[0:02] Good evening and welcome

[0:03] to the April 16th, 2026 Town Council budget meeting.

[0:08] Just a reminder, exits are to the back of the room

[0:11] and to the side in emergency

[0:13] and we will start

[0:14] with the pledge Counselor Mills, will you use in the pledge please?

[0:20] I Pledge allegiance to the flag.

[0:21] Flag of the United States States, America, Republic,

[0:29] Liberty and Justice Pearl.

[0:34] Alright, we'll do a quick roll call this evening.

[0:38] Councilor Mills, good evening, Councillor Webb.

[0:41] Good evening, Councillor Flood.

[0:42] Good evening, Councillor Foot. Good evening.

[0:44] Good evening from the chair and Councilor Healy

[0:48] and Councillor Chase are unable to join us this evening

[0:51] but have said they will both catch up

[0:53] and if they have any questions for all of you,

[0:55] they'll let us know.

[0:57] Alright, I am going to turn it over to

[1:00] Mr. Fowler and we'll get things going.

[1:02] Alright, good evening.

[1:03] So welcome to night two

[1:05] of our fiscal 27 budget presentations tonight.

[1:08] We have kind of cornucopia of different departments here.

[1:12] So with no further ado, we'll start out

[1:15] with the Community development

[1:17] Department economic development.

[1:19] Bev Donovan coming to the podium.

[1:35] Good evening. Good evening. Can you hear

[1:37] Me?

[1:38] I can. I don't know if everything

[1:39] You're good.

[1:40] Okay. Hi, my name is Bev Donovan,

[1:43] dairy Economic Development for those at home.

[1:49] I always, I always do this too quick tonight.

[1:53] I'm just gonna go over a few

[1:54] of the highlights from last year

[1:56] and then talk a little bit about some of the goals

[1:59] for the year ahead.

[2:03] So starting with 2026 highlights,

[2:07] long awaited projects Underway.

[2:09] Completed include the Abbott Court redevelopment, which is

[2:14] got a big hole in the ground right now.

[2:15] If you walk down Merchants Road,

[2:17] you can take a look at the Common Man.

[2:19] Roadside is up and running.

[2:22] The Keystone Project on Rockingham Road

[2:26] is the final buildings are being completed now

[2:31] and a couple of them are already occupied.

[2:35] And Ashley Drive, which would complete the industrial park

[2:40] with the last parcel at the end of the cul-de-sac.

[2:44] Not announced yet, but there is negotiation going on there.

[2:49] Tracking status of about 150 different commercial

[2:53] properties and units.

[2:56] With the current rises in construction costs

[2:59] and access to capital,

[3:00] there are headwinds going into fiscal year 2027

[3:04] for new projects.

[3:07] Multi-agency collaboration continues

[3:09] with the New Hampshire Small Business Development Center.

[3:12] This year we held a financing workshop

[3:17] and several events

[3:19] with the Greater Dairy London Area Chamber,

[3:23] participating in the State of the Union

[3:25] legislative policy events, cyborg Cares statewide mixer.

[3:30] That's when all the, the statewide brokers come to dairy.

[3:33] It's a great event. The Regional Economic De Development

[3:38] Center said committee,

[3:40] which is our regional transportation plan

[3:43] and economic development plan.

[3:46] And we actually just hosted them here yesterday at CAS

[3:50] and Vine and did a little tour downtown.

[3:52] So it was great having all those regional

[3:56] colleagues come and find out about dairy

[3:59] and learn about some of the things that we're doing here.

[4:04] Let's see. Continue to promote dairy as live work,

[4:07] play destination through social media

[4:10] walk score partnerships

[4:12] with New Hampshire State Council on the arts in interaction

[4:16] with various media outlets and community events.

[4:20] Strengthening workforce readiness

[4:22] with the Greater Dairy London Dairy Chamber.

[4:25] This year, partnering on Business Edu,

[4:28] business Education Collaborative, we're,

[4:30] we're piloting an interview contest which wrapped up today

[4:34] and that is open to all high school students in the area.

[4:39] And then in May we'll be hosting the second

[4:42] annual teen job fair.

[4:44] Also, last year I think we had over 400 students attend that

[4:49] and this year we have more companies that are coming in

[4:52] to hire our teens for summer jobs.

[4:54] So that's a great, great thing that,

[4:57] that we get to do with the chamber.

[5:00] Let's see. Collaborated on the economic development,

[5:03] legislative and state of the state events

[5:06] and continued discussions with post-secondary

[5:11] educational outlets for opportunities for those students

[5:15] that graduate without a plan

[5:17] but still wanna get into the workforce a couple years

[5:20] after they've left Pinkerton

[5:22] or next or wherever they went to.

[5:26] Let's see, next page. Alright.

[5:30] Also in 2026, continued partnership

[5:33] with the Greater Dairy Arts Council

[5:35] to enhance the Opera House facility to grow programming

[5:38] that benefits downtown economy.

[5:41] Coordinate on several public arts committee projects

[5:45] and events to drive cultural tourism,

[5:48] including this year we hosted the statewide Poetry Out Loud

[5:52] competition, which was a fun event.

[5:57] Continuous monitoring of key economic news

[5:59] and trends relative to banking, investment,

[6:02] commercial real estate, housing, supply chain workforce

[6:06] and demographic shifts to offer practical insight

[6:09] and recommendations on local economic development issues.

[6:15] Ongoing facilitation of business growth

[6:17] through vari various programming network

[6:20] and re resource opportunities including the facade

[6:23] improvement project.

[6:26] And dairy continues to see robust change of use activity.

[6:30] Although there is a slow down this year,

[6:31] we're a little bit off and there is definitely a noticeable,

[6:36] some noticeable trepidation in startup initiatives.

[6:39] People are holding back a little bit on the startups.

[6:43] Projects on Ashley Drive and SCOBY Pond Road are, and both A

[6:47] and B streets are expected to move forward

[6:50] and results in completion of both the industrial park

[6:54] and the Commerce Park areas.

[6:56] So that's pretty exciting.

[6:58] And then focus on FY 27, we'll shift to four a

[7:03] redevelopment downtown and Route 28 and one 11.

[7:07] So the main goals for 2027, get that up there.

[7:13] Continued identification and of development

[7:16] and redevelopment potential in anticipation

[7:19] of exit four a completion water

[7:21] and sewer expansion projects, public

[7:24] and private opportunities and stakeholder interest.

[7:27] Also enhance regional outreach,

[7:30] facilitate potential new projects and growth.

[7:33] Work closely with brokers

[7:35] to identify potential opportunities

[7:37] for languishing properties.

[7:40] Assist the planning board with zoning evaluation

[7:43] and provide insight into markets, demographics

[7:45] and trends that could impact

[7:48] and influence commercial tax-based growth.

[7:51] And finally, identify and collaborate on local, regional,

[7:55] and state for federal grants

[7:57] and programs to assist businesses

[7:59] and investors in financing goals

[8:02] to help ensure pipeline momentum.

[8:07] So that's a quick snapshot if anybody has any questions?

[8:13] Any questions? Councilor?

[8:16] Sorry, just one, I noticed

[8:18] that in your budget lines you don't have any,

[8:21] and I'm not gonna be putting anything in,

[8:23] but this is more maybe for future budget.

