Auburn News : SB2

The first year under SB-2 rules

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:30:00 GMT

BY GINGER KOZLOWSKI

Last spring, voters chose to leave the traditional form of Town Meeting and School District Meeting behind, deciding to adopt the official ballot law, commonly referred to as SB-2, for both town and school governance.

The deliberative session of School District Meeting takes place Monday, Feb. 2, 7 p.m., at Auburn Village School, a change from its traditional Friday night. The deliberative session of Town Meeting takes place Saturday, Feb. 7, at 1 p.m., at Auburn Village School.

Both are a month earlier than people are used to. Under the official ballot law, the deliberative session must take place earlier so people can take the information under consideration in preparation for the vote in March, this year on March 10.

Town warrants
On the town warrant, there are three zoning warrants, which will not be discussed or changed at the deliberative session.

There are also five warrant articles. Participants in the deliberative session may change the wording and dollar amounts presented, but not the intent of the article.

Article 5 asks for $187,860 for road and drainage system improvements at the intersection of Wilson Crossing Road and Hunting Road. Of that, $140,895 is expected to come from grants or state aid, so only $46,965 is to come from taxation.

Article 6, asks for $100,000 to continue wastewater planning efforts for a connection between the Dartmouth Drive/Wellington Business Park and the city of Manchester’s system on By-pass 28. This should not affect the tax rate, as $40,000 will come from grants and $60,000 from surplus.

Article 7 asks for $7,000 to purchase a second Accuvote machine.

Article 8 asks for $175,000 to be placed into the Town Buildings Rehabilitation Capital Reserve Fund. This will not affect the tax rate, as this money is to come from surplus.

Article 9 asks for $4,339,440 for the town’s operating budget. Under the official ballot law, this figure can be amended at the deliberative session, but once the figure is approved, that is what the town will vote for or against in March. If voters say no to the proposed operating budget, the town will automatically be put on a default budget, which is the same as last year with certain adjustments for items like previously-agreed upon contract increases. The default budget would be $23,307 lower, at $4,316,133.

School warrants
There are three warrant articles to be discussed by voters at the deliberative session of School District Meeting.

Voters will be asked to raise $10,744,514.74 as an operating budget for Auburn Village School. Should that article be defeated, the default budget would be set at $10,876,762, higher than the proposed budget by $132,247.26.

The other two articles ask for $50,000 to be taken from surplus and put into the Special Education Expendable Trust Fund and $31,000 to be taken from surplus and put in the School Construction Expendable Trust Fund. Neither would affect the tax rate.

Auburn leaves traditional Town Meeting behind

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:49:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Aside from electing their town officials, Auburn voters also decided whether to go to an official ballot style of voting on town matters and school matters.

In an overwhelming vote, it was decided the town and school district would now be governed by the official ballot law, often called SB2 for the Senate bill that became the law, leaving the traditional Town Meeting behind.

A total of 538 voted to change to SB2 on the town side, with 308 voting not to change. On the school side, it was 537-310 in favor of SB2.

Prior to the election, Auburn Selectman Jim Headd said he would have liked to see the issue debated at Auburn’s Town Meeting on Saturday, March 15, rather than making it a ballot item.

“It would be funny if we could bring it up and talk about it on the floor,” Headd said, adding only 14 people showed up at a public hearing on the question on Feb. 25.

The Auburn School Board recently showed its position against going to the SB2 form of election used in 50 municipalities and 70 school districts in New Hampshire, the board having taken a stance at a meeting in February against adopting the official ballot law.

While the Board of Selectmen did not take an official stance on whether or not to go to SB2, a public hearing on Feb. 25 featured much discussion among the board members and Auburn residents on whether voting by official ballot was a good idea for the town.

According to 2006 population figures, Auburn has more than 5,160 residents. Currently, the town has about 3,500 registered voters on the checklist.

Several town and school officials have argued that the town is still small enough to maintain the Town Meeting practice, which typically draws a few hundred people in Auburn.

Some are worried the switch to official ballot for all town and school issues would permit many residents to skip the meeting altogether and could possibly bring uninformed voters out to the polls.

Candia, sitting next to Auburn with a population about 1,000 residents fewer than Auburn’s, adopted the official ballot law in recent years and saw the voter participation at the town and school district deliberative sessions plummet by the hundreds from the number which attended the traditional Town and School District Meetings.

