2006/2007 Warrant Articles
Every year, there are items that are not part of the "official" budget yet have a dollar amount attached to them that either the Town wishes to single out or that a group of taxpayers have signed a petition in order to have items placed on the ballot as a warrant article. This past BudComm meeting, we were presented with such items. For your convenience, I have set up a table for these items:
Please note that the BudComm have already voted on the Ambulance Replacement ($50K), Bridge Replacement (2nd year of a two year funding of $271,600 / year), and a Highway Equipment ($30K).
| Current BudComm Budget | $10,258,093 | |||
| Percent Rise over Last Year | 1.44% | Aggregate | ||
| Aggregate | Percentage | |||
| Warrant | Percent of | Running | Added to | |
| Amount | Budget | Total | Budget | |
| Invasive Species Management | $10,000 | 0.10% | $10,000.00 | 0.10% |
| Laconia Airport | $10,000 | 0.10% | $20,000.00 | 0.19% |
| DPW – New Truck | $63,500 | 0.62% | $83,500.00 | 0.81% |
| Building Repair Capital Fund | $5,000 | 0.05% | $88,500.00 | 0.86% |
| Compensated Absences | $10,000 | 0.10% | $98,500.00 | 0.96% |
| Capital Reserve – Police Station | $50,000 | 0.49% | $148,500.00 | 1.45% |
| Land Conservation | $1,000,000 | 9.75% | $1,148,500.00 | 11.20% |
| Fire Dept – New Engine | $325,000 | 3.17% | $1,473,500.00 | 14.36% |
Here's my problem - LOOK at the Land Conservation amount: this is NOT a small number! More later in another Post.
My wish is that the voters see the ramifications of voting for all of the warrant articles. While the current working budget is up only 1.44% over last year, the warrant articles by themselves would add 14.36% to that! This is a total of 15.8% over last year.
How long can this rate of increase be sustained? Already over the last 4 years, we have had average increases of 15% - compounding growth is wonderful if it is an interest bearing account that is creating wealth for you (bank account, CD, money market account) but a real problem when each year's increase of expenses compounds for the next!
Each warrant article has its own pluses and minuses. Here are my takes on each (and I speak only for myself and not for the whole BudComm):
Compensated Absences - Have to account for the accumulated time that a Town employee can "store" over time (it used to be up to 90 days - that has been reduced to a maximum of 24 days). Thus, for example, if a 10 year employee has saved 10 days over that amount of time, the Town is obligated to pay that amount when the employee leaves the Town (fired, layed off, resigns, or retires). Got to do it, but instead of a warrant article, I would like to see it built into the official budget.
Laconia Airport - A sunk cost in my estimation...this year and next year, and it is done. This has allowed the Airport to redo its runway. Given that it is a done deal, we can jawbone about it, but might as well finish it off.
Building Repair - fine by me....accidents, leaks, whatever - should tuck some $$ aside for this.
DPW Truck - Sheldon goes a good job by almost everyone's estimation. However, I think that this was put here to make the official budget look a bit better (one can always move numbers around) - certainly it seems like that Truck does need to be replaced.
Police Station - There is no doubt that the Police Dept needs more room...the question that I have is what it will look like, and if they are getting the basic questions (see here) asked, answered, and publicized first.
Fire Engine - This is NOT a warrant article yet. Neither the Board of Selectmen (no action), Capitial Improvement folks (tie vote), nor the BudComm have done anything official on this. Neither has Chief Hayes except to present the info to these folks. If I had my druthers, I'd still (even after talking to Chief Hayes for a few hours) like to see a twofer - one Engine is already out, take the next one out too, and get a piece of equipment that could replace both.
Invasive Species - I am not in favor of this article. As it stands now, this would be setting a precedent for the Town to get into the milfoil eradication business. This treatment would be for Smith Cove - in my opinion, an area that does not benefit the entire Town. If these folks, land owners / boat owners / marinas, want it cleaned out, why can't they raise the entire sum privately? Sorry, but I do not agree with John Goodhue that we have an "obligation" to the Lake - especially when he slipped in a couple of sentences of protecting "mother Earth" (sorry - too much like Gaia worship to me). I am not enamored of the idea that government has to be the one that solves all problems - but in this case, if there is any level of government that should be involved, it should be at the State level and not Gilford. After all, the State is responsible for the Lake, not the towns.
