Pelham News : budget

Pelham Fire station fails

Salem Editor — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:28:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

A proposal that would have funded the construction of a new fire station failed to gain a threefifths majority at yesterday’s polls, marking the third time in recent years voters have rejected replacing the existing out-of-code firehouse.

At the final tally, the vote was 1,734 against, 1,057 in favor.

About 32 percent of registered voters showed up at the polls.

A series of zoning proposals that included a measure extending Pelham’s business zone along Route 38 did pass among voters, opening up the nearly 102 acres for potential use as office space, health clubs and retail shopping.

Voters also turned out in favor of the town’s $10,592,277 operating budget and narrowly approved the school district’s proposed $24,007,621 operating budget.

Competing for an open seat on the Board of Selectmen, former town selectman Edmund Gleason (1,365) defeated rival George Puddister (1,109). Lorraine Dube (1,119) and write-in candidate Deb Ryan (1,274) both won open seats on the school board.

Fire station warrant moves to Pelham ballot

Salem Editor — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:50:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

A petitioned warrant article calling for the raising of $4.7 million for a new fire station came through the town’s Feb. 3 deliberative session largely intact.

A single amendment made to the article – proposed by Douglas Viger, chairman of the Board of Selectmen – changed the wording to give the town the flexibility to raise up to $4.7 million or less, depending on the construction costs, were voters to pass the article in March.

Though the article came without a recommendation from either selectmen or the Budget Committee, supporter Bill Scanzani told residents that moving to build a new fire station now would save money in the long run.

Scanzani said the loss of impact fees and the price tag associated with renovating the existing fire station and constructing outbuildings for the fire apparatus would cost taxpayers roughly $1 million in the next year.

“We can’t afford the alternative, which is not building it now,” he said.

Complicating the matter, Pelham is considering two proposed roundabouts to ease the traffic situation in the center of town. Both plans would be supported by $3.9 million in federal funding, but plan A requires the construction of a new fire station.

The alternative option would cut the department’s capabilities in half and add to response times by bricking up the building’s front access, according to Acting Fire Chief James Midgley. Selectman Harold Lynde broke with the rest of the board and urged residents to support both the plan A and the construction of a new firehouse.

“The selectmen made a decision based on the perception they felt it was improper to ask the taxpayers (for the fire station) in this economy. That would be valid if we were not going to sock them in the next couple of years,” Lynde said. “While I understand the sentiment, I think we end up penalizing the taxpayers with this decision. I respectively disagree with the majority of the board. I think it is the right thing to do with the least cost.”

Supporters indicated that they would be asking voters to approve the same proposed fire station selectmen backed last year, which failed on the ballot.

Residents also restored $2,447 to the library’s budget – the single amendment made to the town’s proposed operating budget of $10,592,277.

Pelham police cruisers may be replaced all at once

Salem Editor — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 01:27:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

Police Chief Joseph Roark is hoping to update and replace his existing fleet of police cruisers with the lease of seven new Chevrolet Impalas next year.

While the police department typically makes an annual purchase of two Ford Crown Victorias to replace older vehicles with higher mileage that are phased out of service, Roark is hoping to save money on maintenance in the long term by starting from scratch with a new fleet of low mileage vehicles.

“The idea behind it is ultimately to lower my maintenance and repair bills while at the same time lowering my initial capital outlay,” Roark said. “For less money in terms of maintenance and capital outlay and repair, I can lease seven new cruisers for what I normally do purchasing two new vehicles.”

In contrast to the more spacious, eight-cylinder engine, rear-wheel drive Crown Victoria, the Chevrolet Impala runs on a six-cylinder engine and front-wheel drive. Despite the smaller engine, Roark said the Chevrolet will be more gas efficient, boast better handling during winter weather conditions and will last longer under warranty.

Roark estimates that the switch will save him as much as 12.5 percent on his annual maintenance and repair costs, which does not include the anticipated fuel savings for the six-cylinder cruiser.

“I should actually be outlaying less money a year (by buying a new fleet) than purchasing the two. It’s a fiscally promising program,” Roark said.