While it may be easier under SB2 for more voters to make it to the polls than can attend a lengthy meeting to vote, they may not have as good a handle on the issues, some officials say.

In another upset, long-time Selectman Harland Eaton was supplanted by Paul Raiche in the town’s only contested race for a single open seat on the Board of Selectmen.

The only other ballot issue was to extend the town clerk term from one year to three years, which passed 624-230.

Auburn votes on change to official ballot law

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:20:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

The March 11 vote on establishing Senate Bill 2 official balloting is getting a mixed review as residents weigh increased voter participation vs. the traditional meeting and discussion format.

“Less than 200 people last year voted for an almost $9 million school budget, and I think that percentage is just too low,” said former selectman Charles Kellett, who signed citizen petitions for SB2 for both the town and school. “At the Town Meeting, you deliberate and then vote, and all SB2 really does is separate the two.”

About 50 towns and cities and 70 school districts in the state use the official ballot law, often called SB2, which replaces the traditional annual Town Meeting and School District Meeting with an early deliberative session, usually in February, with the vote occurring in mid-March. Kellet and other residents say this is the first time they recall seeing SB2 on Auburn’s ballots, and while officials have not taken sides on the issue, Selectmen Chairman Harlan Eaton recently said he sees “nothing broken” with the Town Meeting format that has been practiced so far.

Everett Harriman, a local retiree, said he opposes SB2 because he has become aware of a drop in attendance at the deliberative sessions when towns such as neighboring Candia have adopted SB2. In 2005, about 600 voters attended the annual Candia Town Meeting, but attendance was about 80 at the deliberative session in 2007.

Harriman said Auburn, with its population of about 5,000, is still “a small enough town to get its “arms around issues” at the annual Town Meeting.

“I’ve found that in the eight years I’ve lived here ... that the give and take at the school and town meetings is very informative, and that it brings out a true picture of the articles up for discussion,” Harriman said. “Neither system is perfect, but I still opt for ... the Town Meeting format.”

School Board member Kathleen Porter agreed, adding she believes SB2 is more effective for bigger towns than it would be for Auburn.

“I think it works well in larger communities where you just don’t have the space for that large of a meeting,” she said. “Auburn is still small enough so that the voters can come together.”

But Kellett observed that as time goes on, Auburn is becoming more and more of a bedroom community, where many residents’ work schedules don’t allow enough time to attend a big meeting or analyze many issues at once. In a best-case scenario, Kellett said, he hopes busy residents could become apprised of the town’s issues by reading the summary of the deliberative sessions and then make an informed vote in March.

Kellett said he views the upcoming SB2 vote largely as an attempt to elicit more voters, and said that he’ll have no problem voting against it should it ultimately prove ineffective.

Auburn considers switch to SB2

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:36:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Auburn’s Board of Selectmen and School Board are holding public hearings for two citizens’ petitioned warrant articles asking whether the town’s voters would embrace converting to the official ballot law form of town and school elections, often called SB2.

In such towns, voters can only amend warrant articles at the town and school district deliberative sessions; they don’t actually vote on the articles. The vote comes through the ballot boxes on a separate date.

The School Board’s public hearing on the warrant article will take place Thursday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m., in the Auburn Village School cafeteria.

The public hearing for the town will take place Monday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m., during the regular selectmen’s meeting at Auburn Town Hall.

School Board Chairman Elaine Hobbs said the school board voted unanimously not to recommend because the traditional School District Meeting and Town Meeting format has worked well for Auburn in the past.

“We are afraid that, with SB2, voters will make uninformed decisions,” said Hobbs, adding that many more Auburn residents will likely show up to the polls than will attend the deliberative sessions to modify school and town warrant articles and budgets.

Selectmen Chairman Harland Eaton said the board has not yet taken a formal stance on the question of SB2, but will do so in the near future.

While he would not comment on whether he favors going to SB2, he noted pros and cons of a growing town like Auburn making the change, such as more people showing up in voting lines rather than getting acquainted with the issues at Town Meeting.

“I guess what I see here is a change in the era,” he said, noting the more passionate arguments for or against warrants that often come out at Town Meetings.

The latest population study for Auburn shows the town’s 2006 population to be just over 5,000.

Auburn’s neighbor, Candia, has a smaller population of about 4,000 and switched to the SB2 form of voting for the town two years ago. This year is Candia’s first year voting on school articles as an SB2 town.