NOTTINGHAM BUDGET COMMITTEE MINUTES
FEBRUARY 9, 2006
PUBLIC SESSION
APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE SEPTEMBER 28, 2006
PRESENT: ABSENT:
Mr. Michael Koester, Chair Mr. Kurt Duprey
Ms. Judy Doughty, School Board Representative
Mr. Peter Bock, Selectmen's Representative
Ms. Gail Powell
Mr. Jack Caldon
Mr. Philip Fernald
Ms. Noreen White-Roy
Ms. Denise Blaha
Mr. Chet Batchelder
Mr. John Decker
OTHERS PRESENT:
Mr. Charles Brown, Town Administrator
Mr. Tom Howe, Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests
Mr. Chris Wells, Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests
Mr. Bill Netishen, Board of Selectmen
Ms. Mary Bonser, Board of Selectmen
Ms. Susan Mooney, Conservation Commission
Ms. Rhoda Capron, Head Librarian
Mr. John Fernald, Road Agent
Ms. Heidi Seaverns, Board of Selectmen's Office
Ms. Heidi Carlson, Deputy Fire Chief
Ms. Charlene Andersen
Ms. Kelly Tivnan, Budget Committee Secretary
TOWN BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING
Mr. Koester said that the Budget Committee would talk about the warrant articles first.
Mr. Koester said that there should be discussion of the Fernald easement warrant article. He said that it would require a 2/3 positive vote to pass at town meeting. Mr. Brown said that the warrant had been approved by an attorney and by the Department of Revenue Administration.
Mr. Howe and Mr. Wells introduced themselves and stated that they were representing the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. Mr. Howe noted the owners of the property in the audience and he said that this was a remarkable opportunity for the people of Nottingham. He said that this piece of land was 2,036 acres and it was the largest contiguous privately owned piece of land in southern New Hampshire. He said that the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests believed in the reponsible management and stewardship of land. He said that this land had tremendous recreational possibilities. He said that the land included 5 miles of roads and trails, plants, animals and wetlands. He said that this proposed conservation easement would allow the landowner to extract water from the land but
only for town use. He said that the idea was to allow use which would be beneficial to the community. He said that the public would have the guaranteed right to use the land appropriately. He said that pedestrian use would be allowed. He said that this piece of land had also been identified by the general greenways group as one which would be excellent for conservation. He said that this was an extraordinary and a unique opportunity for the people of Nottingham. Mr. Wells said that this land was appraised for $1.7 million. He said that would be fair market value. He said that the purchase price had been reduced 27% by the Fernald family. He said that in essence the Fernald family had donated 27% of the fair market value of the land. He said that the town would pay 50% of the remaining price. He said that they were hoping to get $200,000-$300,000 from an LCHIP grant and he said that they were looking to get the
balance through donations. He said that the money for any other transaction costs would also come from donations. Mr. Howe said that the town would have an executory interest to make sure that the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests was doing its job well. He said that the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests had lots of pieces of land that they monitored and so they knew what they were doing. He said that they would not be doing anything precedent setting in this case. Mr. Wells said that the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests raised money to make sure they could monitor the land correctly.
Ms. Powell asked about the tax impact of the warrant article. Mr. Wells said that the easement would not change the tax status of the land. He said that the tax revenues would not stop coming. He said that there would need to be a decision by the town on the length of the bond. He said that would help determine the tax impact of the warrant article. Ms. Roy asked for clarification that this was a one time purchase and other costs would not surface in 5 years. Mr. Howe said that was correct. Mr. Decker asked if additional fees were put into the bond amount. Mr. Brown said that there was bond fee of $6,000 and the cost of the bond counsel which would be between $1,200 and $1,500. He said that the town budget included approximately $7,500 for these costs and they were budgeted as a one time
expense. He asked if the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests maintained stewardship funds. Mr. Howe said that the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests had pool funds for all of their easements. He said that they could use the entire pot if necessary. He said that there had not been any major violations in the past. He said that prevention was very important. Mr. Batchelder asked if there was potential that this warrant article might not impact this budget. Mr. Brown said that there would not be an impact until 2007. Mr. Wells said that the application for this project had made the first cut in the competition for the LCHIP grant. He said that the competition was down to 16 projects. He said that they would know whether they got the funding by April or May. Mr. Howe said that if the town of Nottingham supported this project at their town meeting it would send a message to the LCHIP
board. Mr. Caldon asked what would happen if the project did not receive the LCHIP grant. Mr. Wells said that the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire forests had publicly committed to this project. He said that they would raise the money. He said that the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests had looked hard at this project and they had thought about how much money they could comfortably raise. Mr. Koester asked if there was a date when the project would cease to go forward if the funding did not happen. Mr. Howe said that they had a 2 year window of agreement with the Fernald family which would start from when the purchase agreement was signed. He said that they had scheduled 4 dates with the Conservation Commission where they would discuss this.
