BY ROD HANSEN
The town and local school district operating budgets both met with rejection in Tuesday’s voting, sending both bodies to operate on a default budget.
The school district budget itself failed by the thinnest of margins, with a total of three votes deciding the difference.
However, school district voters approved all other measures on their ballot and town voters approved 913-391 to raise $151,727 in new road-plan money. A controversial proposal to expand hours and accessibility to Lake Horace throughout the year also failed, following pitched arguments on both sides of that debate. Those were among the main reasons that brought voters to the polls on Tuesday, March 13.
One of the most controversial items on the ballot came as a zoning ordinance, seeking to increase the minimum lot size in the rural/agricultural district to a minimum of 5 acres with a frontage requirement of 250 feet, plus a 20 percent density bonus for cluster developments. That article passed 757-551.
The town’s $4.3 million operating budget failed by a margin of 564-709.
The operating budget’s rejection means the town will operate on the default budget of $4.2 million. The default budget had already been trimmed prior to last month’s deliberative session of Town Meeting, when the $44,000, needed for a 3.5 percent raise for town employees was taken out, board of selectmen Chairman Heleen Kurk said.
Prior to Town Meeting season, Town Administrator Fred Ventresco said that voters had rejected the proposed operating budget several times in past years.
Two articles not recommended by the board of selectmen both also met with voter rejection.
The first requested $52,000 to hire an additional police officer. That item came with a projected 6-cent impact on the tax rate. Voters rejected this article by a margin of 352-925.
An article seeking two additional per-diem EMTs to staff the ambulance eight hours a day, seven days a week, beginning July 1, failed to gain voter acceptance by a margin of 751-511. That article sought $49,850 to fund the positions, with future funding to be included in the operating budget.
An article increasing access to Lake Horace saw voter rejection by a margin of 770-531. The article would have opened an additional boat launch at Chase Park and expanded the park’s hours of operation.
Steve Najjar, a member of the town’s conservation commission who submitted the article by petition, said the move would allow more people to fish on there throughout the year.
Opponents said the measure would have given uninspected boats a greater chance to enter the lake, increasing the opportunity for milfoil and other invasive plant species to infect waters.
Weare School District voting
Voters rejected the Weare school district budget of $11,931,990, by a razor-thin 646-643, sending the district to its $11.7 million default budget.
A new school support staff contract fared better, passing by a narrow 670-625. The article calls for $57,621 in new spending for the 2007-08 school year.
A $17,900 ballot item requesting new money for technology equipment passed with 682-611 of the vote.
Another article seeking the right to take $25,000 of any surplus at the end of the fiscal year to add to the School Building Repair Expendable Trust Fund, earned 751-542 voter approval. School officials said that money would most likely go toward roof repair at Center Woods Elementary School.
John Stark voting
Voters in Henniker and Weare supported a $11.8 million budget for the the John Stark School District by a vote of 1,001-886. The budget was projected to account for $5.33 per $1,000 of Weare’s tax rate.
Voters approved by a tally of 1,030-866 a proposed contract for the school support staff, with $58,077 to be raised in the current fiscal year.
The contract is expected to have a 45-cent tax impact in Weare and a 47-cent impact in Henniker, according to district figures.
Another article seeking to put up to $15,000 in surplus funds into a fund for water and septic repair. That article passed, 1,233-615. Another requested up to $15,000 in surplus funds to be placed in a fund for upgrading the school’s grounds and athletic fields. That article passed 1,166-683.