[8:26] Any ex expenditures for marketing?

[8:33] Well, Or they elsewhere in the budget,

[8:38] We didn't discuss that.

[8:40] And typically a lot of the, all the social media is free.

[8:44] Yeah. Press releases are free. Working with Owen is free.

[8:49] We try to be pretty

[8:52] fiscally responsible.

[8:55] And then if anything does arise from marketing,

[8:59] newspapers are kind of falling by the wayside.

[9:02] Right? Just things are shifting.

[9:04] There is money in other line items

[9:06] that could potentially shift.

[9:08] Like for office expense or

[9:13] Are there national events

[9:14] or national conferences that can be targeted in the future?

[9:20] I have gone to the ICSC events.

[9:22] I've, I've gone to some of the ones

[9:24] that are closer in Boston.

[9:25] I've been down to DC

[9:27] and what I find is for the product that we have here,

[9:30] it's really probably not of value to,

[9:34] to really go to those.

[9:36] Right. And we don't have a lot of large properties left

[9:40] that we are marketing.

[9:41] Yeah. So I, I think we're fine.

[9:44] I I don't think we need to do that.

[9:47] Personal outreach seems to work just as well.

[9:51] And the last question I have,

[9:53] because I get asked this probably three times a week.

[9:55] What about the grindhouse?

[9:59] It's still in the works. That's,

[10:00] that's about all we can say about that.

[10:02] Alright. Thank you. Yep. Question.

[10:06] Seeing none, Madam Chair, I'd like to move the bottom line

[10:09] for community development in the amount

[10:11] of $185,872.

[10:17] Is there a second? Second. All right. On the motion.

[10:19] Council mills? Yes. Councilor Webb? Yes. Councilor Flood.

[10:22] Yes. Councilor Foot? Yes. And chair votes? Yes.

[10:25] Motion passes. Five zero. Okay. Thank

[10:27] You very much.

[10:29] Alright, next up we have it GIS.

[10:34] Okay. And Doug Rathburn. Are we stepping to the podium?

[10:41] It would be ironic if the screen just shut off.

[10:45] Good evening everyone. Good evening.

[10:47] I'm gonna bask in this moment for a while tonight. Okay.

[10:54] So let me move along here.

[10:57] Think I remember how to run a keyboard.

[10:59] So I'm, I'm Doug Rothman.

[11:00] I'm the ITJS manager for the Town of Dairy.

[11:03] And our two 20 2027 budget consists of,

[11:08] or our goals in this future years.

[11:11] We keep continuing to strive to provide

[11:15] enhanced customer service through online applications.

[11:19] That's an ongoing process.

[11:23] We're also looking at on our hardware end

[11:27] currently our switching, some of the switches

[11:30] in in the town are act actually at end of life.

[11:35] And we're looking at replacing those.

[11:37] I will say that we are in a fantastic spot

[11:41] here in the town of dairy.

[11:43] Over the years we have invested in our hardware

[11:45] and our infrastructure and it's, it's interesting

[11:48] because I, yesterday I went to, I go to a quarterly meeting

[11:53] of IT management up at Prix up in Concord.

[11:57] And I get to talk to my peers

[12:00] and we're in a really good spot, okay.

[12:04] When I talk to some of them.

[12:06] So we're actually not spending that much as far as

[12:10] hardware costs anymore.

[12:12] It's more in the software lines.

[12:15] One of our projects, major projects for 2027,

[12:18] we're looking at replacing cabling

[12:20] and the network infrastructure down at the

[12:23] wastewater treatment facility.

[12:25] That is, that facility is actually a hub for

[12:29] that entire network down there.

[12:32] So transfer highway, garage water, wastewater,

[12:38] public works, the highway department, everything comes

[12:41] through the wastewater facility

[12:42] and then back ends to here at the municipal center.

[12:45] And that infrastructure is just a little outdated

[12:48] and needs to be cleaned up.

[12:49] So we're looking at doing that as well.

[12:51] And once again, the big one for us is to keep, continue

[12:55] to enhance security and any resulting solutions.

[12:59] That's the big thing. I mean even once again, going back

[13:02] to my meeting I went to yesterday, that is the thing,

[13:07] keeping things safe.

[13:08] And that's what we're trying to do.

[13:10] So revenues,

[13:13] all our revenues come from intergovernmental transfers,

[13:16] from water wastewater and cable.

[13:19] There's a formula that basically takes chunks of what we do.

[13:22] Storage, office licensing, everything like that.

[13:26] And those numbers are calculated based on such

[13:30] any GS fees.

[13:32] That's sort of a placeholder number.

[13:34] I'll be honest with you. The $800,

[13:36] we probably won't see that.

[13:38] It's just a different world out there.

[13:39] There was a time when people would come in

[13:40] here and buy the tiles.

[13:42] Now they can actually get a lot

[13:44] of this data online for free.

[13:46] So, but that's there.

[13:49] As far as our operating costs

[13:55] line 3 42, there's an increase in that line.

[13:58] We're adding failover connectivity for the new HQ

[14:02] at the Dairy Fire Department.

[14:05] Our 3 41 line, we're looking at additional data plans for

[14:10] the dairy police department.

[14:12] We've got the motorcycles coming online.

[14:14] There are new cars coming online over there.

[14:17] We're also looking at lines a line for bev

[14:22] and additional lines at the DPW we're,

[14:27] we've also added SCADA data plans.

[14:29] So all our, our entire SCADA system, which is the network

[14:33] that all the pump stations operate on,

[14:35] those are all cellular now.

[14:37] And that is actually in that line as well.

[14:40] Which there's a small increase there,

[14:43] but you're actually seeing that

[14:44] 'cause that's actually covered by the revenues

[14:46] that are generated from water and wastewater.

[14:53] The 3 4 2 0 0 1 line, which is basically our software line.

[14:59] We've, we're seeing an overall increase of $30,094.

[15:04] Support costs are increasing five to 7%

[15:07] pretty much across the board.

[15:08] And they're really vendor driven.

[15:10] Everything's subscription based.

[15:12] Now we do have some applications on-prem internally

[15:16] that we manage, but that's where, that's where we're going.

[15:20] That's where the future is.

[15:22] Some of the new items that we're adding,

[15:25] and I don't know if we talked about this last year,

[15:27] but, so we ran for the entire last year

[15:32] a an application, it's called Bull Wear Ransomware.

[15:36] And it's an annual subscription.

[15:38] And we purchased it last year to see how it would do.

[15:42] And it's been amazing. Okay.

[15:46] You don't wanna see it work actually

[15:48] because if it's working, you're actually dealing

[15:51] with a ransomware issue.

[15:53] But we've actually been able,

[15:55] the way it works is it actually monitors in real time your

[15:58] entire network and any anomalies that occur on the network,

[16:03] it sees it, it takes the computer, it locks the user out,

[16:09] it shuts down the computer.

[16:10] And if they're on a shared drive anywhere on the network,

[16:13] it actually drops the share.

[16:16] Okay. We had,

[16:18] and I think I mentioned this last year,

[16:20] so we had a demo done by them

[16:23] and we've actually seen it happen.

