GilfordGrok

“Grok” Thumb - withheld

Last year, the Gilford Friends of Football tag teamed with the School Board to embed funding of Football into the overall budget.  This ignited a firestorm as it was shown that the GFoF had previously promised that when it was time, it would do as as a Warrant article.  Both the GFoF and the School Board bet on its success....and lost.  This year, they have fulfilled that promise and they are to be commended for it. 

Skip - I abstained on the recommendation vote of the BudComm; while nodding approvingly for the petition warrant, I am worried about future increases.

However, we can see that this may well be a harbinger of increased budget requests going forward - after all, when the Varsity reached the finals, the NHIAA imposed regulations on the final game for equipment et al.  The 'Grok also has concerns about the continued level of fundraising - will that actually happen or will taxpayers be forced to fill in the gap?

Further, given a new need for locker rooms that will meet requirements, once again we see additional dollars spinning as fast upward as the DOW spinning downward.

ARTICLE V Citizen Petition – Gilford High School Varsity and JV Football

To see if the school district will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of Thirty ThousandDollars, ($30,000) to fund a varsity and junior varsity football team for Gilford High School. Seven Thousand, Five Hundred Dollars, ($7,500), will be raised from gate receipts, fund raising and concession sales; the balance of Twenty Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($22,500) is to come from general taxation. This will be an ongoing annual appropriation and part of the operating budget to be funded from general taxation. (Submitted by Petition)

School Board: Recommended               Budget Committee: Recommended

Principle: The Gilford Friends of Football is bringing this matter to the taxpayers as they promised years ago. It will add significantly to the budget in years to come.