Members Present: Robin Pelletier, Robin McAfee, Brian Duchesne, Carol Merrill, Thomas Gilligan, Jennifer Morin, Henriette Girard, Gabby Daneault, and William Barnett

Excused Absent: Mona McCready, Tom Irzyk, and Ben Fontaine,

Others Present: David Jodoin

Jennifer called the meeting to order at 7 p.m.

Jennifer indicated that she had received a letter of resignation from David Baker via e-mail and he will send a hard copy letter. He has a new position in his company and will be traveling quite a bit.

Jennifer stated that David had handed out to everyone at the last meeting the summary of all the budgets that had been approved so far. The Committee was going to look at all the figures and make sure they were comfortable with everything or if there was anything that anyone wanted to bring up it would be done at this meeting.

If any changes were made, she wanted to give Department heads plenty of notification of the changes.

If anyone wanted to reopen a budget, it would have to be people who had voted in the affirmative for the budget previously.

Henriette asked if this is where anyone would bring up something in a particular budget that they would prefer being on a warrant article? Yes, anything having to do with the budget.

Jennifer stated that the approved budget is a difference of $169,000 over last year. David indicated that this is approximately $2 on the tax rate.

David stated that this is using last year’s total assessed value. It is not taking into consideration the updates for this year.

Henriette asked what the current tax rate is now. David indicated that the Town portion is $4.60, so the rate would go up around $2 not including warrant articles.

Robin P. asked if David thought there would be any surplus. David stated that the Town had used $402,000 last year to lower the rate to cover the impact of the school budget. There is not a whole lot left. There is $400,000 left and depending on what happens at the end of this year with the budget, there may be another $100,000 or so.

David stated that the revenues are not going to change, they are pretty much consistent. The taxes that the people are paying are based on the assessed values, if the values go up, the increase may only be $1. Right now the impact is hard to determine, due to the updated values.

David stated that the tax invoice is made up of three components, school, county, and town. The County may have some increases also due to the new jail and the bond.

David stated that he has not had a chance to figure out the default budget because he is waiting for the Sewer Department to give him some numbers. He will not have those numbers until Monday.

The default budget is really the major play in this whole thing, because you have the warrant article that shows the operating budget at $3,000,000 the default budget at $2,900,000 or $2,800,000, that is what people look at, they look at the spread between the two and figure out how much it has gone up. Jennifer stated that the smaller the spread, the more apt people are to pass the budget.

Jennifer asked what they were waiting on from the Sewer Department. David stated that they are waiting for some fixed cost that have to be in the default calculation.

Jennifer stated that they cannot do much about the personnel line, these are fixed increases.

Henriette asked if it was proper to try to change the bottom line. David stated that to change the bottom line, it would have to be reflected somewhere in the line items. You have to be specific.

Jennifer stated that there were just four big jumps, Police, Fire, Personnel and Building Inspector.

Henriette asked if the Committee was comfortable with the $3,000,090, Jennifer stated no.

Bill stated that he was, the Committee listened to each person go through each line.

Henriette stated that they had not seen the $3,000,090 until now. Bill stated that everything is going up.

Jennifer stated that there are a few things they need to keep in mind, obviously we want to move forward not backwards and we want to make sure the budget passes.

Robin P. asked Henriette if there was something in particular that the Committee should revisit. Henriette stated that she would like to see a couple of things on the warrant article, like the prosecutor position in the Police Department and the other is in the Fire Department.

Robin P. made a motion to open up the Police Department budget for discussion, Robin M. seconded. Robin P. stated that the reason she would like to discuss this budget is that someone on the Committee is not comfortable with where we are. The motion passed with 6 yes votes.

Henriette stated that she feels the Prosecutor position is a large amount and it is going to get larger. If it is in the budget, then people do not see it as well as if it was a warrant article. She was not saying that people do not want this, but it would give them an opportunity to decide for themselves whether this is warranted. There was talk on the Budget Committee that others felt the same way.

Jennifer said she felt that way more on the vehicle for $30,000. She felt that this was on a warrant article in years past and the Board fought hard to have it as a warrant article, and she would feel more comfortable having it as a warrant article. More so than the prosecutor, not that they both don’t belong as a warrant article, certainly a capital expense like a vehicle should be a warrant article.