[16:25] Okay. So we've seen a proof of concept here

[16:28] where we had a detective over at the police department,

[16:32] had change, had been changing files.

[16:35] It was a, it was legit,

[16:37] but the ransomware actually,

[16:39] we got a call at like eight o'clock at night.

[16:40] Hey, I'm locked out my computer,

[16:42] I'm locked outta my account.

[16:44] I can't log on. It did exactly what it was supposed to do.

[16:48] So we have, there's, it's a growing process.

[16:51] So we actually ran it for a better part of two months.

[16:54] Just monitoring, seeing

[16:56] what the trafficker was like on the network.

[16:58] So, but other than that it's been really stable

[16:59] and it's a really incredible piece of software.

[17:03] The company that provided the software

[17:09] ran a, launched a piece of ransomware on our network

[17:13] and ransomware,

[17:14] you're always worried about the encryption of your files.

[17:17] Your files are basically useless after that.

[17:19] And they want your money in order to decrypt the files.

[17:23] They ran a piece of ransomware that,

[17:25] I wanna say dec encrypted files at a rate of,

[17:28] I wanna say it was 10,000 files a second.

[17:31] Okay. We launched it in a test environment on our network.

[17:36] And the ransomware,

[17:39] actually the bowl wall application actually shut,

[17:41] shut down the ransomware

[17:43] and knocked the computer off,

[17:45] knocked the user off the network.

[17:47] And during that time

[17:50] there were only 30 files encrypted.

[17:53] Which is amazing. 'cause normally you're talking, you're,

[17:57] you're as, as soon as that starts, you're done.

[17:59] So just the fact that we were able to actually stop it at

[18:02] that, you know, at that level was amazing.

[18:06] We're also adding additional arc GIS licensing at,

[18:10] in the Department of Public Works.

[18:12] We've got a lot of young guns in there now. Okay.

[18:15] New people. And they're bright, they're young

[18:18] and they actually use GIS, which is kind of neat.

[18:22] So there's an increase in pricing there.

[18:27] Line 44 0 0 1, which is our lease line.

[18:31] We are seeing some pretty significant

[18:34] increases in hardware costs.

[18:36] So we lease a third of our computers annually.

[18:41] We're seeing increases of about $300 per unit right now.

[18:48] So it's tariffs.

[18:51] And the big thing is actually ai,

[18:53] which is affecting everything

[18:55] 'cause it's affecting the memory costs

[18:57] and your hard drive costs.

[19:00] So it's just, it's unavoidable. It's across the board.

[19:03] Even Chromebooks these days are crazy.

[19:06] It's hopefully in the future

[19:10] we'll see it dip down again.

[19:12] You know. But the current AI trend is actually

[19:14] causing those price jumps.

[19:18] Line 60 69 0 0 0 2.

[19:22] That is, that was our hardware line.

[19:25] You'll actually see a significant decrease in that just

[19:28] because we have updated most of our hardware.

[19:31] The next time we should see hardware

[19:33] for refreshes along those lines are probably

[19:36] five to seven years from now.

[19:38] So once again,

[19:41] overall our overall operating costs increased by 44,242

[19:46] or 4.8%.

[19:48] And I think that's pretty much it.

[19:52] Oh, I do have one request to make on

[19:55] that 44 0 0 1 line I would like to increase,

[20:00] there is a item in there for our 2027 computer lease.

[20:05] I would like to increase that line by $600

[20:08] because we actually have two new positions that we have

[20:12] to add a leased computer for.

[20:16] So,

[20:18] So the 88,280, you'd wanna increase it to eight 80.

[20:22] 88,008 80. Yep.

[20:25] That would be a bottom line of

[20:28] 1 4 4 0 8 3 2.

[20:31] Yep. Alright.

[20:35] Thank you. Any questions?

[20:37] Questions? Come on, Jack. Okay. Council cook.

[20:41] I'm gonna let Council cook first this

[20:42] Time.

[20:43] Thank you Madam Chair. Thank you Doug.

[20:45] Sure. The ai, is that any increased risk for the

[20:50] system in any way?

[20:51] Like, is, is there, is that an increased target for

[20:55] or complicate things further as far as

[20:57] Goes?

[20:58] No. Yeah, it's interesting. It's, it's actually an increased

[20:59] target for or or becoming.

[21:01] So at least through the grapevine where I heard yesterday

[21:04] for 91 a requests,

[21:07] but we also don't, as part of our AI is everywhere.

[21:11] Yeah. Any browser you fire up.

[21:15] It's interesting because the whole concept of ai,

[21:18] is it actually a finished product?

[21:22] You know, is the process process of using AI

[21:28] susceptible to a 91 a request?

[21:30] Or you would think the final document may be

[21:33] produced by that?

[21:35] Hmm. But it's interesting because it's out there.

[21:39] A few towns that I talked to had actually had 91 a requests

[21:43] and they actually did not honor those requests.

[21:47] There's really no, it's sort

[21:48] of a real gray area out there right now.

[21:50] Right. AI itself at some point,

[21:53] we really don't use it internally.

[21:58] At some point over the next year will actually

[22:01] be looking at developing policy was related to that.

[22:05] 'cause it can be used for, it can be used

[22:07] for really good things and it be Right.

[22:09] Can be used for really bad things. So,

[22:11] So if I didn't a few years ago,

[22:12] didn't saw security goes in ransomware right.

[22:15] A few years ago. I, I can't remember exactly when.

[22:17] But didn't, wasn't there a significant investment into the

[22:20] security program that you had and,

[22:22] Oh, it's ongoing.

[22:23] I know it's ongoing, but I, I thought a few years ago we

[22:25] made like a sub very substantial one

[22:26] and I didn't know if that's, if that

[22:28] when the next anticipated like,

[22:30] big thing would be if there's,

[22:31] or is it just that the maintenance,

[22:33] the ongoing maintenance, it's the

[22:34] Ongoing maintenance.

[22:35] So in the projected three to five years is nothing,

[22:39] you know, magnificent that we have to

[22:40] Prepare for.

[22:41] No, I think that the, the next big one is actually in two

[22:43] years time and that's when our barracuda antivirus

[22:48] archiving the firewall that sits in front

[22:52] of our email is gonna come from renewal.

[22:54] And they've, that they've got new product.

[22:56] We actually, we actually entered a five year agreement

[22:59] with them the last time we renewed,

[23:00] just so we could save money.

[23:02] Yeah. But that'll be the next big thing. Okay.

[23:05] Thank You. And and I'll be honest with you, Charlie,

[23:07] it moves so fast now who knows

[23:11] what It's true.

[23:15] Charlie answered my question. Did he really? Exactly.

[23:18] You're killing me. There you go.

[23:21] I'm done. Councilor

[23:23] Mills, Madam Chair,

[23:24] seeing no other questions from anyone else.

[23:27] And I'll be the first one to tell you

[23:28] that I didn't understand a word that Doug said

[23:31] And At my age I'm fine with that, but I, I trusted that

[23:35] 'cause nobody else jumped up and screamed anything.

[23:37] I'm gonna move the bottom line

[23:39] for information technology in the amount

[23:41] of $1,440,832

[23:47] Second.

[23:48] All right, we have a motion in a second.

[23:49] Any further discussion? Brought that part last time.

