Goffstown municipal employees will feel the pinch next year, with the town cutting cost-of-living adjustments and switching to new insurance plans for nonunion employees.

“This is not an easy topic, and I think we all know it. I think the employees of the town know it,” Scott Gross, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said Monday night. “We’re not trying to save the town on the backs of our employees.”

The town has historically given nonunion employees cost-of-living adjustments of 4 percent a year, but voted last night 4-1 to cut that to 2 percent for all nonunion employees.

Selectman Nick Campasano voted against the motion, after introducing a motion that would have given a 4 percent cost-of-living adjustment as a lump sum payment to anyone who was not scheduled to receive a step raise that year. People with one to eight years on the job are given step raises; after eight years, employees begin receiving longevity pay, which is paid in lump sums and capped at a set amount.

Campasano said he felt an across the board percentage created a disparity, with some people receiving just the cost-of-living adjustment and others their step raises. Other members of the board agreed that was an issue, and also discussed a need to revisit the town’s pay structure matrix for employees, but said they did not know the potential savings or unintended effects of Campasano’s motion.

The cut of the cost-of-living adjustment from 4 percent to 2 percent for nonunion employees will save the town $48,246, Town Administrator Sue Desruisseaux said.

In order to reduce what Desruisseaux said was a 17 Officepercent increase in health insurance costs, she also recommended changes to insurance plans for nonunion employees to the board.

Next year there will be two managed-care insurance plan options for nonunion employees, instead of three. The price of copayments and prescriptions will rise, and there will be a deductible for some services, such as CT scans and hospital stays. Desruisseaux said the town did have enough time to consider higher-deductible plans, noting that they would be a more drastic change from current plans.

The vote passed 3-2, with Selectmen Steven Fournier and Vivian Blondeau voting against.

The town also voted to purchase two fire vehicles and four vehicles for the Department of Public Works through lease purchasing, pending a look at how the payments, spread over five years, will fit in the capital improvement plan.

If approved after the review, the town will spend $1 million to purchase two vehicles, an engine and a tanker-pumper, over five years. Fire Chief Richard O’Brien originally asked for the engine this year and the tanker next, but purchasing them together reduced the cost. The estimated yearly payment, at a current interest rate of 4.65 percent will be $218,580. There is more than $100,000 in a capital reserve fund for the department that could be applied to the first payment.

The board voted 4-1 in favor. Fournier voted against, after questioning O’Brien about the need for more trucks.

In a separate motion the board also voted to lease-purchase four vehicles for the Department of Public Works. That would cost $981,700 over five years, and combines the department’s anticipated major purchasing needs for 2010 and 2011. With the current interest rate the yearly payment would be $222,312. That motion passed 4-1, with Fournier voting against.