Candia News : budget

Town on default budget while school passes in Candia

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:36:00 GMT

BY GRETYL MACALASTER

Candia will operate for the third year in a row on a default budget after voters rejected the proposed budget by a vote of 454 to 339.

Residents spent hours discussing the budget during the deliberative session of Town Meeting and increased the Budget Committee’s recommendation by $214,000.

The default budget of $2,355,410 is the same as last year’s with adjustments for contractual obligations.

The school district’s operating budget did pass, 514 to 263. Voters also rejected a number of other warrant articles, including a combined $10,807 for Lamprey Health Care and Rockingham County Community Action.

The Budget Committee will continue doing its job as voters rejected an article to rescind the committee by a slim margin, 336 to 401.

An advisory article to see if residents are in favor of constructing a swap shop at the Candia Recycling Facility barely passed by a vote of 397 to 390.

Voters agreed to expend $25,000 to replace the roof at the fire station, but rejected an article calling for $50,000 to be placed in a capital reserve fund for fire equipment.

Richard Snow will join the board of selectmen, filling the vacancy left by Tom Giffen. Carleton Robie was re-elected to the board. Many write-in candidates won seats, including Ginny Clifford for Planning Board, Erin Asselin for a two-year term on the Budget Committee and Clark Thyng for a one-year term on the Budget Committee.

Candia School budget increased by voters

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:30:00 GMT

BY DAN DeCONINCK

Just one week after a grueling seven-hour Town Meeting, citizens of Candia reconvened at Henry W. Moore School for their second deliberative session.

While the meeting on Jan. 31 was to discuss the town budget and other social programs, the deliberative session of School District Meeting on Feb. 7 focused on school funding. The figures voted on during this session are the figures that will go on the official ballot in March.

With just four articles to be discussed, the majority of the town’s attention was on Warrant Article 2 – the school operating budget. Article 2 is the total of three factors: the school budget, grant money and food services. However, the school budget accounts for roughly 95 percent of the article.

Ed Caito, chairman of the School Board, began the debate by recommending an amendment to the article that would add more than $170,000 to the yearly school budget the Budget Committee recommended.

Caito explained that the School Board had taken a “proactive approach” in developing a comprehensive system to determine exactly how much money would be needed.

The goal, said Caito, is to “maintain the level of education of the children of Candia that the voters of Candia have supported so strongly over the years.”

Carla Penfield, an active member of the Budget Committee, stressed that the struggling economy is demanding cutbacks.

“It’s the responsibility of both the town and the school to make do,” said Penfield.

Despite Penfield’s insistence though, Caito and the School Board had the overwhelming support of the voters. Out of nine citizens who addressed the crowd through the microphone in the front of the room, eight urged voters to side with the School Board and spend a few more dollars for the sake of the children. Several speakers even received large ovations for their impassioned speeches.

In his final remarks before the vote went to a secret ballot, Caito reminded voters that, it was their “responsibility as a community to advocate and balance (their) own individual needs with the needs of (their) children.”

Eighty-two percent (102 of 126) of those who cast ballots sided with the School Board. The final budget to be voted on in March is $7,794,384.25. If the budget is approved, Moore School will be able to keep the school psychologist position and will have the option of rehiring one teacher who is considering retirement. The Budget Committee recommended that the town eliminate those positions.

PTO letter draws fire

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:12:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

Some Candia residents say they’re angry after a recent letter warning about “significant reductions” in the school budget was sent home with students.

“I think it’s outrageous,” said Ingrid Byrd, the School Board representative to the Budget Committee. “They have an absolute right to notify parents about the deliberative session, but they don’t have a right to send a letter home with children ... urging parents to vote in a certain way.”

Henry Moore Elementary School Assistant Principal Jim Lewis said that during the week before a Jan. 22 meeting, a letter from the Candia Parent Teacher Organization was sent home with students telling them about that upcoming informational meeting. The letter included the names of PTO members Emily Roster and Kristine Pouliot, and Lewis said the letter was a PTO decision and not an official newsletter from the school.

School Board member Dave Fischer said one side of the flier has a brief of the upcoming school budget, which was recommended at $7,313,239 by the Budget Committee. The wording on the letter sent home with children warns that this budget is more than $177,000 less than what the School Board recommended.

“The most significant of these recommended reductions are the elimination of two fulltime teachers and a reduction in psychological services,” the Some Candia residents say they’re angry after a recent letter warning about “significant reductions” in the school budget was sent home with students. “I think it’s outrageous,” said Ingrid Byrd, the School Board representative to the Budget Committee. “They have an absolute right to notify parents about the deliberative session, but they don’t have a right to send a letter home with children ... urging parents to vote in a certain way.”