Departments in Londonderry and Derry have begun leasing vehicles, as has the neighboring town of Windham, which made the switch to Chevrolet Impalas last spring with the leasing of two of the vehicles. Now the Windham police department has four of the marked Impalas and two more that are being used as administrative vehicles. Windham Chief Gerald Lewis said he has been pleased with their performance so far.

“Essentially, we did what Pelham does: buy a couple cars a year to replace several cars of high mileage that were prone to breaking down or prone to more maintenance,” Lewis said. “We saw this as an opportunity to update our fleet more universally and have a more mechanically sound, efficient fleet.”

Lewis warned that it was still too early to tell for sure if Windham would make the transition to Chevy Impalas permanent or not. With the vehicles all under three-year leases, Lewis said the town and the department would review their performance when the time came.

“We have to see how the Chevy holds up to the rigors of police work, which is they get a little bit more use, more stop and go, harder turns, harder breaking, and things of those nature. Alternators and batteries, they’re all impacted by the type of service they perform,” he said. “We’ll evaluate that over the next few years.”

Roark is now waiting for selectmen to decide if the money allocated for the leasing of the new vehicles should come out of the town’s operating budget, or through a warrant article at the next town meeting. He said the idea had received positive reviews from selectmen and the Budget Committee, though he would prefer the leases to go into the operating budget in order to replace the line item for the purchase of two new Crown Victorias.

“When you’re only purchasing two vehicles at a time, and I have seven marked vehicles in my fleet, you’re only replacing a portion of the fleet – a third at a time,” Roark said. “By leasing, if I replace my whole fleet I can turn those over in three years when they’re around 80,000 miles and still under warranty so I can save significantly under expenses.”

Pelham Fire Department faces budget cuts

Salem Editor — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:30:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

Facing rising costs and potentially restricting budget constraints for next year, Fire Chief Michael Walker remains supportive of a move by selectmen to keep the budget under control.

“They’re taking on the responsibility and following what they feel is a public mandate to try and find out what’s the best efficiency for the town,” he said. “I think they’ve got a lot of guts doing it.”

While nothing is set in stone until after the voters approve the budget next March, Walker is preparing to reconcile rising expenses with a budget that does not reflect those increased costs. In the short term, it translates into more overtime and a delay in purchasing new equipment or repairing older pieces of machinery.

“The only motivation is to deliver the best possible service under the budget,” Walker said. “What I decided to do, if we were going to have a limited budget, we were going to focus that into the training and focus on delivering the best service possible.”

The tightened budget comes as Walker must allocate $92,000 extra toward contractual obligations this year. In order to keep his finances on target, he had to cut $128,000 going to equipment, supplies and manpower.

In the event one of his firefighters takes time off or is injured, Walker may have to reduce the size of his shifts from four men to three. If the station receives multiple calls at once, the firefighters on duty will be forced to choose between waiting for reinforcements to show up or fighting a fire understaffed.

Walker has also been using emergency medical supplies – stockpiled in the event of an emergency – to stock his ambulances in order to defer the rising costs of the supplies. Not all of the supplies are transferable and of those that are, there is a limited amount.

The ability to purchase new equipment – like a backup hose, which would give Walker the ability to test his equipment without taking a fire engine out of service – does not look likely in the next year.

According to Shawn Buckley, a firefighter with seven years of experience in Pelham, the situation has been getting tougher for the department over the past year and a half.

“We went a month without buying soap to wash the trucks,” he said. “We were doing really good for a while.”

Though the department currently needs a new ambulance, new gear, and repair parts for several engines, including the backup forestry unit, Buckley does not see any of it coming through any time soon.

“Every little thing seems to add up,” Walker said. “We are going to continue to give superior service. We are going to do what we have to do.”

Selectman Harold Lynde said the intent of the board had never been to drastically cut the budgets of town departments, but to try and hold the line when it came to spending. While Walker presented a bare bones estimate at their request, the selectmen plan to review each of Pelham’s departments before presenting to the Budget Committee.

“We’re going to take into account any of the cutbacks. I know we’ve run across several of those things. We’re going to add those things back in,” Lynde said. “The level of service we have provided has diminished from what it has been. We are mindful of holding the line but also of obligations to provide adequate service.”

