Allenstown voters will decide whether to accept a 11.4 percent increase in the town’s operating budget after being on a default budget this year.

“It’s a big increase, but it’s like we lost a year,” said Selectman Sandy McKenney, explaining the current year’s default budget was likely a result of the sliding economy. She said the community needs to understand the budget before they can make an informed decision to pass the increase and absorb the extra taxes.

Budget Committee Chairman David Eaton said the increases in department budgets are realistic, bringing the town’s total proposed operating budget to $5,055,264 from last year’s $4,541,936.

Voters will be able to weigh in on the budget and warrant articles at the deliberative session of Town Meeting on Thursday, Feb. 7, 7 p.m., at Allenstown Elementary School.

The Board of Selectmen and Budget Committee agreed on everything in the town operating budget aside from $2,500 the budget committee added to the fire department’s fuel line and salaries, bringing it to $335,019, about 12 percent higher than last year.

The Parks and Recreation Department accounts for one of the largest increases in the proposed budget, an almost 75 percent jump from last year’s default amount of $21,650 to the coming year’s proposed $37,811, which includes a summer program for the Concord Boys and Girls Club and improvements.

The proposed Tri-Town Ambulance service budget is a 70 percent jump over the default to $56,500 in preparation for Hooksett’s potential pullout from the intermunicipal agreement with Allenstown and Pembroke.

That increase reflects the costs associated with splitting the current service between just the two remaining towns.

Health insurance costs for 2008-09 also jumped 21 percent from the current year’s $44,000 to $53,500, an issue towns across the state are dealing with.

Both the selectmen and Budget Committee recommended a 17.8 percent increase over last year’s default Police Department budget, the proposed 2008-09 appropriation being $778,155.

The library, which recently went wireless and is in need of maintenance and repairs, got a 15 percent increase to $55,817 from this year’s $48,572.

Highways and streets, one of the larger appropriations in the overall budget, got a 19.7 percent increase in the wake of the second hundred-year flood in two years that washed out many of the streets in Allenstown and surrounding towns. Other costs included street signs and extra equipment.

Warrant articles The Budget Committee and selectmen were in accord on the majority of warrant article recommendations, with the only difference in the budget committee’s addition of $15,000 warrant article for the library facility fund.

The first warrant article voters will see is the most expensive, wordiest and arguably the most important, needing a 60 percent majority vote.

Allenstown sewer commissioners are once again going to voters for a $15 million bond to expand the Suncook Wastewater Treatment Facility. The state Department of Environmental Services issued a moratorium in 2001 preventing any future hook-ups in Allenstown and Pembroke.

Based on flow, Pembroke, the plant’s largest user, would pay 52 percent or $7.8 million and Allenstown the remaining $7.2 million. The article also asks to use $250,000 in fund balance to help offset the costs.

Presentations on the issue by Mike Trainque of Hoyle, Tanner and Associates, the engineering firm looking into the project, have explained the upgrades, which include two new clarifiers.

According to Trainque, the project qualifies for several federal and state grants the Sewer Commission will pursue should the bond pass, which could fund half of total project costs. This year, both the selectman and the Budget Committee recommended the warrant article.

The Fire Department seeks approval for a new 2,500-gallon pumper/tanker truck, a warrant article asking for $450,000 which both the Budget Committee and selectman recommended. The new truck would replace three of the town’s older trucks, the newest of which was made in 1981.

Warrant article 6, from the Police Department, asks voters to raise $47,750 for the town’s share of $191,000 in engineering and rebuilding costs for the culvert on Mount Delight Road that burst during the 2007 floods. The other 75 percent, or $143,250, would be funded through the state Department of Homeland Security’s Hazard Mitigation grant.

Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland said road closings in Epsom worsened the situation, and more than 130 residents were trapped in their homes – 50 in Epsom, nine in Allenstown and 74 in Deerfield. The town would seek state grants to help with the town’s portion of the costs, Mulholland said.

Another article from the Board of Selectmen asks to change the method of choosing a road agent from election to appointment.

McKenney said the position is more suited to appointment because the most qualified person might not get the job in an election. It was something the town didn’t worry about before because Road Agent James Boisvert was qualified and stayed in the position for 20 years.