[23:52] All right. On the motion. Councilor Mills? Yes.

[23:54] Councilor Webb. Yes. Councilor Flood. Yes. Councilor Foot?

[23:58] Yes. And chair votes? Yes. Motion passes. Five zero.

[24:01] Thank you. I had a question,

[24:02] but realized it's not something to ask right now, so,

[24:05] And I would just like to say it

[24:06] Didn't have to do with the budget. I'll wait.

[24:08] I would just like to say that this is probably gonna be

[24:10] the last time I'm sitting in front of you in this capacity,

[24:14] so it's been a pleasure.

[24:17] Okay. And hopefully when I exit this

[24:22] stage, we leave you in really good hands.

[24:25] The guys that work for me are fantastic

[24:29] and it's, it's actually hard to leave, but

[24:33] How many years?

[24:34] How Many years, Doug, have you been doing this?

[24:36] It's that. How many years have you been sitting there?

[24:39] I've been sitting here for 31 years, so thank you.

[24:43] Thank you. Boy, I've seen a lot. You're only 39,

[24:47] Doug. What's

[24:48] That work?

[24:49] You are my man. Thank you

[24:50] Doug.

[24:51] Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, moving on

[24:55] to assessing.

[24:57] All right. Mark Fleischer will be representing

[25:00] the next couple of budgets here.

[25:12] Okay. Good evening, mark Fleischer, CFO.

[25:15] Good. We're gonna start off with assessing.

[25:18] So an Ffy 2027 budget for assessing.

[25:22] We're getting into the third year

[25:24] of a five year contract with Whitney.

[25:26] Consulting for assessing duties

[25:28] is gonna be a minimal increase of $4,800 on that line.

[25:32] As far as revenues go, there's payment in lieu of taxes,

[25:35] also known as pilots are going to increase over FY 26

[25:38] with an addition of the solar power generating facility

[25:41] located at Transfer Lane

[25:44] at $20,000 per year for 25 years.

[25:48] Nutfield Heights continues to provide a consistent revenue

[25:51] as their pilot as a fixed

[25:53] calculation per New Hampshire statute.

[25:56] The printing and mailing line have increased for FY 27 due

[26:01] to the town wide revaluation that is expected

[26:03] to be completed by September, 2026.

[26:06] The increases due to required notices that will be sent

[26:09] to all taxpayers.

[26:11] So overall appropriations are increasing 2.26%

[26:15] and the appropriation total is

[26:16] 513,473. Any questions?

[26:25] I just wanna thank everyone so far

[26:27] that every question I've had you've answered in your

[26:29] presentation, so I haven't had to ask it, so thank you.

[26:32] Great. Any other questions?

[26:35] Alright. It's okay. So no questions.

[26:38] Madam Chair, I move the bottom line

[26:40] for assessing in the amount

[26:41] of $513,473 second.

[26:46] Alright, any further discussion?

[26:49] All right, on the motion, councilor Mills? Yes.

[26:51] Councilor Webb? Yes. Councilor Flood? Yes. Councilor Foot?

[26:54] Yes. And chair votes? Yes. Motion passes. Five zero.

[26:57] You're in a roll. Keep going. Okay, let's how,

[27:00] Let's get over to the department now.

[27:02] So in FY 27 the budget has increased

[27:06] over FY 26 by 106,974

[27:10] or 14.3%.

[27:13] That is primarily due to personnel

[27:15] and audit expense related Total personnel services increased

[27:19] 7.8%.

[27:21] However, health insurance premiums have increased 26%.

[27:25] Workers' comp also increased 36.6%.

[27:30] We have budgeted five full-time employees

[27:32] and two part-time employees who are the treasurer

[27:34] and Deputy Treasurer auditing services.

[27:37] This is the killer is increasing

[27:40] $44,700 over FY 26.

[27:44] That seems to be an industry trend.

[27:46] We went out to bid and we only received two bidders.

[27:49] There just isn't a lot of people getting into municipal

[27:53] auditing that like we do.

[27:57] We're also increasing our professional services line

[28:01] account number 3 9 0 0 0 0.

[28:03] That is because we have a valuation year on our bene

[28:07] benefits and that's gonna be $10,000 higher than last year,

[28:11] which was just a reporting year.

[28:14] Revenues are projected to be $25,600 for the year.

[28:18] We're estimating that our commercial PCard rebate will come

[28:21] in around $25,000.

[28:23] So our appropriation total is

[28:25] 8 56 5 3 1. Questions?

[28:30] Questions counsel? Just

[28:32] A general one, why was there a

[28:33] 36% increase in workers' comp? I'm

[28:36] Just it.

[28:38] I think what it is is that, you know, we've had claims,

[28:42] significant claims, we've been trying to, you know,

[28:45] increase our experience, improve our experience rating,

[28:47] but I think they just went ahead

[28:49] and just did it across the board for all.

[28:51] Okay. However, believe it

[28:53] or not the fire department rate came

[28:54] down compared to everybody else.

[28:56] So they originally,

[28:58] they were the ones that were the highest.

[29:00] Yeah. So they're working to get, bring theirs down.

[29:03] That's really, yeah, the reason,

[29:07] It's just weird to see a workers' comp line

[29:08] On the finance department.

[29:10] I know it's such a low rate to begin with. Yeah.

[29:13] So when it goes up five bucks then

[29:16] I guess it's a significant Yeah.

[29:17] Percentage.

[29:21] No questions. So no questions. Madam Chair.

[29:24] I move the bottom line for financing the amount

[29:26] of $856,531. Second.

[29:32] All right, motion a second. Any discussion on the motion?

[29:36] Councilor Mills? Yes. Councilor Webb? Yes. Councilor Flood?

[29:39] Yes. Councilor Foote? Yes. And chair votes? Yes.

[29:42] Motion passes. Five zero. Now we're up to tax

[29:45] Collection.

[29:46] Okay, so next is tax collection.

[29:47] I'm gonna invite Stacy Belovo up, tax collector.

[29:56] Good evening. My name's Stacy Bevo.

[29:58] I'm the tax collector

[30:01] and I'm just gonna go over some revenue highlights.

[30:05] Interest in penalty revenue has been consistent

[30:07] for the past several years, therefore no change and should.

[30:11] Interest rates are 8% current year

[30:13] and 14% for the lean year.

[30:17] Motor vehicle and boat revenue have been increased based

[30:21] on higher list prices.

[30:23] Volume of transaction and convenience of processing.

[30:26] Boat registrations here, I gotta tell you the other day,

[30:30] with boat registrations, we went through a pack

[30:33] of boat decals or 25

[30:35] and we went through two of those in one day.

[30:39] So that is increasing.

[30:41] We will see more of that

[30:42] as the weather continues to get nicer.

[30:46] Sale of DA tax deeded property is the same as FY 26,

[30:50] however we expect to sell one property

[30:52] during fiscal year 27 based on current town deeded property

[30:57] inventory expenditure highlights,

[31:03] tax collection staff, five full-time employees.

[31:05] However, we have another full-time employee

[31:09] starting this Monday, which will bring us to six

[31:12] using historical data.

[31:14] Overtime has increased due to staff scheduling

[31:17] during vacations.