Bill stated that we would be stepping back because the prosecutor would be helping us in the long run, not only one department, but the entire Town. Jennifer stated that it would help Planning, Zoning, etc. Robin P. stated she felt the same way, that the position would pay for itself in the long run. It’s not like the fire fighters, who are giving and doing their job, but what are we getting back. At least with the prosecutor, it is more cross functional, saving fees in court. Gabby stated that the prosecutor is there all day, and when Shawn comes back he will only be doing police work.

Henriette stated that the prosecutor comes from the Police Department and is hired by the Police Department. If this person becomes the prosecutor or the lawyer for the Town, then it is the Town function. How do we know that the Town wants this? Robin P. stated that the Town wanted Byron. Henriette asked what was wrong with Byron? Robin P. stated nothing, but he is more expensive.

Tom G. stated that one of the reasons the Chief put this in is that there was a compliance issue either this year or next, it will be illegal to have a prosecutor prosecute cases from the police department. So regardless if we want it in or not, the Town will have to pay for a prosecutor outside the department. That is not on the staff of the department as a full time police officer.

Robin P. thought that the Chief said that he was willing to let her spend time on Town cases also. Yes, Zoning and Enforcement, code violations, etc.

Gabby stated that he would not need to hire the County Attorney to help out. David stated that they were paying $1,000 to Merrimack County Attorney. He thought that Pembroke uses the County, the County goes in a week before the cases go to court. David stated that Hooksett has a Prosecutor on staff, Pembroke uses the county.

Jennifer reviewed some of the Chief’s facts for the prosecutor.

"An attorney admitted to the New Hampshire Bar has served as prosecutor for the Allenstown Police Department, temporarily during Lt. Mulholland’s active duty, since February 2003. Prior to February sworn police personnel have filled the prosecutor’s position. Allenstown cases are adjudicated at the Hooksett District Court, Merrimack County Superior Court, etc. Pembroke Police Department prosecutes their cases through the use of services of the Merrimack County Attorney; Hooksett Police Department employs an attorney admitted to the New Hampshire Bar to prosecute their cases at a salary of $54,000 yearly. New Hampshire currently allows Police Officers to prosecute criminal cases in district court only, not in either the superior or Supreme Court. This has been the practice for a number of years; however, there have been recent attempts to change this by the NH Legislature. The attempts to prohibit the use of Police Officers as prosecutors has been unsuccessful to date but the idea is gaining support and is currently under study."

Jennifer stated that Chief McGonigle is planning for this happening in the future.

Robin P. stated that the current prosecutor can go above district court which could be beneficial to the Town at some time. David stated that Byron has handled the long-range cases right from the start and there is no sense changing in midstream. We are not at the stage yet of using the prosecutor for all the cases.

Robin P. stated that she is struggling with the fact that people may not realize what we are getting versus if they deny it, what we will be loosing. She felt that the Town would be loosing something valuable for the price we are getting.

Jennifer then read the Chief’s conclusion and recommendation:

"The retention of an Attorney admitted in the NH Bar to serve as prosecutor for the Allenstown Police Department would result in the following: Increase training and supervision of police personnel, decrease liability for untrained personnel, quicker and more complete response to defense motions and demands at the district court level, less liability from malicious or ineffective prosecution, increased ability to prosecute criminals at Superior Court, greater flexibility in the disposition of criminal cases, more efficient resolution of Town ordinance violations, increased revenue to the Town in the form of recovery of cost of litigation."

Tom G. asked David if he could give the Committee year to date fees for Byron as they are charged to the Police Department, Zoning and the Building Inspector or at least what the Building Inspector has billed out as a result of Byron’s help as well as just the Police.

David stated that they have not spent a whole lot the last couple of years, it is not broken out that way. The only thing that is broken out is the planning. David stated that they budgeted $40,000 but have not spent $30,000 yet, he is waiting for one more bill.

Robin P. stated that it is only legal, it does not include the police officers time to go there off the road.

Tom G. stated that most of the $30,000 is probably from Zoning and Planning, which this prosecutor will not pick up, at least initially.

David stated that the Town has spent $14,000 so far through November. We have been trying to do more stuff internally, i.e. the tax problem, we took care of it internally, then went to Byron and said this what we have and he took it from there. David researched the RSA himself and then called Byron for clarification. At one point, the Town was spending $120,000 on legal (around 1994), two years later it was cut to $80,000 then $60,000. We have been consistent at $40,000 for the last six or seven years. Byron called David one day and joked that he had not called recently.