“The most significant of these recommended reductions are the elimination of two fulltime teachers and a reduction in psychological services,” the letter states, and it mentions that the Jan. 22 meeting was intended as an informational session “to help parents better understand how the Deliberative Session will be conducted and how your School Board prepared the recommended 2009-1020 school budget.”

It closes with the statements “There is no substitution for a proper education and they are only our children for a short time. These children are in fact our future!”

But Fischer noted that nowhere on the letter are parents told how to vote.

In a landmark 1973 case, the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals eventually ruled that the City of Boston School Committee broke the law when it sent home some 100,000 fliers with students urging parents to vote against a busing and redistricting plan. While some committee members said they think the recent Candia flier might be illegal for similar reasons, it does not appear to tell parents to cast a vote either way on the issue.

“It may have pushed it right to the line, but it’s not over the line,” Fischer said. “I don’t see where (a vote) is pushed one way or the other.”

Telephone messages left for Pouliot were not returned. Lewis said that as of Jan. 21, the letter had not generated any complaints from parents.

Tight school budget plan cuts field trips

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:57:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

Candia Budget Committee members and school officials sparred as the committee recommended a $7.31 million budget that some say cuts too close to the bone, possibly eliminating field trips and Minds in Motion.

“As a taxpayer and resident, I’d have to say that I don’t think this budget gives the children the same quality they have now,” said Kristine Pouliot, a member of both the Budget Committee and the Candia Parent-Teacher Organization.

Residents who attended a Jan. 8 meeting said about 40 people were at that night’s hearing on the proposed 2009-10 school budget, which now totals $7,313,239. Budget Committee Chairman Carla Penfield said some $40,000 was added that night to boost the lean budget, which is still more than $100,000 less than the current budget of $7,435,739.

“Nobody at the meeting liked the cuts,” Penfield said. Penfield said on Jan. 9 that the ongoing economic downturn weighed heavy on the minds of some committee members as they assembled the budget over the past few months, and as such they aimed for a budget that is as close to level-funded as possible.

“We’re concerned about the town’s ability to pay,” she said. “We have significantly reduced revenues right now ... and we saw a tax revenue increase in 2008 of between $700 to $1,000 per household. Even with this budget, we’ll still see a tax increase because we have decreasing revenues.”

According to the final budget figures, Penfield said revenues dropped about $100,000 from last year. In the final tally, Penfield said the proposed budget does not have any negative effects on educational quality, but she acknowledged that some of the committee’s recommendations have provoked an unpopular reaction from parents.

Namely, she said one recommendation for the coming year holds that field trips should be entirely family-funded, and she also said the committee should reduce the “Minds in Motion” program at the Henry Moore Elementary School for one year. Led by math teacher Judi Lindsey, the class offers an extra academic challenge in math subjects for students in third through fifth grade.

Penfield said that it’s “an expensive program” that involves relatively few students -- there’s only 17 in the program now, she said -- at a cost of about $80,000. Penfield said the leaner-than-usual budget and recommended cuts are part of an overall a stop-gap measure to trim costs for 2009-10 only.

But Pouliot said she’d rather have seen the School Administrative Unit 15 recommended budget of $7.55 million be put forward for next year. Ultimately, the School Board’s recommended budget came to $7,490,473, making the committee’s budget the lowest of the three budgets for next year.

“The Budget Committee put a lot of time and effort into this, but standing back and looking at this as a citizen of Candia, I think we owe our children more,” she said.

Candia asks state to be allowed to draw from reserve fund as expenses mount

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:12:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

Candia selectmen and members of the Budget Committee are at odds after a 2008 budget shortfall prompted officials to seek permission for an emergency expenditure from the Department of Revenue Administration.

On one hand, Budget Committee members say the fivemember Board of Selectmen failed to take adequate financial precautions after severe snowstorms in early 2008. Committee member William “Kim” Byrd said the “warning signs” were readily visible in the spring, when Road Agent Dennis Lewis warned officials that the winter storm money had already been exhausted.

“This shouldn’t have happened,” Byrd said.

But Selectman Joe Duarte said the late-year storms, particularly the devastating December ice storm, are what really “blew the budget out of the water.” On top of that, the 2008 payment on the bond for the new transfer station came in at a whopping $215,910. Although selectmen have the power to move money from one line item to another, Duarte said that in this case, there isn’t any money left to move around.

Selectmen Chairman Fred Kelley said officials “should have had a buffer” to help defray unexpected and last-minute costs, and he said the bare-bones budget put forward by the Budget Committee for 2008 left little in the way of a safety net. In an unrelated conversation in early December, Kelley had already begun to warn that the town was “almost out of money,” and he said on Jan. 5 that in the end it was the ice storm that “really killed Candia,” budget-wise.

Kelley said the town’s plan is to ask the Department of Revenue Administration -- the state entity which sets property tax rates -- if the town can draw some money from the unreserved fund balance. But he added if the town had “a buffer” of between $50,000 to $100,000, the request probably would not have been necessary.