[31:19] Postage expenditure increased due

[31:20] to the increased daily cost in volume

[31:22] of mail being processed in the tax collector's office,

[31:25] especially due to online transaction volume

[31:30] appropriation total is 972,950.

[31:35] Just some customer service items.

[31:38] Credit cards accepted

[31:39] for all transactions at the customer service window

[31:42] with multiple payment options available.

[31:45] Payment tenders, acceptance of a CH

[31:48] and credit card payments

[31:49] through the customer self-service module.

[31:52] On our website we have an ATM available in the lobby,

[31:56] real time visibility of tax

[31:58] and utility balances on Tom website.

[32:01] You can go on the website, you can reprint your tax bill

[32:05] and you can also go online

[32:06] and do motor vehicle registrations as well as get estimates

[32:11] for a renewal or a new registration.

[32:14] Any questions?

[32:17] Council? Thank you Madam Chair. Just for those at home.

[32:20] So boats yes can be registered here that they can,

[32:24] doesn't have to be the,

[32:25] the town they live in just for anyone home.

[32:27] They can register the boats here at any

[32:29] time regardless of where they live,

[32:30] Correct?

[32:31] That's correct, yes. They don't have to be a dairy resident.

[32:33] Thank you. You're welcome.

[32:37] I would just like to, I don't have a question,

[32:38] but just on this customer service topic, thank everybody

[32:41] who has worked on this because I,

[32:43] I can say I've used the online registrations

[32:45] for a motor vehicle for my dog license

[32:48] except when I was late.

[32:49] But I think I, it's just, I think we do a really good job

[32:54] of focusing on our, our,

[32:59] our residents and trying

[33:00] to make things as easy as possible for them.

[33:01] So thank you to everybody that does. That may not

[33:06] To that point.

[33:07] So do we have the breakdown, the percentage,

[33:08] how many people actually utilize the

[33:10] online versus come in person? Is that,

[33:12] I don't have that with me this evening,

[33:15] but I can get back to you that. Okay. Is

[33:16] That something that easily attainable just to Yes to?

[33:18] Yep. Okay. Just curiosity. It's not So how

[33:20] Many online versus Coming? Yeah. Okay.

[33:23] I can get back to you. Sure. Thank you. You're welcome.

[33:26] Counselor. What, just going back to customer service.

[33:29] I wanna thank you and your staff

[33:30] because they really are helpful.

[33:32] I see it when I walk through town

[33:34] and also, you know, encompassing it,

[33:40] a weird title problem with myself.

[33:42] They didn't know who I was and just how helpful

[33:44] and knowledgeable they were.

[33:46] So it, it's greatly appreciated.

[33:50] Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

[33:51] That's nice to hear. Thank you.

[33:55] Any other Questions? So you, no further questions.

[33:57] Madam Chair, I move the bottom line

[33:59] for tax collection in the amount

[34:01] of $972,950.

[34:05] Second.

[34:07] Any other discussion on the motion? Councilor Mills? Yes.

[34:11] Councilor Webb? Yes. Councilor Flood? Yes. Councilor Foot?

[34:14] Yes. And chair votes? Yes. Motion passes. Five zero. Thank

[34:17] You.

[34:18] Thank you very much. Good evening.

[34:20] All right, looks like cable is up next.

[34:23] Do we know where Owen went?

[34:28] I think on the side.

[34:31] Okay, we'll while we're waiting

[34:32] For that, we'll go with, we'll

[34:34] Go with the town clerk and elections.

[34:36] Okay. You may have to slide through

[34:40] in the order of the but

[34:49] Good evening.

[34:50] Good evening. So town clerk's office is responsible for

[34:56] all the records and the management of vital records,

[35:00] meeting minutes, dog licensing and of course elections.

[35:07] We tend to be where everyone in town calls to see

[35:12] and ask all sorts of questions.

[35:15] We get all sorts of mail.

[35:18] I got a request today about someone who obviously

[35:23] has a neighbor that has an out-of-state license plate

[35:26] and that I need to inform them that they need

[35:30] to register their vehicle.

[35:32] So we have two full-time employees.

[35:37] One part-time. She's full-time, part-time.

[35:42] She's got partial benefits, 30 hours.

[35:45] Most of my increase is personnel related.

[35:50] This slide was done on the 10th.

[35:53] We are now up to, as of this evening,

[35:56] 4,290 dogs licensed

[36:00] with 2,417.

[36:03] Unlicensed licenses are due on April 30th

[36:08] 'cause the dog year runs May one, April 30th.

[36:13] Two counselor foot's question.

[36:17] 68% of our dog licenses are renewed online.

[36:22] I checked that number today.

[36:24] Most people automatically renew them.

[36:27] Some people set up for hour renewal.

[36:29] You can renew online as long as your rabies is current.

[36:33] Otherwise they email us their rabies certificate,

[36:36] we update it and they make their payment online.

[36:39] We mail out their registration

[36:44] on the revenue side.

[36:46] Back in late May last year, council

[36:51] approved a fee for ceremonies as

[36:56] of last Friday.

[36:58] We had done 52 ceremonies since the end of September.

[37:03] It did take time for all of my staff

[37:05] to get their justices of the piece.

[37:07] So, and we get lots of phone calls every day.

[37:11] People are coming in, they're

[37:13] what they call a courthouse wedding.

[37:16] 'cause you know, our courthouse doesn't have it.

[37:19] We actually had another one yesterday.

[37:21] So the number's now 53.

[37:24] They come in, they come in all dressed up.

[37:28] We recently had one that not only did we marry them,

[37:32] their dogs also became family.

[37:35] The dogs came in all dressed up in dresses in tuxedos

[37:40] and we pronounced them a family once we had married them.

[37:44] So it is interesting times at town hall,

[37:48] but it's great to see our,

[37:53] most of our revenue is set by state statute.

[37:57] We're not really money making department.

[38:00] So this is nice that we're offering a service to

[38:05] any New Hampshire resident, but mostly our dairy residents.

[38:10] And you know, getting married is expensive nowadays.

[38:14] So they can get it done, get it done quick,

[38:17] get it done relatively inexpensively and move on

[38:21] and have their party later

[38:22] and not actually call it a wedding and pay less for it.

[38:25] So if you guys have any questions on that Budget Council.

[38:31] Thank you Madam Chair. Two quick questions on the

[38:35] same question for the tax.

[38:37] Non-residents can get married here, correct? Yep. Okay.

[38:40] And secondly, is there any kind of, for the service,

[38:43] do any kind of backdrop for like pictures for them?

[38:45] Is that, and if that's something that if we don't have that,

[38:48] is that something to worthwhile getting? So that

[38:50] Is something I've been thinking about

[38:54] myself and some other people downstairs on the first floor,

[39:00] that little side room, if you go in there now,

[39:03] there's a bunch of plants in there.

[39:05] We're trying to make it a little bit prettier

[39:07] and a little bit nicer and fact, I put up a Norman Rockwell

[39:12] marriage license painting that was hiding in the basement.

[39:18] So I've been trying to kind of do little things.

[39:21] A backdrop would probably be something really nice,

[39:25] but you know, it's something we'll figure out as we go.

[39:30] I'm looking forward to seeing an, you know,

[39:33] a whole year's worth of marriages and how many we're doing

[39:36] and, and what that maths out to.