Lynde said voters may have been reacting to higher taxes and the downturn in the economy when they voted against the operating budget in March, but he did not think Pelham’s residents had intended to slash and burn the town’s budget.

By not voting for the approval of a police contract, he said the town had lost several good police officers, some of whom had not received a raise in three years.

“I think some people just vote no to say we’re spending too much money and not thinking that they’re going to get impacted by the level of service,” he said. “I don’t think people really want to diminish this capacity, but we have.”

For his part, Walker said he is working more closely with the neighboring town of Windham to provide adequate coverage of Pelham during any emergency that might arise.

Town ballot includes second attempt for new fire station

Salem Editor — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:03:00 GMT

By Darrell Halen

A request for a new central fire station – the second attempt by officials in two years to win approval for a new building for firefighters – is on Pelham’s 2008 town warrant.

On Tuesday, Feb. 5, voters will be able to discuss and debate that warrant article, and about 20 others, when they gather for the deliberative session of town meeting.

The session will be held at Pelham Elementary School and starts at 7 p.m.

Selectmen are asking voters to approve a $4.273 million bond article for the $4.8 million construction project, and would use $527,000 in impact fees. The building would be constructed south of the village green and across from the police station.

Last year, a warrant article to fund a new fire station at a maximum price of $7.3 million did not win the 60 percent majority it needed to pass.

Fire officials have complained that their station, which opened in 1972, is too small, forcing them to store some of their vehicles outside.

There is also inadequate sleeping quarters for firefighters, not enough storage space, and inadequate space in the garage for people to work on vehicles.

The proposed operating budget for 2008 is $10,877,184. The default budget, the previous budget with certain adjustments, is $10,583,535.

Two warrant articles deal with collective bargaining agreements.

An agreement with the police union calls for increases of salaries and benefits of $140,049 this year and $119,483 in 2009.

The pact with public works and municipal workers provides for increases of salaries and benefits of $44,572 in 2008, $69,446 in 2009 and $69,096 in 2010.

New high school tops warrants at deliberative session

Salem Editor — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:59:00 GMT

By Darrell Halen

Some big ticket items are on the Pelham School District ballot this year, and voters will get a chance to weigh in on them, and other warrant articles, at the district’s deliberative session.

Voters will meet on Wednesday, Feb. 6, starting at 7 p.m., at Pelham Elementary School.

Three of the most expensive warrant articles being recommended by the School Board deal with Pelham High School – purchasing land for a new school, constructing the building and adding an auditorium to it.

A $3 million bond article would authorize the school district to buy two parcels of land, totaling approximately 48 acres, off Windham Road on which to build the new school. The district has signed a purchase and sale agreement with the landowners.

The construction and original equipping of the new high school is being proposed in a $44,665,000 bond warrant article. Of that amount, $41,411,000 is for the high school project, while $3,254,000 is to renovate the current high school into a school for grades 7 and 8.

A $3,116,000 bond article would fund the addition of an auditorium at the new high school.

All three bond articles require a 60 percent majority to pass when voters go to the polls on Tuesday, March 11. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the high school.

Passage of the school construction and renovation article is contingent upon the land purchase being approved. Likewise, passage of the auditorium article is contingent upon the new school being approved.

The Budget Committee is recommending that the land be purchased, but it is opposed to the new buildings.

The land and auditorium would each be financed with a five-year bond, while the new school and renovations would be paid for with a 25-year bond.

The school district has estimated that the highest tax impacts per $1,000 of assessed property valuation are 32 cents for the land, $2.12 for the school and renovations and 33 cents for the auditorium.

Officials believe that if voters approve the project in March, the new school would be completed by September 2010.

The school district’s proposed 2008-09 operating budget is $24,165,115. If the budget is rejected by voters in March, a default budget of $23,768,163 – the current budget plus certain adjustments – goes into effect.

Other warrants

Almost all of the other warrant articles seek to add new staff positions, increase pay for workers, upgrade technology or make capital improvements, as requested by the School Board. These include:

• $48,851 to give nonunion workers a 3 percent salary increase.

