By Dan O’Brien Recent statewide budget cuts to welfare-related services could affect Allenstown hard. The cuts include funding for funeral expenses for those supported by the Aid to the Totally and Permanently Disabled program; a 50 percent cut in an emergency assistance program that typically pays for emergency rent or utility bills for ...

BY JILLIAN JORGENSENThe town manager presented a $22,410,681 budget to the Town Council on Oct. 14, meeting the Town Council’s guidance of no more than a 2 percent increase over the town’s portion of the 2009 municipal tax rate. The town tax rate for 2010 in Town Manager Russell Marcoux’s proposed budget is $4.13 per $1,000 in ...

BY DERRICK PERKINSFacing state funding reductions and revenue shortfalls in what the town manager described as the “worst economic climate in 70 years,” selectmen made their first review of the recommended $41.3 million town operating budget for 2010 on Aug. 31. According to Town Manager Jonathan Sistare, officials were already ...

BY DERRICK PERKINSThe question of how to improve and possibly restructure municipal government while fostering a more active citizenry dominated a public discussion hosted by the Charter Commission on July 2. The town’s newly formed commission took suggestions from about a dozen members of the public, listening to ideas including making it ...

By MATT SCHOOLEYCity school officials are drafting a pay-to-participate policy that would include athletics, a policy that many say would have negative consequences at all three city high schools, but particularly bad at West High School. Facing a budget crisis that could lead to layoffs in the city, Manchester school officials discussed the ...

BY DERRICK PERKINSSelectmen are preparing to take a hard look at the town’s finances as they face a potential loss of $1.3 million in state funding to the municipality at the start of July. Budget Committee Chairman Peter Rayno urged selectmen to take a creative and radical approach to budgeting this year during a joint workshop between his ...

By Lauren Sausser Hooksett School Board members are concerned about the kind of education the town’s high school students will receive given budgeting problems in the city of Manchester. At the School Board meeting on Tuesday, June 2, they did not publicly speculate on whether legal action would be necessary surrounding budget cuts to ...

By Kathleen D. Bailey Allenstown will hold a special Town Meeting on Saturday, June 13, to see if residents will approve a bond issue for $1,625,000 to upgrade the town’s aging wastewater treatment facility, with half the money to be reimbursed by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the other half to be paid from the ...

By MATT SCHOOLEY Bucking the Town Meeting trend from recent years, Bow voters decided to add money to the operating budget rather than directing selectmen to make significant cuts. On Wednesday, May 13, residents filled the Bow High School auditorium to vote on the warrant, but the meeting was tabled after four hours of debate that covered only ...

BySARAH LEBRUN Weare school officials are considering a plan to combine high school and elementary school students on the same buses, which would, in turn, change all school start times. “We’re looking to reduce three buses, which (would save) $120,000 in Weare,” said Doug White, SAU 24 superintendent of schools. According to ...