[39:39] Any little enhancement might be a little more

[39:42] of an attraction versus coming

[39:43] here versus another town hall. If it's a

[39:45] Little, well not every town hall offers, right?

[39:48] Marriage services. You can get a marriage license at any

[39:51] city or town clerk in the state.

[39:53] But you know, it's us, it's Manchester,

[39:56] it's just a couple others that actually

[39:58] offer the ceremony piece.

[40:00] It's only $135 for

[40:02] The ceremony piece.

[40:03] Yep. And your marriage license is $50.

[40:05] And then we, we put in a marriage certificate for $15.

[40:09] So the whole package is $200.

[40:11] Have to keep that in mind for the next ex Mrs. Mills,

[40:13] you know, next future ex Mrs. Mills.

[40:16] I was gonna give $200,

[40:18] 53 full couples.

[40:22] Any other actual questions?

[40:26] That was a legit question.

[40:29] Does your wife watch the meetings?

[40:30] Yeah, I hope not. Oh, I'll tell her all about it.

[40:33] Don't worry either

[40:34] That I'll have to, I'll have to give you cash.

[40:38] That's a Vegas divorce. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk.

[40:43] Madam Chair. I move the bottom line

[40:46] for the town clerk in the amount

[40:47] of $246,345 second.

[40:52] Alright, motion to second. Any further discussion?

[40:56] Mrs. Mills will find out. Don't worry. On the motion.

[41:00] Yes. Council Mills

[41:02] $135.

[41:03] Yes.

[41:05] Councilor Weather? Yes. Councilor Flood?

[41:07] Yes. Councilor Foot?

[41:08] Yes. And she already knows. And chair votes? Yes.

[41:12] Motion carries by zero. And elections.

[41:16] All right. And we'll move on to elections.

[41:18] Okay, so the next fiscal year we're going from one

[41:23] election to three elections in the fiscal year.

[41:25] So that's why the personnel line jumps

[41:28] so much postage.

[41:32] There's an increase in the postage line due

[41:35] to legislation at the state level requiring an annual annual

[41:38] verification of the checklist at the local level.

[41:41] So they passed

[41:44] Senate Bill 2 21 last year.

[41:47] It goes into effect this year.

[41:49] It was after budget season,

[41:51] so we're figuring it out for this year.

[41:54] But they'll be having a supervised checklist.

[41:57] We'll be having a session next week, which is the start

[42:01] of the annual verification process.

[42:03] There are, I believe it's 2064 voters

[42:07] that they're gonna need to look at

[42:09] 'cause they haven't voted within so many years of the date.

[42:14] So we are required to mail them letters informing them

[42:18] that if they don't respond

[42:20] and come in, they will be removed from the checklist.

[42:27] We used to do it once every 10 years

[42:28] and now we're doing it every year.

[42:33] So not in the budget,

[42:36] but I wanted to make the council aware there's a bill

[42:40] pending in Concord is House Bill 1300.

[42:44] This legislation will require a local ballot to be produced

[42:48] for the November elections.

[42:52] So that means we'd have to print 20,000 ballots

[42:55] to put two questions on it for our voters.

[42:58] We'd have to pay for the programming

[43:00] for the accessible voting.

[43:01] When the amendment to that bill was originally introduced,

[43:05] it was, it was in the legislation to add it

[43:09] to the November ballot, which is provided by the state.

[43:13] And it doesn't cost the town.

[43:15] However, floor amendment made it so that the town

[43:19] and city clerks will need to provide that.

[43:22] So 20,000 ballots

[43:23] and some programming is probably gonna be

[43:25] between seven to $8,000.

[43:28] So if that bill passes

[43:29] and we'll need to do that, then I will need to come back

[43:32] to the council for that money.

[43:35] Also, I just wanna put it on your radar.

[43:37] I know it says House bill four 18.

[43:39] It's actually House Bill 4 81,

[43:41] which moves the primary date from September to June.

[43:45] It's awaiting signature from the governor

[43:48] and a Senate bill 1 0 3 will require us

[43:52] to submit a plan in order to keep our one polling place

[43:56] for presidential elections.

[43:58] So based on when

[44:01] that information comes out from Secretary of State

[44:03] and what they're going to need, I will come to the council

[44:07] to have, we'll probably need to have some sort of discussion

[44:12] publicly about polling locations, polling places.

[44:16] And once Senate Bill 4 81 is signed by the governor,

[44:19] we'll need to reach out to Pinkerton.

[44:22] The second Tuesdays in June is usually

[44:25] graduation day for them.

[44:27] So I'm not sure

[44:29] how comfortable they're gonna be about us voting

[44:32] at Pinkerton then,

[44:33] or if they're gonna be able to adjust that for 2028.

[44:37] So we'll need to have those conversations obviously.

[44:40] But I wanted to put them on your radar

[44:45] Questions.

[44:48] I had one question. You mentioned on the verification

[44:52] that they, the those 2000 whatever

[44:55] people would need to come in.

[44:57] Is there accommodation for someone that's house bound

[45:00] or something like that to be able to still,

[45:03] Yes.

[45:04] So if they are a registered voter who receives this letter,

[45:07] they would just need to call.

[45:09] The number will be on there and we will talk to them

[45:12] and make arrangements for what they need to do.

[45:16] But most of these people have not voted in four

[45:19] or five years, so they may not even be here.

[45:22] We do have a transient population in some

[45:25] of the apartment complexes

[45:27] and a lot of them only vote in presidentials.

[45:30] So if they didn't vote in 2024, they're most likely

[45:34] not living in town anymore.

[45:36] Okay. Thank you. I just wanted

[45:37] to make sure there was that accommodation.

[45:39] Yeah. Any other questions?

[45:42] See no other questions. Madam Chair,

[45:44] I move the bottom line for elections in the amount

[45:46] of $152,087

[45:52] Second.

[45:53] Alright, any further discussion?

[45:55] All right, on the motion, council mills? Yes. Council Webb?

[45:58] Yes. Councilor Flood? Yes. Councilor Foot? Yes.

[46:01] And chair votes? Yes. Motion passes by zero.

[46:03] Thank you very much. Alright,

[46:06] we can go back up to cable. Owen, are you ready?

[46:10] Oh sure.

[46:48] Good evening. Counselors matter, chair,

[46:50] county Administrator, Fowler, staff in attendance, members

[46:54] of the public here

[46:55] and those watching at home, my pleasure to present to you.

[47:00] Summary, overview of FY 27 for the cable division.

[47:05] AKA dairy cam.

[47:12] Certainly gonna keep this very brief.

[47:14] Leave plenty of room for

[47:15] questions, I'm sure we'll have some.

[47:20] We are Dairy Kim. We believe that a better world starts

[47:22] with a connected community.

[47:24] We strive every day to live,

[47:29] work it, show it.

[47:30] And dairy. Our strategy is fully aligned

[47:34] with dairy's master plan.

[47:35] I think it's important to, to note that

[47:37] and I think you'll see parts of that peeking through

[47:40] as you see our strategy here.

[47:42] Moving forward every day

[47:47] we strive to keep dairy connected

[47:50] and bring the best in hyper-local

[47:53] programming to the dairy residents.