Officials and residents said they could not recall a similar situation ever happening in Candia before, and at an emergency meeting Monday, Jan. 5, committee members and selectmen signed off on an $80,000 withdrawal request to the DRA.

Don Borror, an assistant of municipal services at the DRA, said Candia’s situation is far from unique this year.

In fact, he said there are “a small handful” of other towns pursuing similar requests to Candia’s right now, and in most of these cases, natural disasters also play a role. While Borror said he did not know about Candia’s case specifically, he said the process involves getting majority agreement from selectmen and the Budget Committee on what amount to request.

He said towns are also usually asked to provide a reason along with the request. According to law, this procedure is necessary in cases like this when a town is forced to make an expenditure in excess of the total budget approved by voters.

“And our procedure, if everything is in order along with a reasonable explanation, is that we usually approve it within a few weeks,” he said.

Selectmen said they have about $65,000 in unpaid bills, while there is less than $15,000 remaining in the 2008 general fund.

Candia faces 10 percent budget increase for town

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:18:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

Candia Budget Committee members say they’re bracing for some tough choices as they eye a potential increase of as much as 10 percent for next year.

“Our comment to (department heads) was ‘if we have to cut the budget, where should we cut?’ even though it’s a bottom-line budget,” said committee member Judith Szot on Saturday, Nov. 1. “There’s no easy way. It’s going to be pretty difficult.”

Committee Chairman
Carla Penfield said the Board of Selectmen recently handed in 2009 budget requests that total $2,337,227, an amount that was reduced slightly from the roughly $2,353,000 that Selectman Joe Duarte was working with on Sept. 13. But Penfield said the budget will be increased by an unknown amount because insurance rates -- typically one of the highest areas of increase that faces Candia -- will not be known until mid-December.

As it now stands, Penfield said the addition of the current year’s insurance costs – $146,182 – and some $6,000 for ambulance service brings the preliminary request to $2,489,409, an increase of 7.23 percent. When the final insurance rates are received next month, Penfield said the committee expects a potential final-budget increase of as much as 10 percent.

Penfield said some of the highest areas of increase are for fuel, heating oil, asphalt and salt, a circumstance that drove the requests up for the Highway Department, as well as fire protection. The Candia Fire Department budget is up about 10 percent, with fuel costs escalating from $3,600 to $6,000, and the heating oil allocation went up by $1,000 to $5,000.

The department’s expenses also include a $12,000 water-supply request for new ponds and hydrant replacement, she said.

On the Highway Department, Penfield said the budget request reflects an increase of about 25 percent, and road salt is also a significant cost. Budgeted at some $38,724 for this year, she said the actual 2008 expenditures came to about $66,000, and $57,500 has been requested for next year. The single largest area of budget increase for highway is asphalt maintenance, which swelled to $77,400, an increase of nearly $50,000.

Although town summer recreation programs were dispensed with this year as a cost-saving measure, Penfield said they are included in the preliminary recreation budget request, which totals about $32,000 so far. While Penfield said the budget challenges this year “are huge,” Szot said the situation was alleviated somewhat by minor cuts in a few departments.

Szot said building inspector Bill Hallock reduced some of his own hours, and recycling center head Chuck Whitcher has offered to drop one employee position. She said her committee hopes to reduce costs further by evaluating all expenditures line by line.

“We are going to go through every line and say, ‘OK, can we cut postage from $750 to $600?’” she said. “It’s going to take a lot of time, but we’re trying to give the town the level of service it needs ... while keeping costs down.”

Committee members said on Nov. 1 they expect to begin a review of the school budget requests soon.

Recycling key to keeping costs down

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:52:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

Town officials say initial department head requests total some $2.35 million as they begin to look at the expenses in store for 2009-10.

The first initial view of next year’s budget began on Sept. 13, as selectmen reviewed the budget requests from the town’s Fire Department, police, road crew and other areas. Selectman Joe Duarte said that the requests total $2,353,339, an amount about $30,000 higher than today’s budget, but he warned that some big-ticket items such as insurance have not been added into the budget yet.

According to the figures in the current budget, health insurance totals about $75,000, and Duarte said officials are anticipating a rate increase of around 25 percent or more when the new rates are finally released next month. Overall, Duarte said department heads have submitted thrifty budgets this year, with no new major spending items or unexpected work project requests to be seen so far.

But figuring largely on the minds of most officials right now is what the new transfer station costs will be, and amount that Duarte said could have a very wide variance based on two “unknowns” -- recycling levels and trash transfer costs.

The town’s former trash disposal method of burning in the incinerator essentially costs the town nothing outside of the cost of running the incinerator itself, Duarte said, but the disposal fees to landfill the town’s nonrecyclable household trash has the potential to be a very costly service for taxpayers.