Henriette asked if the prosecutor’s salary is in the full-time salary line now? David said she is in the line under Shawn. The $322 that was budgeted plus the $22 under the COPS grant above, if you add them together, it was Shawn and all the other employees. The Selectmen had the Chief break this out so that the prosecutor would stand alone on a separate line. The full-time salaries are only police officers, including Shawn. This would be an extra police position for them because Shawn would no longer be doing the prosecution.

Henriette then asked if there would be 10 officers plus a prosecutor. David stated that they change so quickly, he did not know who was who any more. He thought there were 10. He thought that there were 9 officers now, but there are spots for 10.

Carol asked how much the prosecutor was making this year? David stated that she is absorbing Shawn’s salary, approximately $17 an hour. Gabby stated that if Shawn were here, he would be in court. Jennifer stated that at first the prosecutor was not being paid while she was being trained.

Henriette asked if Shawn was getting any more from the Town now? David stated that Shawn is not getting paid right now. He is making more in the military than what we are paying him.

Henriette asked if Lt. Mulholland’s salary of $40,000 was going to the Prosecutor. David stated that Shawn’s salary is around $38,000 and the prosecutor is absorbing that line. So this would be Shawn’s $38,000 plus 2.5%, which would be around $40,000, and the prosecutor would be a whole new line.

Henriette stated that the only reason she brought up the full-time salary was because she thought the prosecutor’s salary was in this line.

David asked if they would make a change tonight or bring the department head back and then make a change at the next meeting. Robin P. stated that if something changes we should bring the department head back. David stated that they could make the change tonight and then bring the department head back.

Jennifer stated that if any changes are made tonight, the department head would probably get a phone call tomorrow to inform them of what had happened and ask for a meeting as soon as possible.

David stated that he will give the Committee the warrant articles that have already been approved by the Selectmen, the one’s with an asterisk the Selectmen will vote on Monday night.

Henriette asked how much the Police Department spent so far. David stated that they are in pretty good shape, they have approximately $20,000 left so far. But they have been fluctuating with not having a full staff. This has been consistent for the last couple of years. The carpet downstairs is in bad shape and it will be replaced, they need to purchase some ammunition.

Henriette asked if there were any part-time employees, Jennifer stated that Chief McGonigle had not even put $1 in the part-time salary line. David stated that the Animal Control Officer is working as a part-time officer. He has arrest capabilities and all his salary is coming from ACO.

Henriette stated that whatever the Committee decides is OK with her. Bill stated that we agreed with the Selectmen on all the budgets, except with the Fire Department – it was the only one that we increased.

Jennifer stated that she would like to see the vehicle on a warrant article. Bill asked if the old cruiser they are going to get rid of, is there any way that the Building Inspector could use it? David stated that it the past, they have taken the vehicle, but he is not sure what condition it is in. Tom G. stated that Chief McGonigle stated that the vehicle was not in really good shape.

Henriette asked what the Animal Control Officer uses for a vehicle, David stated that he uses a jeep. The back of the DARE vehicle has an animal cage in it. Tom G. stated that the Town could impose a fee to clean up the vehicle. Brian stated that some Town’s charge a fee if someone messes up the cruiser.

Henriette made a motion to move the $30,000 cruiser to a warrant article,

Tom G. stated that they are either going to have to pay for a new vehicle now or a new vehicle when this one break’s down. We know what happens when this stuff goes to warrant article. With the tax increases this year, it will be hard to get $1 from anyone in Town. If he had not been on the Budget Committee, he would vote no.

Henriette said that you have to show the people that you are trying. Bill stated that we have to show the people that we are advancing also. Jennifer stated that they can help with that by voting on it. It is still there to vote on. Ten people on the police department are plenty, now we will have an Animal Control Officer and a Prosecutor, it is building and building. Soon, they will not fit in their offices.

Bill stated that the Police Officers are very busy, actually busier than other Towns. Jennifer stated that there is no one here who would not want to raise the police salaries if we could afford it.

Jennifer stated that the motion on the floor is to place the cruiser on a warrant article.

David asked if this is moved to a warrant article, will the Budget Committee support it? Jennifer stated that she would recommend it.

