Allenstown Budget Committee
Minutes –
Members Present: David Eaton,
Jennifer Morin, Carol Angowski, Ben Fontaine, Tom Irzyk, Henriette Girard, Mona
McCready, Carol Merrill, Gabby Daneault, and Don Bergevin
Excused Absent: Gene Vallee, Karen
Gendreau, and Robin McAfee
Others Present: David Jodoin,
Jim Boisvert, Don Peloquin, Shaun Mulholland, Rob Martin, Sandy Mckenney
Dave Eaton called the
meeting to order at
Dave indicated that there
were three Town warrant articles that need to be reviewed by the Committee.
To see if the Town will vote
to appropriate the sum of $14,000 for the purchase of communication equipment
for the Highway, Police and Fire Department and to authorize the withdrawal of
said funds from the Highway Equipment Capital Reserve Fund. This article is recommended by the Board of
Selectmen.
Ben made a motion to accept
the article, Mona seconded.
Carol A. asked if one of the
other departments had already indicated that they had to get new equipment
because they could not talk to anybody else with the current radio system.
Jim Boisvert indicated that
this is only for the Town frequency and with the new antenna on top of the
tower on Notre Dame. We will be getting
three new bases for the Highway Department, the Sewer Department and Fire
Department. All the Town radios will be
reprogrammed for better communication between departments.
Carol A. asked what the
Police Department wanted. Shaun
Mulholland indicated that he did not know if they were digital or not and it
will not work with the Police Department.
Jim Boisvert indicated that the Police Department still has Town
frequency on their radios.
Don Peloquin indicated that
this is mainly a Highway issue.
Currently, if Jim is on Ferry Street and he needs to talk to his driver
in Bear Brook, he can’t hear them or they can’t hear them. So this is really a system upgrade.
Tom asked if this will
incorporate communication for the entire Town or will there still be some dead
spots? Don indicated that there should
not be any dead spots.
Carol A. asked if the
$14,000 will cover the three base stations only. Don indicated that no, it is for the complete
installation. Jim indicated that the current
radio trucks will remain in the trucks and will be reprogrammed.
Jim indicated that this
money will come out of capital reserve.
Henriette asked how much is currently in this account. Jim stated that this is approximately
$76,000. Dave asked if all they were
asking was for authorization to spend this money. Yes
Henriette asked why it was
just coming out of this fund. Jim
indicated that basically it is for the Highway Department. Henriette asked if this is in addition to the
cell phones and pagers. Yes. Don Peloquin also stated that this will save
$32 a month on phone service. Jim stated
that the prices could be less than the $14,000.
Carol A. asked who was
responsible for the maintenance of the system.
Currently the Fire Department is responsible. Carol A. asked if there was a maintenance
agreement on the base stations, no, if something needs to be repaired money
will either be appropriated or it will come from the budget.
The committee then voted on
the article. The motion passed by a vote
of 8 yes and one no. This article is
recommended by the Budget Committee.
To see if the Town will vote
to raise and appropriate the sum of One Thousand Nine Hundred Dollars ($1,900)
to be placed in the Tax map Capital Reserve Fund. This article is recommended by the Board of
Selectmen.
Tom made a motion to accept
this article, Ben seconded.
Dave indicated that there
was some discussion on this amount at the last meeting. David bought it up to add this amount to the
Tax Map budget, but the committee decided that it should be a warrant
article. This is a contract to update
the Tax Map each year.
Carol A. asked why it was
not put in the budget. Carol M. stated
that David had stated that the maps were up to date and they did not need any
money in the budget, then it was brought up that money was needed. Tom stated that they were talking about the
new subdivision in Bear Brook and the maps needed to be updated. Since we had already discussed the budget, we
felt it should be a warrant article.
The committee then voted on
the article. The motion passed by a vote
of 8 yes and one no vote. This article
is recommended by the Budget Committee.