Mr. Howe said that there would also be a field trip to the property on Saturday February 11, 2006 at 1:00pm. He said that for anyone interested in touring the land with the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests they would be meeting at the Stevens Hill Road entrance to the property. He said that on Sunday February 12, 2006 at 2:00pm the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests would be giving a presentation for the public about the property at the Nottingham Town Library. He said that on February 28, 2006 at 7:00pm in the Town Office building the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests would be doing a presentation on the project. He said that there would also be another field trip to the property on March 11, 2006 at 1:00pm.
Ms. Bonser said that the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests had been very professional. She said that if a huge development were put on the property it would be more costly for the town. Ms. Mooney said that the Conservation Commission was looking at the idea of doing a mailing to the town which outlined the advantages to this project. Mr. Wells said that they could do one town wide mailing because they wanted everyone in town to know about this. Ms. Capron said that they were getting more and more roads in town. She said that this was a great opportunity to preserve. She said that she used the property for cross country skiing.
Mr. Decker made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend the Fernald easement warrant article. Ms. Blaha seconded the motion.
Mr. Batchelder said that the Budget Committee should emphasize a 20 year bond. Mr. Netishen said that the land would last forever so 20 years would make sense. Mr. Batchelder said that he thought the Budget Committee should include their recommendation of a 20 year bond in their support of the article. Mr. Bock asked if the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests had an opinion about the time of the bond. Mr. Wells said that he agreed with what other people had said.
The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 10-0.
Mr. Koester said that the next topic of discussion would be the town budget.
Mr. Brown said that the line for printing had increased in the budget for the Board of Selectmen. He said that the cost of the town report had increased. He said that the line for dues and conferences had increased by $100. He said that the cost of the copy machine lease had increased by $232 to a total of $2,832. He said that the line for enforcement had decreased. He said that there was an increase of $1,500 for election worker salaries at the request of the Supervisor of the Checklist. He said that the election workers had to do more work because they had to reenter the registered voters into the system. He said that he had added the bond fees to the budget and he said that there had been an increase because they needed to buy new tax bills. He said that he was not sure of the amounts for
the bond fees because it would depend on how the bond issues came out at the town meeting. Mr. Decker asked why the bond fees for the Mulligan Forest project were being added to the budget if the bond would not go into effect until 2007. Mr. Brown said that the town needed to pay the bond fees for that project this year because they needed to apply for the bond by a date in April. He said that as far as other legal expense he had needed to add $10,000 to the budget for the cost of the certified record in the USA Springs case. He said that there needed to be a certified record because of 3 legal challenges. He said that the town was filing a petition with the court to reduce that expense. Ms. Andersen said that she had heard USA Springs was asking the town to pay their legal fees. She asked if that was in the budget. Mr. Brown said no. He said that there was an increase in the line for Planning and Zoning equipment because they
needed a new flat file and filing cabinet. He said that there had been slight increases in the costs of electricity for the town office building. He said that there had been a decrease in the amount of money needed for the cemetaries in the past year. He said that there had been an increase in the cost of uniforms for the Police Department because they had lost an officer and they needed a uniform for the new one. He said that there had been a slight increase in the copy machine service contract for the Fire Department. He said that another increase in equipment was for a laptop computer for the Building Inspector. He said that the line for mileage had also increased. He said that the revenues brought in by the Building Inspector offset the cost of the laptop computer. He said that the revenue just from the USA Springs building permit alone would be $125,000.