[47:54] And provide opportunities to create, capture

[47:56] and share the stories that shape our lives.

[47:59] Stories that are meaningful, relevant, useful, entertaining

[48:02] ultimately and enhance the culture

[48:05] and quality of life for the residents

[48:07] and visitors of Dairy New Hampshire.

[48:12] How do we do that? Or

[48:16] what, what are we?

[48:17] We're an information distribution hub,

[48:20] basically emanating from dairy cam.org.

[48:23] We promote dairy as a destination spotlight, arts

[48:25] and creative culture, of course like this one,

[48:29] allow folks access to live meeting coverage,

[48:35] which promotes civic engagement and participation.

[48:38] We reflect and enhance cultural identity for those

[48:41] who live in dairy and those who have the diaspora,

[48:45] if you will have since moved away.

[48:48] But want to stay connected to their hometown roots.

[48:52] We provide local and regional nonprofit

[48:54] visibility and outreach.

[48:56] Now more than ever, nonprofits are leaned on for support

[49:00] and we get plenty of feedback from our community partners

[49:03] that we do provide a valuable service for them.

[49:08] In a way we preserve dairy's historic record.

[49:11] We've had experienced plenty of milestones lately.

[49:16] Some, some big moves. Dairy is making.

[49:18] We're happy that we can capture those

[49:20] and generations to come can see the transformation

[49:24] as we can right before our eyes.

[49:26] We also, hopefully we never have to use it,

[49:30] but we provide resilience during emergency in the form

[49:33] of communications and outreach to the public.

[49:36] Primarily leaning on when all else fails, radio waves

[49:40] and our FM radio station will provide, will likely be there

[49:45] to provide information to folks as needed in the event

[49:48] of natural disasters, et cetera.

[49:52] And we're keeping dairy recognized

[49:53] as a leader in community media.

[49:55] We'll get to that in a little bit.

[50:00] This is a taste of what a connected dairy looks like.

[50:03] These are partners we work

[50:05] with every day, year after year.

[50:09] We're very proud to do so.

[50:12] This is only a sample, as I say,

[50:14] and many projects are underway right now.

[50:17] And we've got new alliances,

[50:18] new partners forming all the time.

[50:22] We've got some fun and interesting

[50:26] and educational topics on the docket

[50:28] for the year coming ahead, which I'm excited to have

[50:33] to collaborate with those partners.

[50:35] With that, How do we do all this?

[50:38] We're the dairies,

[50:39] municipal cable division serving 34,000 residents,

[50:43] 14,000 households, albeit funded by

[50:49] a fraction of that population.

[50:52] Cable subscribers. We are not taxpayer funded.

[50:57] It should be no surprise to anyone that cable funds,

[51:00] we've talked about this before in presentations

[51:03] in the past years, but we're, we've, we've reached

[51:08] the cliff again, we'll allude to that in a, in a little bit.

[51:12] Our platforms that we distribute on

[51:14] are Comcast channels 16 and 22.

[51:16] We distribute channel six, which is the educational channel

[51:19] for the school district.

[51:22] Distribute meeting. The school district takes care

[51:24] of the programming for the most part.

[51:26] Save school board meetings

[51:30] and other special meetings that we,

[51:32] that we capture here in-house at the municipal center.

[51:37] But that feed comes through our hub downstairs

[51:41] and then is distributed out to Comcast subscribers streaming

[51:45] and OTT over the top.

[51:47] That's your Roku, apple tv, fire tv,

[51:49] if you have those apps at home, search, dairy TV,

[51:53] anywhere worldwide.

[51:54] And you can check in on what's going on at home.

[51:57] YouTube channel, that's sort of

[52:02] a backup, backup, backup.

[52:03] We don't put a lot of faith in in in YouTube as

[52:06] as a delivery source.

[52:07] But we do have that capability

[52:09] and a lot of people are find us on YouTube largest

[52:13] video search engine out there.

[52:15] So it behooves us to be on there

[52:17] and we, we do get some views, actually a lot of views.

[52:20] Government meetings in particular on that

[52:23] as we live stream there.

[52:25] And then playback, recorded videos

[52:31] as I mentioned, 95.1 there is evolution

[52:38] and dairy cam.org.

[52:39] So dairy cam serves as the hub from there.

[52:43] Folks can tune in live from anywhere as long

[52:47] as you have a computer and the internet.

[52:49] You can listen to WEVX,

[52:51] you can watch all three channels.

[52:57] And we have an expanding social media presence,

[53:02] primarily Facebook and Instagram right now.

[53:07] As we sort of, as I mentioned last year, we've last year

[53:11] and the sort of year

[53:14] before we transitioned from a lot of the projects and,

[53:17] and investments that we've made in the large transition

[53:21] of dairy cam and focus more on training, development

[53:25] and optimizing our operations, right?

[53:28] Protocols, processes, building all those out.

[53:30] Part of that came, part of that

[53:35] plan involves increased social media,

[53:37] particularly with multimedia.

[53:39] So video. So you'll see a lot more of that coming

[53:42] because let's face it, that's where people are.

[53:45] They're on their devices, they're on social media.

[53:49] We've got to reach out to them

[53:51] and grab them back hopefully right to the hub dairy cam.org

[53:55] where they can then stay connected, stay informed.

[53:58] But what's happening here in the municipality town offices

[54:02] around town with our community partners

[54:05] and amongst each other in the community provide coverage

[54:09] of government meetings, local news,

[54:11] community events and youth programming.

[54:22] Let's get right to the numbers. Picture says it all.

[54:26] What you're seeing there is from the budget book,

[54:30] this is the last four years represented sequentially there.

[54:36] Up on the top graph, those are requests.

[54:39] So these were the, the,

[54:41] the actual requested budgets over the past four years in

[54:45] the respective categories.

[54:46] Personnel, operations, capital and transfers.

[54:49] You'll see a bump there for that capital there.

[54:53] And going back to 24, let's see

[54:55] where we required our mobile capability with our new truck

[55:00] F three 50, which we just entered phase two.

[55:03] This this fiscal year where we upfitted that with our

[55:07] enclosed service body.

[55:10] So that's a game changer. That's gonna save a lot of time,

[55:13] a lot of energy loading

[55:15] and unloading for all the, we call 'em gigs.

[55:19] All of the events that we cover around town

[55:21] and we're able to dispatch

[55:22] and deploy a lot, much more nimbly and quick.

[55:28] And then down below you see the request compared

[55:31] to last year, You'll see a drastic

[55:36] reduction in certainly personnel.

[55:41] We've eliminated a few open positions that we have,

[55:44] which is going to create some challenge

[55:46] frankly moving forward.

[55:49] Those were specialist positions.

[55:52] Intermediate, if you will, folks

[55:54] that might have experience editing or in pre principle

[55:59] or post-production that might find their way to dairy cam

[56:02] or we might find our way to them and recruit.

[56:05] So post-production is really one

[56:08] of our biggest challenges right now.

[56:10] We can go out and we can capture all the

[56:13] events all day long.

[56:15] It's very difficult but it's the easy part.

[56:19] The hard part is creatively

[56:26] bringing all of what we capture together and making

[56:29] and enhancing it in such a way

[56:30] that it will captivate an audience and

[56:32] therefore be relevant and watched.

