Police Chief Patrick Sullivan told the Goffstown Board of Selectmen this week that he has exceeded his budget for police details, largely due to the New Hampshire presidential primary.

Sullivan said he is already $2,000 over his original budget of $60,000 for police details. He said the town spent about $15,000 on details in January alone because of the Democratic and Republican presidential debates at Saint Anselm College.

Sullivan estimates that by the end of the year the town will be $30,000 over budget. Since police details are reimbursed by the businesses or other private organizations that require them, the overage will not affect the tax rate. But Sullivan said it still would affect the Police Department budget because he has to balance it at the end of the fiscal year.

At the Monday, July 7, selectmen meeting, he proposed that the town establish a revolving account that would separate revenue and spending on police details from the general town fund. The town may also consider setting aside a similar revolving account for the Fire Department, according to Town Administrator Sue Desruisseaux.

Selectman Scott Gross said he thought the revolving fund was a good idea. But at least one board member has some reservations. John Caprio said he did not want to sequester police detail revenue from the general fund.

Rails grant
In other business, selectmen accepted a state grant, allowing the town to begin work on transforming an old railroad bed into a recreational corridor, connecting Pinardville to Goffstown Village.

The $29,800 grant was part of a trail program run by the Department of Resources and Economic Development. It had to be matched by $14,900 in volunteer labor, town labor and town materials, according to David Pierce, the vice president of Friends of the Goffstown Rail Trail, a community organization.

The money will be bundled with a similar grant the town received in 2007, funding drainage and grading work around one-third of a mile of the trail centered around the Goffstown Parks and Recreation Department facility on Mast Road and 3,000 feet of the trail between Moose Club Park Road and the town border with Manchester.

The town also plans to have bollards installed to keep cars out and an exit created from the end of the trail to Sarette Field in Pinardville, Pierce said.

“It is the first actual trail reconstruction undertaken by the town since they purchased the land,” he said.

Pierce said the town will seek out contractors for the rail trail the end of this month. The work should be completed in late August or early September.

Friends of the Goffstown Rail Trail also will continue its volunteer cleanup days, which are the third Saturday of every month, from 9 a.m. to noon.