the intersection of Bow Center and Bow Bog roads, of which part will be paid by the state.

Other money was earmarked for several capital reserve funds: $154,000 for the fire department, $150,000 for road construction in the business development district, $116,000 for public works equipment, $60,000 for highway construction and $50,000 for a town appraisal.

Voters also approved using $148,000 from the public-works fund to buy equipment.

Safety and sewers

The only funded warrant article to generate significant discussion was the public-safety building, which faced questions about the location and necessity of a new building. But ultimately, voters approved the article by a voice vote, clearing the way for the town to hire a firm to study potential sites and create a design. Any proposal will be brought back to town meeting next year, when voters will decide whether to appropriate money for construction.

The new complex would correct problems in the department buildings, including a lack of fire alarms and sprinklers in the fire department and the absence of temporary holding cells and training rooms for the police.

“Something needs to be done, and the sooner the better,” Fire Department Lt. Tom Ferguson said.

Police Chief Jeff Jaran was eager to move ahead.

“I’m looking forward to moving on to the next stage of planning,” Jaran said. “Obviously, there are some glaring needs in both the fire and police facilities, and that’s being addressed by this study.”

The town still needs to address specifics, such as the location, cost and effect on other town departments.

Michele Vecchione is program coordinator for the recreation department, which shares a building with the firefighters. She said she worries about public safety becoming the project’s sole focus.

“I want them to look at the whole use of the buildings, then pick a direction,” she said. “I don’t want them to just look at one department when more will be affected.”

The town will continue with its plans for the construction of a municipal water and sewer system on Route 3A.

The plan was approved in 2002 and delayed because of a promise by selectmen to not build until businesses could be attracted to defray the $12.5 million cost.

Voters rejected an advisory warrant article urging selectmen to move forward immediately. But the business development commission will go forward with plans to hold three workshops this fall with a professional planner, funded by grant money, to give community members and business owners a chance to voice their opinions.

“People need to understand better what’s proposed and the long-range impact,” Town Manager Jim Pitts said.

Budget cuts

Yesterday, town officials struggled to deal with the new operating budget, after an amendment by incoming Selectman Thomas Keane to cut more than $400,000 passed, 114-89. The new figure represents a 5 percent operating budget increase over last year, compared with an 11.4 percent increase proposed by the selectmen.

“There’s no question it will impact services,” Pitts said. “The cuts are deep enough that that’s unavoidable.”

Pitts said that when coupled with warrant articles, the budget was actually lower than last year’s and already pared down.

“The town’s growing, and demands are increasing, and we have to deal with it,” he said.

Officials said it is too early to predict where the cuts will be felt, but they will likely be far-reaching.

“Almost all areas will be touched in some way,” Board of Selectmen Vice Chairman Leon Kenison said. “Personnel, purchasing supplies and equipment, resurfacing roads, we’re probably not going to fill a proposed position or two, a whole host of things.”

The final decisions will need to be made by June 30, when the current budget expires.

Two new positions that would have been funded are an assistant town planner and a police lieutenant, which went from part time to full time.

Planning Director Bill Klubben said that although it was too early to determine how cuts would affect his department, “obviously, new positions are always on the list” to be cut.

Keane has called the threats to cut services “smoke and mirrors,” saying the cuts can be made by eliminating reserve funds and surplus.
Pitts and Kenison questioned Keane’s assertion.

“I’m not sure he fully understands municipal accounting and the regulations we have to operate by,” Kenison said.

The Department of Revenue Administration wants towns to keep a reserve fund with 5 percent to 10 percent of its annual budget, and Bow’s fund is at 6 percent to 7 percent, Kenison said. The selectmen have also drawn on the fund balance to fix roads and bridges damaged in floods in the past two years. Kenison added that if voters appropriate money for a specific capital reserve fund, the selectmen cannot use that money for operating expenses.

Bow town meeting will continue at 7 p.m. May 22 at Bow High School.