So far, the requests for the transfer station total $421,969, but Duarte said there is no surefire way for official to predict exactly how much they will have to spend next year on the transfer fees. Recycling has the added benefit of decreasing the tonnage that goes into landfills as well as giving the town coffers a boost through the sale of bailed plastic, metals and other recyclables, and some officials said they hope to see residents recycle as much as $100,000 next year.

Duarte said the income from recyclables will be based on fluctuating market conditions for the prices for iron, steel and other commodities, and their values will probably change as rapidly as the cost of gasoline changes next year. Ultimately, the recycling income itself will be recycled as it goes back into the general fund, he said.

“But we have to be very careful, and we can’t rely on any particular amount of money coming in” he said. “All we can do is try and stay on top of (recycling).”

Among other budget areas, the police is the largest budget request area, with a total in $641,327 in requests. Although the amount is down from this year $686,000 in allocations, insurance figures for employee benefits have not been worked into the budget yet.

Chief Michael McGillen said yesterday that he has not put forward any requests for major projects or upgrades, although an $8,000 law-enforcement computer program could come forward as a warrant article.

McGillen said the program would outfit the new onboard computers in the department’s four cruisers with software to allow them to conduct checks of license plates, licenses and registrations on the road instead of having to relay the information via radio. He said the program would essentially eliminate the potentially unsafe roadway standby time when an officer is awaiting information on a person involved in a routine traffic stop, a situation that can be dangerous for officers in the event the person is a wanted suspect.

Fire Chief Rudy Cartier also said he doesn’t foresee any major projects form next year, and his department requests for the year total $112,460, an increase of $10,000 more than the current budget. About one-quarter of the increase is for fuel costs, and Cartier said he also requested an additional $5,500 for a project to dredge out and clean the fire pond, which provides emergency firefighting water to the downtown area.

Cartier said this important safety maintenance project has not probably not been performed during the past 25 years.

Conservation funds may go toward fuel

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:19:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

A Candia selectman said officials might consider tapping a conservation funding source in light of increased town expenses while some School Board members said they’re hoping to flatline their budget as much as possible.

Selectman Joe Duarte said he is growing increasingly concerned over what will happen this winter as home heating oil and diesel fuel prices now approach the $5 mark, while regular unleaded gas still hovers around $4 per gallon. Duarte said the town gave out some $33,000 in home heating fuel assistance last year, and this year’s assistance estimates are already approaching a record $70,000.

Additionally, Duarte said the school will have to grapple with its own budget constraints, and he said he’d like to see a proposal come forward to replace the school’s cafeteria and gymnasium in the coming year. To help with cash flow, Duarte said officials might consider redirecting up to 75 percent of the Conservation Commission’s land use change fees to the town’s general fund.

Commission Chairman Ed Fowler said that as of today, 100 percent of the fees go to the commission account, which has more than $500,000 in it, and the money can be used to purchase development rights or buy property for conservation. Land use change money is generated when land listed as in “current use,” which has a lower taxable rate, is sold, and Fowler said the town generates about $100,000 in fees each year.

Duarte said the cafeteria conditions are very crowded when school is in session, and as a result, the children are allotted only a short amount of time for lunch. While he said that this could be the year that finances overshadow conservation, School Board member Ingrid Byrd said the prevailing financial conditions are so poor right now that she would be surprised to see any school building projects like this come forward later this year as budget talks begin.

“We have not even talked about a budget yet, but I don’t think we can do that to people when gas is $4 a gallon,” she said. “The people I talk to tell me they’re not just having a hard time, they’re having a desperate time.”

Both Byrd and Duarte said they favor a change in the landuse fee allocations, even though a warrant article to change to a fee schedule giving the town 75 percent of the money was defeated at this year’s town vote.

Byrd said the elderly, in particular, could use some financial assistance as they try to strike a balance between food and fuel costs on a fixed income.

“I don’t always agree with Joe on everything, but I agree that this is a time when people should come before trees,” she said. “We can always change it after the economy picks back up.”

Fowler pointed out this year’s defeat of the measure and said the public will likely vote in a similar way if the land-use fee change is brought up again. He said peoples’ needs and environmental concerns, even in a poor financial climate, will not necessarily be mutually exclusive.

“It depends on how tough the financial straits are, but I believe they can co-exist, or at least I certainly hope they do,” he said. “I think the majority of the public will still support our efforts to protect open space.”

Summer rec program cut

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:57:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

Candia officials say it could be the end of the road for the decades-old summer recreation program after rising fuel costs and a lean budget year made selectmen give the program the axe.

Selectmen Chairman Fred Kelley said the program, which had been budgeted at about $20,000, was not included in the final run-through of the budget approved by voters in March.