Jennifer asked if there was a second? Gabby seconded Henriette’s motion. The motion failed by a vote of 3 yes and 5 no.

Tom G. stated that the only line that the Budget committee added for the Fire Department was the on call stipend, everything else was an existing line.

Henriette asked why the Selectmen added $8,500 on in-house training. Bill stated that it was because that was broken off of the original part-time salaries. Jennifer stated that they wanted the training broken down by in-house and outside training. Bill stated that the training line was originally $12,500 and they broke it down to $4,000 for outside training and $8,500 for in-house.

David stated that the in-house training is the Tuesday evening training sessions and the outside training is for the fire academy.

Henriette stated that the only thing she would question is the overtime coverage. Is this the weekend coverage? No, this is the stipend, it is just for the summer weekends. So what is the overtime coverage, David stated that so far we have spent $13,000 between coverage and overtime and there was $9,500 budgeted. Right now, Rob has 4 weeks vacation, so when he is out, someone has to cover his shift. Keith has 3 weeks vacation, so there is 7 weeks that need coverage plus sick time. There needs to be two people minimum.

Robin P. stated that the Committee almost cut their budget in half from what they requested so she felt that they had done a good job. Most of the stuff that was passed was a necessity.

Tom G. stated that they had spent a lot of time on the fire department budget. We went over the lines page by page and we negotiated with the Chief and asked what could be taken out and he pretty much made a lot of concessions.

Bill stated that he put a lot on warrant articles. David stated that the Selectmen cut some of the warrant articles out.

Tom G. stated that from what the Fire Department budget was last year to what the Committee approved, which was $261,039 is an increase of $35,328 and the $261,039 is approximately $18,400 more than the Selectmen revised.

David stated that unfortunately what happened with the Chief’s over the years, with one chief leaving half way through the way, no one really knew what was in the budget. Certain things that should have been purchased last year were not purchased. So you have the maintenance issue.

David stated that the vehicles look good, but when you look at them closely, you see that a window is rusting, and this truck was redone about 10 years ago. David stated that the rescue truck is also rusting.

Henriette asked if the full-time salaries were reduced because the department is staying with two full time fire fighters? Yes.

Brian made a motion to close the discussion on the Fire Department budget, Robin P. seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Jennifer stated that she would like to see the revenues for the Building Inspector next year. Bill stated that there is not much we can do about the Election budget and the welfare budget went up $20,000.

Carol asked if the School Board does not hire a disciplinary teacher, what do they do with that money if it not voted in. Jennifer stated that it would go back to the Town.

Jennifer explained to the new people that the Committee will vote on the warrant articles to recommend or not recommend the articles. Jennifer stated that the committee will only vote on articles that have a dollar amount.

Henriette asked David to explain the first warrant article. David stated the Conservation Commission presented the article. Miscellaneous change Tax, whenever someone takes their property out of current use, there is a penalty, and usually goes to the Town’s general fund. But there is a law under the RSA that states that the Conservation Commission can have that money set aside in a fund so that they can go out and seek matching grants under the Land Conservation Program, to purchase partials of property. It is used in many communities to curb development. We may get $2,500 to $3,000.

Tom G. asked if it was per partial or per acre. David stated that it is 10%, per acre.

David stated that these are all the warrant articles so far.

Robin P. asked if the Fire Department will put in a petition to add two more fire fighters? David stated that the Board of Selectmen had not recommended this and he doubted they would present it to the Budget Committee, but they might. The Selectmen had cut out the truck and the two additional full time fire fighters, the digital repeater system, which was around $18,000 to $19,000.

Jennifer asked if the Board of Selectmen had just not recommended the article or did they say they could not have the warrant article? David stated that he took them off and he thought the Fire Department was agreeable that if the Selectmen were not going to support the article, they would not submit one. Tom G. asked what the deadline was for submissions, January 13, 2004.

Jennifer stated that the Committee could review the warrant articles on the January 7 meeting, and meet before the Town hearing to review any additional articles.

The Town’s deliberative session will be on January 31, 2004 at 9 a.m. at AES. The School’s deliberative session will be on Thursday, February 5 at 7 p.m. at AES. Town elections will be held on Tuesday, March 9, 2004.

Henriette asked if at the deliberative session could someone cut the bottom line 10%? Yes, it is just like Town meeting. Just keep in mind, that if changes are made to the bottom line, then it goes to the voters on the bottom line and the Committee is out of the loop, because once it is voted on, it goes to the Selectmen to make any cuts.