• $64,450 for the salary and benefits of a special education teacher/case manager to support students with disabilities at the high school.

• $64,450 for the salary and benefits of a health/physical education teacher to support the health curriculum and the elementary school.

• $12,382 for a part-time custodian at the elementary school.

• $64,450 for salary and benefits to add a sixth-grade teacher at Memorial School.

• $32,225 to add a business teacher at the high school.

• $64,450 for salary and benefits to add a social studies teacher at the high school.

• $53,991 to continue providing child-benefit services to St. Patrick School.

• $183,333 to fund the third year of the school district’s technology plan.

• $140,000 to replace the parking lot and add additional parking spaces at Memorial School.

• Add $50,000 to the district’s maintenance capital reserve fund

The Budget Committee is not recommending the new social studies teacher, part-time custodian, special education manager and parking lot improvements.

Supporters seek to restore library budget

Salem Editor — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:14:00 GMT

By Darrell Halen

Supporters of the Pelham Public Library, unhappy that the Budget Committee reduced its funding for this year, will try to put $16,000 back into the library’s budget at the deliberative session of Town Meeting.

Library trustees had asked for $245,308 for 2008. The Budget Committee cut that figure to $216,978 – about what the library’s budget was in 2004 – and 5 percent less than last year.

According to library director Sue Hoadley, about a dozen library supporters -– staff, trustees, Friends of the Library in Pelham and others – attended the Budget Committee’s Jan. 15 reconsideration hearing in hopes of restoring some funding.

But John Lavallee, Budget Committee chairman, said at the meeting that the panel didn’t want to hear anything about the library unless it was new information, according to Hoadley.

As a result of the budget cut, library hours have already been scaled back from 50 hours to 42 hours a week and most full-time salaries were reduced by close to 5 percent.

The Budget Committee had suggested that a 40-hour-a-week adult services position be reduced to 20 hours, said Hoadley.

Lavallee said previously that many town departments took a hit in their new budgets and that Hoadley can “make it work” with less money. Many taxpayers are angry about higher property tax bills they received last month and are facing expensive proposals on the ballot in March, including a new high school and new fire station, he said.

Hoadley said library supporters at the deliberative session will ask that $16,000 be added to the town’s budget to bring the library’s funding to $232,978.

That money will allow the library to return to 50 hours, restore pay for full-time workers and provide them with a 3 percent cost of living adjustment and raise pay for part-time workers.

“It’s a small amount of money, but it will make a world of difference for the library,” Hoadley said.

The town budget can be changed at the deliberative session as long as a majority of voters present support it. The session begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 5, at Pelham Elementary School.

Voters will accept or reject the budget when they go to the polls in March. If they reject it, a default budget – the previous year’s budget with certain adjustments – would go into effect. That would mean the library would be at its 2007 spending level.

Selectmen slash budget back to 2004 levels

Salem Editor — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:52:00 GMT

By Darrell Halen

Trustees have cut back the Pelham Library’s weekly operating hours by eight hours following a cut to the library’s budget in the town’s proposed 2008 operating budget.

The library is now opening at 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. on weekdays. And instead of staying open until 8 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays, it will remain open until 8 p.m. only on Tuesdays.

The library is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays, and closed on Sundays. The new hours went into effect Jan. 2.

The reduction from 50 hours to 42 hours a week, Library Director Sue Hoadley said, is necessary because the library’s 2007 spending was cut 5 percent in the new budget.

The library’s 2007 budget is $228,756. Trustees asked for $245,308 for 2008. Instead, Hoadley said, the Budget Committee cut that to $216,978.

The reduction puts the library’s spending where it was in 2004.

“They went backwards,” Hoadley said. “We’re now funded at the 2004 level. That’s how far back we’ve gone.”

Committee members suggested that a 40-hour-a-week adult services position be scaled back to 20 hours, she said.

The woman who held the position retired at the end of August. A replacement, Robin Murphy, was hired in November, but she resigned about six weeks later after most full-time salaries were reduced by close to 5 percent.