He said the cut was prompted in part by rising gasoline costs, and at the time, officials were budgeting for fuel with an expected price of about $3 per gallon.

Kelley pointed out that since then, fuel costs have risen even higher. As of June 21, most regular fuel in the Candia area was selling for close to $4 a gallon, while diesel approached $4.70. Kelley said there is no guarantee the program will be re-slated for next year due to the unpredictability of the current market.

“It’s hard to say, and with the economy the way it is, we don’t really know,” he said. “The price of a lot of things has gone out of sight, and no one in Candia has a lot of extra money.”

Former selectman James Brennan, who resigned from the board earlier this year due to a move to Manchester, said the loss of the program could mean a summer of little to do for the dozens of children who had been looking forward to the program.

Brennan said he attended the program himself at age 6, working his way up to a paid counselor position when he was in his teens and later becoming director.

Brennan said the program typically had around 75 children enrolled, but it peaked at about 120 during his years as director. The six-week program, which specialized in team games such as rounders, flag football and capture the flag, was expected to cost $275 this year, he said.

After signs became clear that the program was not going to continue this year, Brennan said he hoped to organize a similar program through the nearby Candia Youth Athletic Association. But he said this option never panned out because of concern over insurance and liability. “I tried my hardest to get the Candia Youth Athletic Association to pick up the ball, but I can’t blame them for not wanting to,” he said. “They were afraid of unseen liability and didn’t want to get sued ... so I can’t be upset with them.”

Ultimately, he said it will probably be up to voters to decide if the program returns or not.

“When the correct budget was not voted in, things had to be cut,” he said. “I can’t say if it will be back next year, but if it is I guarantee it will be like starting all over again.”

Candia town budget criticized

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:07:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

The 100 or so Candia voters who showed up for the deliberative session of Town Meeting on Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Moore School struck a compromise between the proposed town operating budgets proposed by the Board of Selectmen and the Budget Committee.

On Tuesday, March 11, voters will decide whether to pass the amended proposed 2008- 09 town operating budget of $2,321,660 or accept a default budget of $2,265,781.

Settling on a budget
After approving wording of the first 13 articles regarding zoning amendments and contributions to social services as a lump, discussion shifted to Budget Committee cuts, which shaved the selectmen’s budget from an 8.5 percent increase over the current year’s default budget to a 2.5 percent overall increase by cutting about 5.5 percent from each line item, said Budget Committee Chairman Carla Penfield.

The heated debate over how to compromise on the budget stemmed from Selectman Tom Giffen’s motion to restore $5,063 the Budget Committee cut from the health and welfare line, a cost which increased from last year along with many other lines in the budget, and amend the overall budget proposal to $2,266,318 instead of the Budget Committee’s $2,261,255.

Selectmen expressed frustration with the way the Budget Committee handled the cuts this year, saying the bottom-line cuts left them in the cold on costs they can’t control, including health and welfare, heating oil, transportation and health insurance.

“A chimpanzee with a dart board could have done just as well,” Giffen said.

Resident Ken Goekjian suggested they take the increases further, saying he didn’t feel Giffen’s amendment went far enough. Twenty-four people voted in favor of Giffen’s amendment and 38 opposed it.

Some residents asked for specifics on what the Budget Committee felt the town could do without. Penfield said while there were line items the committee felt were not necessary, such as new employees, it was not the Budget Committee’s charge to determine how money should be spent.

“The only decision we have to make is how much money the taxpayer can afford this year,” Penfield said, adding that with the transfer station bond payment, presented as a warrant article, would account for a 10 percent increase to the overall budget on its own.

Lazott’s motion, seconded by Giffen, to amend the article and increase the budget back to the selectmen’s original proposed budget of $2,380,064 also failed in a tied vote.

“We have two groups who did a terrific job, and I think the answer is somewhere in the middle,” said resident Ernie Lefavre.

Betsy Kruse, vice chairman of the Candia Conservation Commission proposed an amendment to increase the proposed budget in the article by half of the difference between the Budget Committee’s and Selectmen’s numbers, or $60,405, for a final figure of $2,321,660.

Keep the Budget Committee? The tension over the budget hung in the air until the end of the meeting when Article 35, which asked to disband the Budget Committee, came up for debate.

“If there’s no Budget Committee, then where are the checks and balances?” asked resident Stacey Beauchamp.

Giffen said discontent with prior selectmen fed the Budget Committee’s establishment.

“The creation of the Budget Committee failed to address the perceived problem,” he said.

Brennan said the extra time and effort department heads put in to present their budgets to the two separate panels was not measurable in terms of cost, but guessed it to be worth around $20,000 in addition to the committee’s $1,900 budget.

School Board member Ingrid Byrd said she has gone back and forth on her feelings about the Budget Committee, but now supports it as the taxpayers’ advocate.

