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Towns line up for their share of the federal stimulus funds

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:31:00 GMT

BY MATT SCHOOLEY

State and town officials across New Hampshire have been preparing for the passing of the latest economic stimulus proposal, and now that it’s official, the waiting game begins for potential projects.

Several towns in the area began scrambling to finalize plans for projects in hopes that potential stimulus money could help fund some, if not all of the work.

In Hooksett, town officials scrambled to prepare a warrant article for residents to approve dealing with upgrades to the town’s wastewater treatment facility and compost facility.

The town is asking for $9.4 million for the project, with taxpayers paying 25 percent and the other $7 million coming from a potential grant from money made available to the state.

If the article is passed but the grant is not given to Hooksett, the article is voided.

“The article had to be rather vague, and the council had trouble getting their mind around it,” said Sewer Commission Chairman Sid Baines. “We did what we were supposed to do so we could be in the ballgame. We had to have something. We’re proposing something that can be adjusted at the floor.”

Bow taxpayers approved a sewer and water project in 2000, authorizing a $12 million bond designed to attract businesses to Route 3A.

The project has not yet gone forward for various reasons, but with plans for the stimulus coming closer to fruition, selectmen agreed to send the project out to bid in late January in order to be eligible when the proposal was passed.

Leon Kenison, chairman for the Board of Selectmen, said town officials have been cautiously optimistic as they hope for money to fund the project.

“On the one hand, we’re hopeful that we’ll be eligible for funding that will come through,” said Kenison. “However, on the other hand we are realists, and we know there are many others also seeking funding. It would certainly be nice if we could use some for this project.”

Bedford Town Manager Russ Marcoux said the town prepared a modest list of projects it hoped to have funded by the state, including work on Route 101.

In total, Bedford town officials asked for $8.45 million in projects from the state’s part of the stimulus money.

“Whatever money is put aside for local communities will be on first-come, first-serve and shovel-ready within a 90-day period. Most projects we can be ready if we have to be,” Marcoux said. “We’ve been in constant contact with the state throughout and we’re feeling fairly comfortable that it’ll be funded, but I am hesitant to say in total.”

In Gov. John Lynch’s recent proposed budget, he suggests suspending rebates on the room and meal tax and also revenue sharing, making up the difference with stimulus money.

Marcoux said those two areas would lead to a loss of a projected $1.88 million in revenues for the town, which would mean Bedford taxpayers would feel the impact of about 36 cents on the tax rate.

“I don’t think it’s been well thought out. There is no cookiecutter community financing. All of the towns are different,” Marcoux said. “For us to find out halfway through the year that we’ll lose revenue through the state is not conscionable to me. We need to be prepared.”

One project that will definitely receive assistance from the approved stimulus package will be the improvements on I- 93 at Exit 3 in Windham.

The project is currently out to bid, and project manager Peter Stamnas said with the down state of the economy, construction workers will be eager to get their hands on the work.

“We expect to receive a good number of bids. People are hungry, they’re sharpening their pencils and we’re getting competitive bids,” said Stamnas. “In most cases they just want to keep the people that they have employed. It’s going to keep people working, there’s no doubt about that.”

The project is being estimated at about $31 million, and was supposed to go out to bid last August until financial concerns delayed it.

Stamnas said seeing towns across the state preparing to receive stimulus money from the state is unlike anything he’s seen before.

“There’s always a line to get those available funds that are allotted for town infrastructure programs,” Stamnas said. “I think it tends to be years ahead that you have to plan. When there’s an opportunity for municipality to get the funding, it is a fairly rare occasion.

Many struggle to pay last year’s fuel bills, worry about future

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:36:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

It’s going to be a lot harder for the Hills family of Allenstown to stay afloat financially this year, with fuel prices hitting record highs.

Jeanne Hills babysits her toddler grandson, staying home while her husband and her adult children work. With the price of heating oil averaging more than $4.50 a gallon, according to the state Department of Energy and Planning, the future looks frightening.

The Hills got a decent price last year, but ended up spending a total of $2,281 on their oil deliveries between September 2007 and their most recent in May 2008. This year, they are likely going to spend much more than that to heat their home.

Hill added that her mother, a 70-year-old retired woman on a fixed income, had so much trouble trying to pay for the oil heat bills on her mobile home in Derry that she had to move in with Hill’s sister.

“I used to buy 150 gallons (per delivery) and had to go down to 100 gallons,” said Hills. “It wasn’t fitting in our budget. Prior to that first September bill, I was paying $240 for 150 gallons, and now for 100 gallons it was almost as much,” Hills said, adding she made good use of her wood stove last winter and would continue that practice this winter.