Shall the Town of Allenstown
raise and appropriate as an operating budget, not including appropriations by
special warrant articles and other appropriations voted separately, the amounts
set forth on the Budget posted with the Warrants, for the purpose set therein,
totaling $2,922,384. Should this article
be defeated the operating budget shall be $2,844,825, which is the same as last
year, with certain adjustments required by previous action of the Town or by
the governing body may hold one special meeting, in accordance with RSA 40:13,
X and XVI, to take up the issue of a revised operation budget only. This article is recommended by the Board of
Selectmen.
Jennifer made a motion to
accept this article, Tom seconded.
Ben stated that there was
something wrong with the wording. David
stated that it looks strange, but the
wording is correct. This is right out of
the RSA’s. Ben stated that there are two
thoughts in the same sentence and neither is complete. Is this really correct, yes.
The motion passed by a vote
of 6 yes and 3 no. This article is recommended
by the Budget Committee.
Shall the School District
vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $2,870,000 for the construction and
equipping of additions and renovations to the Allenstown Elementary School, and
to authorize the issuance of not more than $2,870,000 of bonds or notes in
accordance with the provisions of the Municipal Finance Act (RSA Ch. 33) and to
authorize the School Board to issue and negotiate such bonds or notes and
determine the rate of interest thereon; further to raise and appropriate the
additional sum of $71,243 for the first bond payment and authorize the School
Board to take any other action necessary to carry out this vote. The School Board recommends approval.
Jennifer made a motion to
accept this article, Tom seconded.
Ben asked why the committee
was reviewing School issues when there was a meeting for the school budget on
Saturday. Dave indicated that he wanted
to get all the warrant articles out of the way and this was the last meeting
set up.
Carol A. asked how long the
bond would run for. Tom indicated that
it was a 15-year bond. It is the same
length as the bond that is currently expiring for purchasing ARD and doing the
renovations. The bond rate that was
quoted is 4.33%.
Tom stated that when the
Budget committee spoke about the proposal, the School Board did not have final
figures for the addition and the furnishing of the addition. This article will add .37 cents to the tax
rate for the first year, $1.12 for the second year because of the two principal
payments and the interest, then the rate will decrease .04 cents a year after
that.
Henriette asked if the
$71,243 was above and beyond the $2,870,000?
Tom stated that this is the interest payment for the first year, and it
is added to the $2,870,000.
Tom stated that the first
interest payment on the bond rate for ARD, which was over 7%, the first payment
was over $100,000.
Jim Boisvert asked if
anything was going to be done to ARD with this money. Tom indicated that when the original plans
were drawn up to purchase ARD, there was a second phase to have a 20-room
addition to AES, which never happened because the Board knew that the Town
could not afford it.
So the original bond was to
buy the school, renovate the garages into classrooms and then revisit AES. Jim asked if they would be asking for
additional renovations to ARD next year, Tom indicated no. This addition will move the 5th
grade back to AES and then this will free up space at ARD.
The motion passed by a vote
of 6 yes, 2 no and one abstaining vote.
This article is recommended by the Budget committee.
Shall the School District
raise and appropriate as an operating budget, not including appropriations by
special warrant articles and other appropriations voted separately, the amounts
set forth on the budget posted with the warrant or as amended by vote of the
first session, for the purposes set forth therein, totaling $7,253,370. Should this article be defeated, the
operating budget shall be $7,098,898 which is the same as last year, with
certain adjustment required by previous action of the school district, or by
law, or the governing body may hold one special meeting in accordance with RSA
40:13, X and XVI, to take up the issue of a revised operating budget only. The School Board Recommends Approval.
Mona made a motion to
accept, Jennifer seconded.
The article passed by a vote
of 8 yes and one no. The article is
recommended by the Budget Committee.
Tom stated that article 4 is
for information purposed only. It could
be a serious money issue. Dave asked if
this was going to be brought up on Saturday, yes.
Carol A. made a motion to
recess, Tom seconded. The meeting was
recessed at 6:58 p.m.