There are a few opportunities for trustees to get money restored in their 2008 budget. They can ask the Budget Committee to reverse its position during a Tuesday, Jan. 15, budget reconsideration hearing.

If that fails, they can ask voters to restore the money during the town’s Tuesday, Feb. 5, deliberative session.

Should the town’s proposed operating budget be rejected by voters at the polls in March, the town would operate under a default budget and the library’s spending would be at its 2007 level.

In 2007, patrons checked out 83,824 books, videos, magazines and audio books. Circulation has been on the rise: 74,076 in 2006, 69,924 in 2005 and 57,135 in 2004.

“This is a big jump,” Hoadley said. “The numbers keep going up every year, but our staffing has remained the same the last four years.”

John Lavallee, the Budget Committee chairman, said many town departments took a hit in their new budgets.

“She’s very efficient, a very good librarian,” Lavallee said. “She can find a way to make it work. That’s not a lot of money.”

Many taxpayers are angry about the higher tax bills they received last month, he said, and in March they will face many spending requests, including a proposed new central fire station, high school and police union contract.

“It’s going to be a tough year,” Lavallee said.

Three file for vacant seat

Salem Editor — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:48:00 GMT

BY DARRELL HALEN

At least three people are interested in filling a vacant seat on the Pelham Board of Selectmen.

Brian O’Hearn, school district moderator Ken Dunne, and former Selectman William McDevitt have applied to be appointed to the seat that Ed Gleason vacated on Oct. 9.

Selectmen will choose Gleason’s successor. The candidates for the position will be interviewed at the board’s Tuesday, Nov. 6 meeting.

Gleason announced that he was stepping down because his goals and objectives couldn’t be reached in the “current environment,” and that they may have been contributing to disharmony on the board and with the town’s Budget Committee. Selectmen said they were surprised by his decision.

The person who is chosen to replace Gleason will serve out the remaining four months of his term, which was set to expire in March.

The appointment will mark the second time this year that someone has been put on the board to fill a vacancy. In June, Tom Domenico, who moved to North Easton, Mass., with his family, was replaced by former Budget Committee member Doug Viger.

Teacher contract passes

Salem Editor — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:22:00 GMT

BY DARRELL HALEN

When the results were announced, a group of teachers clapped and cheered.

A three-year teacher’s contract was approved by Pelham voters 396-331 during a special vote on Tuesday, Oct. 23, at Pelham Memorial School.

“It was a little close, a lot closer than I would have predicted,” said a relieved and happy Susan Harden, president of the Pelham Education Association. “I’m shocked. Amazed.”

The contract was not recommended by the town’s Budget Committee, and Harden said before the polls closed that she viewed that as a huge obstacle for the union to overcome.

“I usually don’t agree with them, but a lot of Pelham does,” she said.

After a proposed contract providing annual salary increases averaging 5 percent was rejected in March, representatives of the school district and the union revised the agreement. A Superior Court judge approved the School Board’s request to hold the special vote.

The special district warrant article that voters passed calls for increases in salaries and benefits of $283,514 in 2007-08, $324,437 in 2008-09 and $340,600 in 2009-10.

Teachers will receive salary increases of $1,760 in the first year, $1,840 in the second year and $1,920 in the third year. Increases will average 3.5 percent in the first year, and 4 percent in the second and third years.

Because the 2007-08 school year has already begun, some of this year’s increase will be paid retroactively, Harden said.

Harden said lowering pay hikes in the revised contract – putting them in line with increases approved for other school employees – probably helped the agreement pass.

The new contract also provides an increase in pay for extracurricular positions of 3.5 percent during the first year only, and it adds nine new extracurricular positions.

It also changes the school district’s contribution toward health insurance costs.

Currently, the school district pays the equivalent of 85 percent of the most expensive health care plan to all plans. So for cheaper plans, the district’s contribution is higher. Under the contract just passed, the district’s contribution decreases to 80 percent by the third year.

Contributions to health care costs had been a major issue in the debate over the contract. The cost-sharing change in the revised contract was the same as the one rejected in March, and opponents had argued that teachers should be making greater contributions to their health insurance premiums.