Not a bad idea, and one David Pearl of Hooksett has more than bought into. Pearl, who runs “Spotlight Video” out of his Main Street home, has two years’ worth of wood sitting in his back yard in preparation of the heating crunch.

Pearl does use oil, but stocks up on the wood each year, buying it wholesale at about $1,200 for a gigantic truckload that equals about 12 cords, a two-year supply.

At first, said Pearl, his wife, Joanne, wasn’t crazy about the the huge amount of wood in their backyard. “This year, she’s kind of on board; that it’s definitely worth it,” said Pearl. “You’re going to have to have heat one way or the other.”

Local governments under stress
Hooksett Town Administrator David Jodoin said most of the town’s buildings run on gas heat, the price of which is also on the rise.

Still, with energy prices increasing along with gasoline, Jodoin said there are going to be many trickle-down effects from the national and state levels to the towns.

“We will be forced, like many towns, to postpone paving if things get too tough and look at hours of operation, and possibly even layoffs,” Jodoin said. “Projections are impossible right now. The market on fuel is fluctuating way too much. All we can do is, like everyone else, pray that things stabilize.”

To heat the old Town Hall and the highway garage for the 2007-08 year cost Hooksett $11,768.42 said Finance Director Christine Soucie.

The only building in Candia that runs on oil is the old library, not in regular use. The heat has to stay on the lowest setting there so the pipes don’t freeze, said selectmen’s assistant Dawn Chabot.

That building alone cost $1,401.47 to heat between January and December 2007.

“It’s probably going to be double, if not triple, this year,” said Selectmen Chairman Fred Kelley, adding his own home cost about $1,000 to heat during this past winter.

Pembroke and Allenstown use little heating oil, as they sit almost directly on top of a gas line. Natural gas prices are also increasing, according to the Department of Energy and Planning, but not at the rate of oil increases. The average cost for natural gas is around $1.70 per unit on the high end.

“The major gas line that runs to Concord runs through Pembroke between Route 3 and the (Suncook) river,” said Pembroke Town Administrator Geoff Ruggles, adding that skyrocketing oil prices will have only a small effect on Pembroke.

The only Pembroke building using oil is the Perry Eaton building, the old police station, which also houses the Sewer Department.

Most of the town is also on gas, Ruggles said, but some residences in older sections may be on oil heat.

It’s basically the same story in Allenstown, where the majority of buildings – including the town hall, police and fire stations and recreation center – are on the same gas line that runs through neighboring Pembroke.

“I’m sure the rate will increase just like everything else,” said Police Chief Shaun Mulholland, agreeing with Jodoin that gasoline is going to have the biggest impact on the town’s budget.

The highway garage in Allenstown is a little bit different. “We actually heat the highway garage with waste oil,” said Selectman Tom Gilligan. “We have a waste oil burner that we put in years ago, and we continue to maintain and upgrade it. We also have a propane tank as a backup at the highway garage,” he said.

Epsom selectmen’s assistant Nancy Wheeler said the current town office building, the old Town Hall, and both the fire and police departments run on oil heat. The highway shed is the only town building that uses propane.

In 2007, she said, Epsom spent $13,738 on heating oil, coming within $150 of what they had budgeted for that year. Selectmen budgeted $15,475 for 2008 in anticipation of the historic meeting house, which was moved next to the old Town Hall, is completely renovated and becomes involved in the oil heat budget this year.

So far, the town has spent $8,188 of their 2008 heating oil budget line, with about three more months left to go between October and December.

Wheeler added the town was able to lock in a good rate at $2.34 per gallon, but will have to go out to bid again sometime in the next month. “If it goes up a dollar a gallon, based on what we used the second half of the year, we should be okay, but who knows?” said Wheeler.

Auburn Town Administrator Bill Herman said town is trying to juggle the rising costs of heating fuel, gas, and asphalt, and said those increases have exceeded their budget projections.

The Board of Selectmen is looking at installing a new, more energy efficient heating system in the town hall this year to help to defray some of the increase in oil heat costs down the road.

“Depending on the account, increases of 10 to 27.5 percent were included in the 2008 operating budget for anticipated fuel increases. It appears at this point those increases may not be enough to cover the expenses of heating the town buildings this year,” Herman said.

All town buildings except for the highway garage run on oil heat, he said, and rising heating fuel costs caused the budgets for both the police department and general government buildings, including the Town Hall, highway garage, and old police and fire stations, to run over budget in 2007-08.

So far in 2008, according to Herman, those accounts are getting close to their budgeted amounts, with at least three months left to heat on this year’s budget.