Beauchamp’s motion to amend the article’s wording to ask whether voters were in favor of “retaining” the Budget Committee instead of “rescinding” it passed. While it is basically the same question, the article had to be replaced with something if the voters did not want to put it on the official ballot as is, Town Moderator Richard Mitchell said.

Zeroed out
An amendment to change the $75,000 warrant article to zero for a water cistern to be installed at the new transfer station passed after lengthy discussion, many residents saying they didn’t see a need for the cistern when others were in close proximity to the transfer station.

Voters also zeroed out a warrant article asking for $79,000 for a metal canopy over the transfer station, making the vote on March 11 null for Article 29.

Another transfer station amendment asking for $38,000 to construct a metal swap shop structure will stay on the official ballot, but Fire Chief Rudy Cartier’s motion to amend the article to remove the word “metal” from the article passed. Removing that word would allow the Solid Waste Committee to seek out cheaper materials for the shed, he argued.

Conservation money The vote for Article 33 was also nullified when voters decided not to decrease the percentage of land use change tax going into the Conservation Commission’s fund from 100 percent to 25 percent.

Those in attendance passed an amendment to change the article’s wording to include the word “not,” making a “no” vote result in a double negative.

Lazott argued more money going into the general fund would do more to offset the tax rate, and his sentiments were backed by several residents. “This is a clever way to effectively kill this article,” said Budget Committee member Kim Byrd.

Exit 3
The petitioned warrant article asking if voters are in favor of the proposed sale of land by Exit 3 off of Route 101 will go to the official ballot as is.

Kruse, one of the residents who signed the petition, asked whether the Exit 3 Committee and Board of Selectmen would cease the search for a developer of the land if voters defeat the article.

Selectmen Chairman Fred Kelley said they would stop their search until at least the next Town Meeting, adding, “If it fails in March, then we have a piece of land that we can’t do anything with.”

Voting on the warrant articles and candidates will take place Tuesday, March 11, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., at Moore School.

Candia restrains school budget

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:19:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Candia’s School Board and Budget Committee agreed on every single number in the 2008-09 proposed school operating budget for the second year in a row, the Budget Committee accepting the School Board’s budget as is at $7,486,408.

The proposed operating budget is less than the $7,526,161 default budget by about $39,000.

The School Board showed restraint this year to make room in taxpayers’ pocketbooks and wallets for the proposed joint middle school with Auburn, according to Candia School Board Chairman Karen Smith.

“Because we were coming with the middle school proposition, we felt really strongly that we couldn’t be asking for more money in the operating budget of the existing school,” said Smith.

Overall, the proposed budget shows about a 3 percent increase over last year, the majority of that increase coming from a jump in high school tuition of about $300,000. The rest of the budget is level-funded, Budget Committee and School Board members said.

There are a few different factors contributing to that, said Ed Caito, the School Board’s representative to the Budget Committee, one being the opening of the Bedford High School, which opened with the ninth and 10th grades only this year, allowing Bedford high schoolers with only two years left to finish their schooling in Manchester.

“With Bedford moving out, Manchester is spreading its costs over a smaller base of children, and has not been able to reduce its operating expenses at the same rate,” said Caito.

He added the graduating class from the Moore School is particularly large this year at 68 students, thereby increasing overall costs in addition to the rise in cost per student.

The Moore School has been able to handle the extra students and associated rising costs by keeping class sizes fairly large and only providing the essentials for education, Caito said.

The warrant articles The only disagreement the two groups had on warrant articles going to voters is on the tuition agreement for the proposed joint middle school with Auburn, which the Budget Committee voted not to recommend.

The issue was not discussed at public hearing, Penfield said. The article came in late and Caito motioned for no discussion prior to the Budget Comittee’s vote because everyone had made up their minds.

“I didn’t think it was a financially astute move for the town. I did not feel that it was the wisest way for us to invest our money,” Penfield said.

For Candia’s share of projected capital costs and tuition, the warrant article asks for $296,708.

Candia School Board members have been working closely with Auburn’s School Board on the joint venture. Last year, voters in both towns approved the planning and engineering costs for Team Design Inc. to design the school.

The two boards have hosted public input sessions in both towns to get community input on the designs, building costs, payments on the bond and operating costs for the school.

Under the proposed tuition agreement for the $25 million project, Candia would pay tuition to Auburn to help with payments on the 30-year bond, which Auburn voters will weigh in on just a few days later on March 14.

If the the tuition agreement fails in Candia, the vote will make Auburn’s bond article null.

Based on current enrollment figures, Candia would pay 38 percent of the capital and operating costs, with Auburn taxpayers absorbing the remaining 62 percent. Depending on the growth in either town prior to the school’s opening, that cost split could change.