Harden and other proponents called the revised agreement a fair contract, and argued that the town needs to retain good teachers and that the union was making concessions in health care contributions.

A little more than 8 percent of registered voters went to the polls. During the early evening, four supporters stood outside the school waving to voters as they drove in.

Several residents said they were not aware of any organized campaign against the contract.

Leading up to the vote, the teachers union mailed 1,000 post cards to parents of school children and other possible supporters. The mailings were followed up with phone calls from union members. Fliers were also distributed at Pelham High School’s homecoming. The union spent about $500 to get its message out, and got advice from the National Education Association office in New Hampshire, Harden said.

Thumbs down – Budget Committee won’t recommend teacher contract

Salem Editor — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 20:09:00 GMT

BY DARRELL HALEN

For the second time in a year, a proposed teacher contract will go before Pelham voters without the blessing of the town’s Budget Committee.

During its Thursday, Aug. 30, meeting, the panel voted 7-3 to not recommend the contract at a special town meeting. One member abstained.

John Lavallee, the group’s chairman, said after the meeting that teachers should be contributing more toward their share of health insurance premiums.

And he doesn’t believe the situation the school district is in justifies holding an emergency town meeting.

Last March, voters rejected a new three-year contract in a 1,491 to 1,187 vote. The budget committee did not support it.

Representatives of the school district and the Pelham Education Association went back to the bargaining table and revised the contract. Last month, a Superior Court judge allowed the school district to hold a special meeting.

Instead of offering salary increases averaging 5 percent each year, as the rejected contract did, the revised contract offers raises averaging 3.5 percent in the first year, and 4 percent in the following two years: $1,760 in 2007-08, $1,840 in 2008-09, and $1,920 in 2009-10.

The increases in the rejected contract were $2,430, $2,340 and $2,455.

Under the revised agreement, a new teacher with a bachelor’s degree would earn $32,100 in 2007-08. His or her salary will climb to $33,940 in 2008-09 and to $35,860 in 2009-10.

“I felt it was a fair contract,” said Donna Strasburger, a member of the teacher’s negotiating team, when she left the meeting. “It’s a cost-of-living equal with what the rest of the town employees have received.”
For some Budget Committee members, the amount of money teachers are contributing to health insurance is an issue.

Currently, the school district’s contribution to health insurance plans is the equivalent of 85 percent of the most expensive plan regardless of which plan teachers select.

Although the revised agreement provides for smaller raises, it retains the same cost-sharing plan that was in the rejected contract – the district’s contribution will decrease to 80 percent by the third year of the agreement.

Lavallee said that some teachers are paying very little toward their health insurance.

Like the rejected contract, the revised one calls for stipends for co-curricular positions, such as athletic coaches and club advisers, to increase 3.5 percent in the first year and remain unchanged the following two years.

The revised agreement, however, includes nine new co-curricular positions that will be added over three years.

The warrant article that has been written for the special town meeting calls for salaries and benefits to increase $283,514 in 2007-08, $324,437 in 2008-09, and $340,600 in 2009-10.

The agreement will be subject to debate at a deliberative session on Tuesday, Sept. 25, at Pelham Elementary School. The meeting begins at 7 p.m.

Voters will accept or reject the contract when they go to the polls on Tuesday, Oct. 23, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Pelham High School.

The warrant article they rejected in March called for increases of $392,033 in 2007-08, $396,307 in 2008-09, and $413,038 in 2009-10.

Bruce Couture, chairman of the School Board, said residents who want stability in their tax rate should approve the contract this fall, rather than letting the teachers go to March without a contract.

“It really wasn’t up to us to consider it an emergency,” Couture said of the request for a special meeting. “We presented our case to the court and they deemed it an emergency. So we acted accordingly.”

Voting to support the contract were Robert Sherman, Philip McColgan and Eleanor Burton, the School Board’s representative to the Budget Committee.

Voting against recommending it were Lavallee, Greg Farris, Larry Hall, Dan Guimond, Marti Lowe, Joe Puddister, and Ed Gleason, the board of selectmen’s representative.

Dennis Viger, whose wife is a Pelham teacher, abstained from voting.