Mr. Brown mentioned the Highway Department budget. He said that the loader lease had been paid off. He said that the cost of salt and the cost of fuel had both increased. He said that the amount they needed for consulting had decreased to $2,000. He said that the cost for construction to the Deerfield Road Bridge would be $35,000. He said that they were taking money from the lines for construction/reconstruction and shim and seal coat. He said that was more cost effective. Mr. John Fernald said that on Deerfield Road and Gebig Road they were cutting out some overlays. Mr. Brown said that they were doing cement block culverts. Ms. Roy asked about a time frame. Mr. Brown said that the construction should happen in the late spring and early summer. He said that the Deerfield Road
Bridge should be closed about 2 weeks during the construction. He said that there had been increases in the prices of construction and reconstruction. Mr. Batchelder said that if the town was going to use the construction/reconstruction and shim and seal coat money on fixing the roads, they should put it in that line. He said that the money should be in the budget in the lines where they intended to spend it. Mr. Brown said that the collection fees had increased. He said that the cost of hauling was up 32% Ms. Capron asked if that was because they needed more hauling. Mr. Brown said that the cost of fuel was up. He also said that they were getting lots of light hauls which were driving the costs up. He said that they were currently charged $8,370 per ton and that included tipping and hauling. He said that they would be charged that price until July 1, 2006 and then they would start being charged per haul and per ton.
Mr. Fernald asked why the Highway Department was buying such a big grader. Mr. Brown said that it was the same size grader as the one they currently had. Mr. Fernald noted that the big grader did damage to the roads.
Mr. Brown said that the budget for the Conservation Commission had increased because of a request for a camera. Ms. Heidi Seaverns said that if the town anticipated having to pay compensated absences then they needed to put them in the budget. Mr. Koester noted that the total budget had decreased. Mr. Brown said that the proposed operating budget without the warrant articles came to a total of $2,900,254.
Mr. Bock made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend the warrant article to raise and appropriate money to fund the construction and related services for the replacement of the Freeman Hall Road Bridge. Ms. Doughty seconded the motion. Mr. Bock, Ms. Doughty, Ms. Powell, Mr. Caldon, Mr. Koester, Ms. Roy, Ms. Blaha, Mr. Batchelder and Mr. Decker voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Fernald voted against the motion. The motion passed 9-1.
Ms. Roy made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend the warrant article to allow the Board of Selectmen to enter into a lease/purchase agreement for a grader for the Highway Department. Mr. Decker seconded the motion.
Mr. Fernald said that the town already spent more than they needed to on the roads. Mr. Brown said that this serice was being requested and it was required because of the growth of the town. Mr. Koester said that he agreed the town needed to be conservative but he thought it might end up costing them more not to replace their old equipment. Ms. Bonser said that there had been an increase in traffic in town and that had caused more wear on the roads. She said that they would spend more if they had to contract out these services. She said that the Highway Department used their grader all the time.
Ms. Roy, Mr. Decker, Mr. Bock, Ms. Doughty, Ms. Powell, Mr. Caldon, Mr. Koester, Ms. Blaha and Mr. Batchelder voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Fernald voted against the motion. The motion passed 9-1.
Mr. Batchelder made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend the warrant article to raise and appropriate $1 to purchase land for the purpose of building a new Fire Station. Ms. Doughty seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 10-0.
Ms. Roy made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend the warrant article to modify the property tax exemption for the elderly. Ms. Doughty seconded that motion.
Mr. Decker asked about the tax impact of that warrant article. Mr. Brown said that there were 32 people who qualified so it would be about $35,000. Mr. Caldon asked how the brackets for the numbers were established. Ms. Seaverns said that the brackets they were using had been established by the state.
Ms. Roy, Ms. Doughty, Mr. Bock, Ms. Powell, Mr. Caldon, Mr. Koester, Ms. Blaha, Mr. Batchelder and Mr. Fernald voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Decker abstained from the motion. The motion passed 9-0 with 1 abstention.