Brian made a motion to accept the Town’s bottom line of $3,090,376, Bill seconded. The motion passed.

To see if the Town will vote to deposit 10% of the revenues collected pursuant to RSA 79-A (the land use change tax) in the Conservation Fund in accordance with RSA 36-A:5 III as authorized by RSA 79-A:25 II. (This article is recommended by the Board of Selectmen)

Henriette made a motion to accept the Conservation Fund warrant article, seconded by Tom G. The motion passed unanimous.

To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of Nine Thousand Four Hundred Dollars ($9,400) for the replacement of the compressor located at the Fire Department. (This article is recommended by the Board of Selectmen)

Tom G. made a motion to recommend this warrant article, Bill seconded.

Henriette asked what this was, David stated that it is to replace an old air compressor and that must be at least 30 years old, it is leaking and finding parts for it is very difficult. Bill stated that this is hooked up to the fire trucks, the trucks have air operated breaks. When you park a fire truck, the air system depletes its air, so what the compressor does is keep the air level raised in the vehicle so that when there is a fire, you can just hit the release and go. You do not have to let the air system build up and then take off.

The motion passed unanimously.

To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of Seventy Five Thousand Dollars ($75,000) to be placed in the Fire Department Equipment Capital Reserve Fund. (This article is recommended by the Board of Selectmen)

Robin P. asked what type of equipment, trucks? David stated yes.

Tom G. made a motion to recommend this warrant article, Gabby seconded.

Robin M. asked what the tax impact would be? David stated that it would be around 25 cents. David stated that the Selectmen were in awe of the presentation, but when the Department presented it, it made sense to go with something like the two vehicle purchase because we are not earning any interest on the money that is in the bank. To put $75,000 in the fund, you are not getting much interest on it at the end of the year, but the flip side, the trucks appreciate a minimum of 5% a year. So by the time there is enough money in the capital reserve account to purchase a truck, we will be behind the eight ball because we will be only earning 1% and will be going up 4% in the cost. There plan was to enter into a lease/purchase agreement, so instead of $75,000 you are locked into the vehicle price and it would be around $78,000 a year for over a 10-year purchase. We would be able to get two new trucks and get rid of two junks that are costing us $18,000 at least. The Selectmen did not agree with that warrant article, so it was removed and they decided to put $75,000 into the capital reserve fund on a yearly basis. The life span of each vehicle is approximately 20 years, but every five years, there is usually a replacement schedule and once the lease/purchase is finished, they would be rolling into another one.

Henriette asked how much is usually put into the capital reserve fund? David state it has been about $50,000, but they cut money out when they started putting money into the Public Safety Complex to build the fire station, they did one or two years of putting money in that account instead. The new vehicle that is coming in cost $320,000 but with 5% appreciation on a yearly basis, by the time they go back to purchase another vehicle, it will probably cost about $375,000.

Gabby stated that he felt it was a good idea to put money away for this purpose.

The motion passed unanimously.

To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000) to be placed in the Fire Department Safety Equipment Capital Reserve Fund. (This article is recommended by the Board of Selectmen)

Robin P. made a motion to recommend this article, seconded by Robin M.

Henriette asked what this was, David stated that it was their protective clothing. David stated that this is set aside as a safety net. If there were a catastrophe at the Fire Department and they lost some of their air bottles, there is no money in the budget to replace this equipment.

The motion passed unanimously.

To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) to be placed in the Cistern Capital Reserve Fund. (This article is recommended by the Board of Selectmen).

Tom G. made a motion to recommend, seconded by Gabby.

Tom G. asked where the money would come from now if there were problems with the cistern. David stated that there is a capital reserve fund, but there is only $10,000 to $12,000 in the fund and they cost more than that to put in. There are currently eight cisterns.

The motion passed unanimously.

To see if the if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) to be placed in the Hazmat Capital Reserve Fund. (This article is recommended by the Board of Selectmen)

Brian made a motion to recommend this article, seconded by Robin P.

Jennifer asked if this was for the foam, etc.? David stated yes, it was for oil and gas spills, the Town gets money back on this anyway.

The motion passed unanimously.

Bill made a motion to recess, Tom G. seconded.

The meeting recessed at 8:37 p.m.