BY ROD HANSEN
The road improvement plan appearing on the March Town Meeting warrant comes after selectmen made a last-minute cut to the item’s proposed dollar value.
Selectmen agreed to take $600,000 out of next year’s road improvement program, which is the only way budget committee members said they would endorse that ballot item.
Though the reduction gained unanimous approval at a special selectmen’s meeting on Friday, Jan. 26, at least one board member said he cast his vote with reservations.
“There will be neighborhood projects that won’t be able to get done,” said Selectman Phil D’Avanza.
“It’s no longer the same plan. If you’ve got a 20-year road plan, there are things that need to get done every year. If you cut money out of it, you’re just pushing it out further.”
D’Avanza added he anticipated projects on Snook and Mountain roads would most likely be affected by the cuts.
The reduction to the $2.07 million road improvement plan ensured budget committee approval of that item, D’Avanza said.
In turn, this would keep the town from violating a Department of Revenue Administration regulation forbidding all items posted prior to the first session of Town Meeting from exceeding the budget committee’s recommendation by more than 10 percent.
The change in the road plan will not affect the town’s $16.7 million operating budget, because the road plan appears as a special article, D’Avanza said.
The road plan article is one of a few controversial items on this year’s warrant, which voters can discuss and amend at the deliberative session of Town Meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m. Voting is set for Tuesday, March 13.
Water/sewer plans
Another highly anticipated item on the warrant calls for $2.5 million for water improvements to Pinardville’s Lynchville/Danis Park neighborhood.
Project supporters say the improvements will come at no cost to taxpayers, with $1.6 million of the project to be bonded and paid for through user fees, while the remainder will come from grants and interest. The current project would only address the neighborhood’s water system, though sewer, road and drainage improvements have also been called for.
TIF district
Another ballot item revisits the prospect of a Tax Increment Finance (TIF) district, which failed to earn voter support last year.
The proposed TIF district would provide a reserve fund for taxes generated by new development within the confines of that district, Town Planner Steve Griffin said.
The district would be located in the commercial-industrialized flex zone for the purpose of creating about 1,500 feet of road. The construction would take place where no development is proposed under the transmission lines between Tatro Drive and Greer Road.
School District Meeting
A $33 million operating budget will be the largest item voters will face at this year’s School District Meeting.
The deliberative session of School District Meeting is set for Monday, Feb. 5, 7 p.m., at the auditorium of Goffstown High School. Voting on all warrant articles and candidates takes place March 13.
The school district budget also includes increases in the teachers contract, which covers 248 teachers, and reflects a 2.25 percent increase in teachers’ base pay. The contract reflects a $671,670 hike in overall teachers’ salary and benefits during 2007-08, the first of its five-year span.
Another article calls for $300,000 to be added to the Bartlett Elementary School Facilities Capital Reserve Fund, and another seeks $180,551 in increases for school support staff salaries and benefits.
These increases appear in the first year of a four-year contract recently approved by the school board and the support staff union.
Goffstown School Board members Lorry Cloutier, Scott Gross, and Ellen Vermokowitz all reach the end of their terms this year. A fourth position has opened to fill the remaining one year of Karen Pratt’s term, who recently announced her resignation for personal reasons.