Mr. Caldon made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend the warrant article to modify the property tax exemption for the disabled. Ms. Roy seconded the motion.
Mr. Decker asked about the tax impact of that warrant article. Mr. Brown said that the number he had previously mentioned was actually the total for the elderly, disabled and blind exemptions.
Mr. Caldon, Ms. Roy, Ms. Doughty, Mr. Bock, Ms. Powell, Mr. Koester, Ms. Blaha, Mr. Batchelder and Mr. Fernald voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Decker abstained from the motion. The motion passed 9-0 with 1 abstention.
Mr. Caldon made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend the warrant article to modify the property tax exemption for the blind. Ms. Roy seconded the motion. Mr. Caldon, Ms. Roy, Ms. Doughty, Mr. Bock, Ms. Powell, Mr. Koester, Ms. Blaha, Mr. Batchelder and Mr. Fernald voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Decker abstained from the motion. The motion passed 9-0 with 1 abstention.
Ms. Roy made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend the warrant article to raise and appropriate money for a mosquito control program in Nottingham. Mr. Caldon seconded the motion.
Ms. Blaha asked if the town had guidance from the state about this. Mr. Brown said no. Mr. Bock said that the Board of Selectmen wanted people to give their opinion on this. He said that there were a lot of strong opinions in the community on this matter. Mr. Netishen said that the type of mosquito control would be decided at the town meeting. Ms. Bonser said that the Board of Selectmen put this on the warrant article so that they would have money to back up the opinions the people in town might have. Ms. Roy asked who would decide the course of action. Mr. Brown said that he would talk to experts. Ms. Bonser said that the warrant article could be amended on the floor of the town meeting. Mr. Bock said that the Board of Selectmen wanted to be prepared and they wanted the community to
speak to this issue. Ms. Powell said that she thought this needed more work. She said that it was a serious concern but she suggested that the issue could be brought back in front of the town the following year after more research had been done on the options. Mr. Brown said that most mosquito control programs went from April to October. He said that the town needed a permit from the Department of Environmental Services to run a mosquito control program. Mr. Netishen said that the Board of Selectmen wanted to err on the side of caution. He said that Nottingham had a lot of wetland and kids and old people did get bit by mosquitos. He said that the Board of Selectmen had wanted to attach a dollar figure to this issue so that they could do something about it if the people felt they needed to. Ms. Bonser noted that there had been loss of life in New Hampshire over the past year due to mosquito borne diseases. Ms. Anderson said that
she did not think this should be approved. She said that there were a lot of unknowns. She said that people in town could have different thoughts about the type of mosquito control they wanted. Mr. Batchelder said that mosquito illnesses were scary stuff and they needed to protect the school kids. Ms. Powell said that people could be highly allergic. She said that the town needed to watch pesticides. She said that she wanted to know what actions the town was thinking of. She said that she thought the town should take more time to look at this and bring it back in front of the people in another year. She said that the town could be libel if someone got sick from the pesticides. Mr. Netishen noted that the town could also be libel if they did not do anything. Mr. Bock said that the Board of Selectmen had done a lot of research on this topic. Mr. Batchelder said that he was mostly concerned about the school grounds and
the grounds of the Town Office Building. Ms. Doughty said that the first solution to this problem should not be spraying.
Mr. Batchelder, Mr. Decker, Mr. Caldon and Mr. Bock voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Koester, Ms. Doughty and Mr. Fernald voted against the motion.
Since several members of the Budget Committee had not been sure how they wanted to vote they decided to vote again.
Ms. Roy made a motion that the Budget Committee revote on the mosquito control motion. Ms. Doughty seconded the motion. Ms. Powell, Ms. Doughty, Mr. Fernald, Mr. Koester, Ms. Roy and Ms. Blaha voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Decker, Mr. Batchelder, Mr. Caldon and Mr. Bock voted against the motion. The motion passed 6-4.