Caito called the joint middle school a proposed substantial change in the education of Candia children, saying the larger number of students would increase programming opportunities and allow for a smoother transition to high school.

A special warrant article calls on voters to approve a generator system for the Moore School amounting to $91,885. Further, the article says, the School Board will apply for grants to help offset some of that cost. Another asks for $150,000 for the school’s capital reserve fund.

Teacher contracts Voters must also decide whether to pass a three–year collective bargaining agreement for $1,900 in salary and benefit increases for each Moore School teacher.

The warrant article asks voters to approve $83,347 overall in salaries for 2008-09, a number that will go up about 5 percent to $87,742 in 2009-10 and will remain the same for the following year.

The lower number in the first year reflects a decrease in health insurance costs to the school district for the coming year, said school district Business Administrator Karen Lessard.

The number for the second and third year of the agreement, $87,742, is a projection to account for when health insurance goes back up again.

“Legally, we have to give an estimated amount for each of the years the bargaining agreement is in place,” said Lessard, adding passing of the agreement would likely change the numbers slightly.

After several negotiating sessions starting in December, Caito said the School Board and teachers went to outside help to make deadlines for the deliberative session of School District Meeting on Saturday, Feb. 2, at 10:30 a.m.

“Unfortunately this time, we were not able to reach an agreement on our own, and we did need to bring in a third party to mediate,” Caito said. After only one session of mediation, a deal was struck on Jan. 3.

In the past decade, collective bargaining agreements have dealt in flat dollar amounts rather than percentage increases because of what Penfield said were rampant salary hikes.

“We consistently voted down teacher contracts for a while and we did it because with the percentage increase the teachers were getting, in the opinion I would say of people in town, the raises were out of control,” said Penfield.

Voters will be asked to disband Candia Budget Committee

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:53:00 GMT

BY JENN MCDOWELL

Candia voters will see a selectmen- petitioned warrant article at this year’s town vote asking whether the Budget Committee should remain in place.

The Candia Budget Committee is only three years old at this point, but selectmen Chairman Fred Kelly said the committee has made the budget process more complicated, adding an extra layer of government.

According to state laws governing the establishment of municipal budget committees, such committees can be set up and likewise removed through a majority town vote.

Article 35 on the town warrant asks whether the voter is in favor of rescinding the vote that approved a town budget committee. During their public hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 9, to present the town budget and warrant articles, Budget Committee members did not discuss the article to disband them.

Carla Penfield, Budget Committee chairman, said they did not discuss the article because it is not a monetary item.

Kelly said the Budget Committee has made it difficult to run the town by picking over budgets too critically. The effect trickles down to different departments who are on “pins and needles,” according to Kelly, over putting together their department budgets for the coming year.

“What I’m getting back from the town people, and maybe I don’t speak for everyone, feel the town ran much better without the Budget Committee,” Kelly said.

The Budget Committee trimmed more than $120,000 from the selectmen’s proposed operating budget, but did not eliminate specific lines from the budget.

Candia residents will now vote to approve an operating budget of $2,261,255 or accept a default budget that is about $4,000 more than that, at $2,265,781.

The 2008-09 budget also includes the first bond payment for the transfer station, which totals $219,000. The bond payment increased the bottom line of the budget from the current to next year’s by about 10 percent alone, Penfield said.

After the first two years of the bond, she said, the yearly payments will decrease steadily.

The Budget Committee voted not to approve several articles, including a few for the new transfer station submitted by the Fire Department and Solid Waste Committee. One of those asked for $75,000 for a 30,000- gallon cistern to be installed at the transfer station.

The Budget Committee did not recommend an article asking to raise $30,000 for a portion of the Candia Youth Athletic Association’s operating expenses. The committee also approved several hundred thousand dollars in road improvements, including $150,000 for the first phase of construction on Patten Hill Road.

Funding for the services of the Red Cross, Meals on Wheels, Lamprey Health Care, Visiting Nurses Association, Community Action Program, and Child and Family Services of New Hampshire also passed with the Budget Committee.

The deliberative session of Town Meeting will take place at 9 a.m. at the Moore School gymnasium on Saturday, Feb. 2.

Calls up – Police activity increases while department budget cut

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 19:51:00 GMT

BY SUSAN WARE

A typical week for the police in Candia includes a stolen F-350 pick-up truck crashing into a telephone pole and snapping it in half, leaving the transformer in the middle of the road; copper pipes stolen from vacant homes; a domestic assault arrest or two, several motor vehicle stops on Route 101 and new evidence in a 10-year-old felonious sexual assault case that needs investigating.

“Our numbers are way up over this time last year. At times it has been tough on my guys. We have a lot going on,” said Candia Police Chief Michael McGillen.

In 2006, from January through July, Candia police responded to 1,529 offenses.

In 2007, from January through July, they have responded to 1,727 offenses. An offense can be anything such as a suspicious vehicle, an open door to an assault, burglary or worse.

