BY LAUREN SAUSSERThe Hookett Budget Committee finalized its municipal budget proposal, officially recommending more than $200,000 be cut from the proposed Police Department budget. The final budget figure, which includes revenues and expenditures of the Sewer Department, is $15.8 million – also the dollar figure townspeople will mull over ...

BY LAUREN SAUSSERDespite hopes that many residents would turn out from the municipal Budget Committee hearing on March 5, only two residents spoke out at the public hearing and the majority of the input criticized the committee for slashing the proposed Police Department budget by more than $200,000. Hooksett resident Vincent Lembo, a former ...

BY LAUREN SAUSSERThe Hooksett Budget Committee made deep cuts in the proposed Police Department budget, including significant erasures in the wages and benefits lines. The committee cut more than $200,000 from the $4.1 million budget that was recommended by the Town Council. Roughly $168,000 – enough money to hire a lieutenant detective and ...

BY GINGER KOZLOWSKIHooksett District Court was on the list of the governor’s budget cuts, but was removed from that list shortly after it was announced. To cut costs, Gov. John Lynch proposed consolidating eight district courts and save nearly $2 million a year. Critics said the plan would drive up salary and fuel costs for police forced to ...

BY LAUREN SAUSSERPopular ad campaigns aside, if 13-year-old Aidan White had his pick, he said he would choose a Mac. “I think it’s a little bit easier and quicker,” Aidan said, discussing the pros and cons of PCs and Macintosh computers as his seventh-grade French class at Cawley Middle School worked on multimedia presentations. ...

BY LAUREN SAUSSERThe Hooksett Budget Committee chairman said the Hooksett Police Department is spending money on items that were not approved by voters, and that they should be acting more transparently when it comes to big-ticket purchases. Specifically, Chairman John Pieroni told the Hooksett Town Council on Wednesday, Dec. 3, that the Police ...

BY STEVEN ANDREWS The operating budget facing voters will be $100,000 higher than the one initially proposed, thanks to an amendment which received overwhelming support by town employees and most of the crowd at the deliberative session of Town Meeting on Saturday, April 7. Budget committee member Vincent Lembo proposed the amendment, which ...

BY NICHOLAS BROWNHooksett Budget Committee members are willing to support a new contract for teachers if the school board members agree to support a $459,000 cut in their proposed operating budget. The committee recommended the proposals – which will appear as warrant articles at the upcoming annual School District Meeting – during a ...