The Budget Committee voted again on the motion to recommend the warrant article to raise and appropriate money for a mosquito control program in Nottingham. Mr. Batchelder, Mr. Decker, Mr. Caldon and Mr. Bock voted in favor of the motion. Ms. Blaha, Ms. Roy, Mr. Koester, Mr. Fernald, Ms. Doughty and Ms. Powell voted against the motion. The motion was defeated 6-4.
Mr. Batchelder asked why the Budget Committee had voted against this.
Ms. Roy made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend the warrant article to raise and appropriate money for highway construction and reconstruction. Mr. Decker seconded the motion. Ms. Roy, Mr. Decker, Mr. Batchelder, Mr. Caldon, Mr. Bock, Ms. Blaha, Mr. Koester, Ms. Doughty and Ms. Powell voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Fernald voted against the motion. The motion passed 9-1.
Ms. Roy made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend the warrant article to raise and appropriate money to be added to the existing Fire Department building capital reserve fund. Mr. Decker seconded the motion.
Mr. Caldon asked what the balance was in the capital reserve fund. Mr. Brown said that work was currently being done on the site.
The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 10-0.
Ms. Roy made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend the warrant article to raise and appropriate money to be added to the capital reserve fund used to purchase trucks for the Highway Department. Ms. Doughty seconded the motion.
Mr. Batchelder asked about the balance in that capital reserve fund. Mr. Netishen said that it was not much because they had just bought something.
Ms. Roy, Ms. Doughty, Mr. Batchelder, Mr. Caldon, Mr. Bock, Ms. Blaha, Mr. Koester, and Ms. Powell voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Decker and Mr. Fernald voted against the motion. The motion passed 8-2.
Ms. Roy made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend the warrant article to raise and appropriate money to be added to the capital reserve fund for the purpose of purchasing Fire/Rescue vehicles. Ms. Doughty seconded the motion.
Mr. Caldon asked about the balance in that capital reserve fund. Ms. Carlson said that she did not know the balance. Mr. Netishen said that the Board of Selectmen had reduced the amount of that warrant article from $50,000 to $20,000.
Ms. Roy, Ms. Doughty, Mr. Batchelder, Mr. Caldon, Mr. Bock, Ms. Blaha, Mr. Koester, Ms. Powell and Mr. Fernald voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Decker voted against the motion. The motion passed 9-1.
Mr. Decker made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend the warrant article to raise and appropriate money in support of social service agencies. Ms. Roy seconded the motion. Mr. Decker, Ms. Roy, Ms. Doughty, Mr. Batchelder, Mr. Caldon, Mr. Bock, Ms. Blaha, Mr. Koester and Ms. Powell voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Fernald voted against the motion. The motion passed 9-1.
Ms. Bonser noted that the agencies listed needed to request the money.
Mr. Decker made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend the warrant article to raise and appropriate the proposed operating budget of $2,900,254. Ms. Roy seconded the motion.
Ms. Roy made a motion to change the line for engineering and consulting to the amount recommended by the Town Administrator. Ms. Blaha seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 10-0.
Ms. Roy made a motion to change the amount requested to fix the bridge to the amount that the Highway Department thought it would cost to fix the bridge. Ms. Blaha seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 10-0.
Ms. Roy made a motion to take money from the shim and seal coat line and move it to the line for bridge repairs. Ms. Blaha seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 10-0.
Mr. Batchelder said that the town employees had done a tremendous job of holding the line and he said he wanted to thank them.
The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion to raise and appropriate the proposed operating budget. The motion passed 10-0.
MINUTES:
Mr. Decker made a motion that the Budget Committee approve the minutes from the meeting of January 5, 2006. Ms. Roy seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 10-0.
Mr. Brown said that the Budget Committee needed to sign the MS7 form.
Ms. Powell said that she wanted to compliment Mr. Brown for doing such a good job on the budget information. Mr. Brown said that he had a lot of help and he wanted to thank Marge Carlson and Heidi Seaverns.
Mr. Decker made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:20pm.
Mr. Koester said that he would like to thank the Budget Committee for their hard work and for their support of the Mulligan Forest warrant article.
Ms. Roy seconded the motion to adjourn. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 10-0.
Respectfully submitted,
Kelly Tivnan
Budget Committee Secretary
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