The rise in crime is tough on this small, six-officer department, which is already down one full-time officer, because in Candia, officers do it all. There are no detectives or other specialty departments, so when an officer responds to a call, they own it until the end.

Last year, McGillen lost a full-time officer who wanted a city assignment, and the town Budget Committee cut his payroll for two part-time officers, which provide crucial overlap during busy shifts, like Friday and Saturday nights.

He is currently searching for a full-time officer who wants to work in a rural setting and is going to ask the Budget Committee to reinstate funding for the two part-time officers. He also wants his budget for a new cruiser reinstated.

“New equipment is good for morale and enables us to do our job better. Replacing a cruiser every year is not a luxury, but a necessity,” said McGillen.

Seeming quiet on the surface, few days are spent patrolling Candia streets.

“The funny thing is that when some people see us doing our job by randomly patrolling neighborhoods, they think we have nothing to do,” said McGillen.

Candia has been prime for daytime break-ins and McGillen said that it is proven that the presence of cruisers deters would-be thieves.

McGillen is what he calls a working chief. He responds to calls and is often the first on the scene to back up his officers, especially when it is an underage party.

“Breaking up an underage party is chaos. Not only do you have to deal with all of the intoxicated minors, but later it is all the discontented parents. We can’t win,” said McGillen.

Responding to a call for an underage party strains resources and requires Candia to call in backup from neighboring towns.

When teenagers see police cruisers arrive, McGillen said that most panic and run, they jump off decks, out of second-story windows, all leaving their vehicles behind.

Candia police have a policy to tow all vehicles found at an underage party.

“We have to tow because later on the kids sneak back to their cars and if one of them gets behind the wheel and crashes, it will all come back on us,” said McGillen.

Another strain is domestic assault. On July 18 an officer responded to a domestic assault on Chester Road. The husband was accused of assaulting his wife and breaking items in the home, so the responding officer arrested him. The only officer on duty at the time, this took him off the street for two hours.

“Some people really don’t realize all that we do. Last year, residents did turn out in support of the department during the budget process. We are going to need that support again this year,” said McGillen.

Crime’s up but money’s tight - Candia Budget Committee trims proposed police budget

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 18:30:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

CANDIA – Candia Police Chief Michael McGillen said cuts in his department’s proposed budget – which will be up for deliberation at the upcoming Town Meeting – could hinder police productivity as the department has been dealing with increases in criminal activity, and will soon likely have to deal with some commercial and industrial growth.

The Candia Budget Committee trimmed the police department’s operating budget – as proposed by selectmen – by about $60,000.

Budget committee Chairman Brian Fortin said the police budget represents about a third of the town’s overall operating budget, and said the committee has labored to meet the department’s needs while also appeasing taxpayers.

The committee is recommending a budget of $608,189, which is about a 1.7 percent increase over the department’s current budget. McGillen had gotten support from selectmen to fund salaries for six full-time officers, plus the chief, along with four part-time officers and an annual request for a replacement cruiser. Those full-time positions were approved at the 2005 Town Meeting, said McGillen, though the department has recently been short one full-time officer since one recently took a job in neighboring Auburn.

On Dec. 29, the budget committee cut the proposed full-time wage line to reflect five full-time positions, or the current full-time staffing level, said Fortin. After a Jan. 10 public hearing, the committee voted to fund all six positions, but decreased the selectmen’s suggestion for part-time positions. Selectmen had requested $30,000 for part-time police wages, and that

number was trimmed to $17,000. The committee also zeroed-out a $24,500 request for a replacement cruiser, which McGillen said his said the department requests every year.

“I’m not sure that’s a good way of doing it,” McGillen said. Fortin said the committee made those changes after a presentation from McGillen and considerable input from residents.

“About half the people supported the police chief and his presentation, and I’d say about half didn’t support having another officer,” Fortin said.

McGillen said the vote came after he and other residents left the public hearing thinking it was completed.

As of press time, McGillen said he still hadn’t heard any “official” notice of the budget committee’s most recent decisions. He said if voters approved the budget as now proposed, he may have to come back in upcoming years with even greater requests.

McGillen said the department’s growth in recent years has been necessary as it deals with more criminal complaints, like the recent rash of home burglaries. Proposed commercial and industrial developments – like the Route 101 Exit 3 industrial park and the Liquid Planet Waterpark – could also tie up officers having to deal with more traffic issues, McGillen said.

“When you have guys in the office working on cases and doing followups, you don’t have guys on patrol,” McGillen said. Fortin stressed that the police budget is a “bottom line” budget, and said selectmen have authority to transfer funds from one line item to another, even after the budget is set at Town Meeting.

He said the committee, in reviewing the police budget, tried to strike “a balance between safety and financials.”