In a budget update with additional revenues and expenditures accounted for, Finance Director Doug Smith told the Town Council on Monday night that the revised FY17 operating budget is $3,335 under default.
Amendments to the $29.6 million budget included the addition of $16,000 in debt service for the 10-year financing of the Exit 4A bond, as well as the addition of $172,120 in revenue for higher than anticipated funds from the Highway Block Grant, a Cemetery transfer of $17,500, and additional revenue resulting from an increase in the cost of motor vehicle registration.
Town Manager Kevin Smith also said that after conversations with Heritage Commission Chairman Art Rugg and Administrative Support Coordinator Steve Cotton, they have decided to drop the warrant article to raise and appropriate $300,000 for Town Common improvements.
Instead, the Town proposes adding $10,000 to the Maintenance Trust Fund for bandstand repairs that are needed immediately.
“Lighting, drainage and landscaping we will hold off on until next year, when we can have a working group drill down those issues and determine how much it will really cost,” Smith said.
Additionally, Smith said they propose dropping Article 6, to raise and appropriate $38,000 for resurfacing the Town’s basketball and tennis courts on Nelson Road, and adding the funds for the project to the Maintenance Trust Fund.
In total, proposed Maintenance Trust Fund for FY17 projects is $248,000, which includes the bandstand improvements and resurfacing the tennis courts.
Budget Committee member Dana Coons asked if expenses to be funded through the Maintenance Trust Fund would be itemized on the ballot.
“I think they should be if we’re dropping warrant articles – all the sudden we will have more money in there people weren’t expecting to see,” he said.
Smith said he would talk to the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration (DRA) to see if they can include the itemized expenditures on the ballot question.
The Maintenance Trust Funds are to be raised through fund balance.
In regard to the proposed funding for renovations to the Senior Center, Councilor John Farrell asked Cotton if the expansion will “put the Town on a good five- to 10-year plan based on their needs for the next five to 10 years.”
“Absolutely,” Cotton said.
Following the budget update, the Council voted 3-0 to approve a contract with Solid Waste Management, which submitted the winning bid for the Town’s solid waste and recycling services.