[56:35] So it becomes a vicious cycle

[56:37] if we go out and capture events.

[56:39] And then we've gotta a backlog of projects that

[56:42] where they're stuck on the conveyor belt, if you will.

[56:45] So at this time,

[56:48] I wouldn't say we're doing minimum viable output,

[56:50] but we can do a lot more.

[56:52] There's a lot more opportunity there,

[56:53] but we just need to, you know, we need more hands

[56:57] on deck, which is a challenge.

[57:00] And this is the, the big challenge, Again,

[57:04] you've heard me mention this the past recent

[57:07] year budget presentation.

[57:09] Here it is in blue and red.

[57:14] These are revenues the past

[57:19] few years what you're seeing is

[57:25] a decline in folks subscribing to cable.

[57:29] So when we talk about a franchise fee that is given

[57:33] to Comcast in, in dairy happens to be Comcast subscribers,

[57:37] that fee is, is assessed only on the video portion

[57:42] or television, cable television.

[57:43] So as you know, you can bundle a Comcast bill,

[57:46] you can get home security, you can get telephone,

[57:50] you can get internet, you can get tv.

[57:55] The way the law is written at this current time,

[58:00] only the TV portion can be assessed.

[58:03] So if folks get internet only then no cable tv

[58:07] 'cause they don't use it, we lose.

[58:10] And that's what's happening here.

[58:12] So It's real. We've gotta do something about it.

[58:17] And I would consider this a, Mike and I have talked

[58:21] and agreed that we really need

[58:23] to take a deep dive this year.

[58:25] So consider this a prelude to a deeper dive will come

[58:29] before you having done some more.

[58:33] We've done plenty of research and, and looking at options.

[58:36] But we're gonna do some more fine tuning based on current

[58:39] situation and what we know now 'cause it's changing.

[58:43] And we're gonna label for you some options,

[58:45] some suggestions, some considerations.

[58:47] And we really want your input as

[58:49] to the direction you'd like the division to go.

[58:56] What do we do now? Earlier this week we're,

[59:01] we're certainly not gonna lay down

[59:04] or standby, we're not gonna think of the only option

[59:07] as dairy needs to kind of pick up the tab for this.

[59:11] We're gonna look, explore all options

[59:13] including right to the top.

[59:15] So earlier this week, did some advocacy work,

[59:20] Met with Commissioner Gomez, met with the offices of

[59:24] our full federal delegation in their

[59:27] senate and house offices.

[59:31] Basically in support of some, in support of one piece

[59:34] of legislation and asking them to, you know,

[59:38] strike down another p another bill that's on its way up

[59:41] that will take that really squelches local control

[59:47] has to do with ba basically if we did that cable industry,

[59:50] if, if that bill went forward, cable industry would be able

[59:52] to kind of write their own,

[59:54] write their own rules moving forward.

[59:56] And we know we don't want that in New Hampshire.

[59:59] We certainly don't want it in dairy.

[1:00:01] So we're gonna do everything we can to mobilize.

[1:00:03] Take action on that again.

[1:00:05] The next, what are we gonna do more

[1:00:08] to come we'll all have a community and a,

[1:00:11] and a leadership discussion on where we are.

[1:00:14] Clear picture and some considerations moving forward.

[1:00:18] Dairy will have a seat at the table on my watch.

[1:00:21] That's just how we're gonna roll. We're working hard.

[1:00:25] What you see on the right is our board.

[1:00:30] I'm a member of the Alliance for Community Media.

[1:00:32] While we were in DC we took the opportunity

[1:00:34] to meet in person and strategize moving forward.

[1:00:40] As I said, this is, this is not a new phenomenon, it's just

[1:00:44] becoming more and more real.

[1:00:45] This is the time we need to take action.

[1:00:47] So it's kind of a, a compressed sort of timeline here.

[1:00:51] Certainly continue to work with federal delegation, work

[1:00:55] with New Hampshire legislature.

[1:00:56] There are things states can do.

[1:00:59] There are things that our neighboring states have done that

[1:01:04] I think we would all agree would not favor well in

[1:01:06] New Hampshire include the T word taxation.

[1:01:11] But you know, Maine looked for a little bit at,

[1:01:16] at actually taxing the big companies, YouTube and,

[1:01:20] and the folks that are streaming over that infrastructure,

[1:01:23] the public property that is the right of way

[1:01:26] that the public deserves compensation for the use

[1:01:29] from these corporations.

[1:01:30] Monthly, millions of dollars are made on our property

[1:01:34] and there should be a fair exchange for that.

[1:01:36] So I'll keep fighting for that.

[1:01:38] We'll continue to explore practical revenue models

[1:01:40] that we can work on in house that it will include.

[1:01:43] We've mentioned before Councillor Webb, of course you,

[1:01:46] I recall you mentioning sponsorship, things like that.

[1:01:49] That's part of our diversification of the,

[1:01:51] of the media footprint we have with the radio station.

[1:01:54] Believe it or not, it's even with higher sort

[1:01:58] of regulation over the radio station.

[1:02:01] We're more open to sponsorship on the, on the station.

[1:02:05] So we're really building that out when developing program

[1:02:09] that that our local community's gonna love.

[1:02:11] I'm sure we can look at service model options.

[1:02:16] We can look at how we can just the ser adjust the services

[1:02:18] we provide make primarily we've gotta

[1:02:21] meet the needs of the community.

[1:02:23] That's what we're always looking to do.

[1:02:26] But how can we do that in a sustainable way?

[1:02:29] This we have a great investment here.

[1:02:31] We have a great tool here.

[1:02:33] People long before my time, we're forward thinking

[1:02:37] and establish this cable division when not every community

[1:02:40] has, we're very lucky to have the infrastructure,

[1:02:44] and I use that word intentionally.

[1:02:47] Community media in this day

[1:02:49] and age is more important than ever.

[1:02:52] When we all go home and we swipe

[1:02:56] is becoming harder and harder to tell what's real anymore.

[1:03:01] But what happens in dairy is real and we can capture that

[1:03:05] and we can own our own media here in dairy.

[1:03:11] We're gonna continue also

[1:03:12] to provide the best service possible on

[1:03:14] the current constraints.

[1:03:16] And we're gonna lean on our culture of innovation

[1:03:18] and creativity to find the solutions we need

[1:03:21] to survive to thrive.

[1:03:25] So that's a good note to end on.

[1:03:30] Happy to take any questions, counts the foot.

[1:03:34] Thank you Madam Chair. Well first of all, thank you

[1:03:36] for all you guys do.

[1:03:37] Your crew, for those who don't know, they're everywhere.

[1:03:41] Every, pretty much every event that goes on in dairy,

[1:03:43] dairy camp crew is always there.

[1:03:45] So, so thank you for that.

[1:03:48] I I know the, the income's, the income's a little tight,

[1:03:51] but do you have any capital improvement plans projected in

[1:03:55] the next couple of years?

[1:03:58] We do and we always in, in light of these declining

[1:04:02] that chart that you saw, we, we try

[1:04:04] to stay as fluid as possible.

[1:04:05] We've got projects that are on the burner

[1:04:08] and as we see quarter by quarter we get indicate,

[1:04:11] we get direct feedback on

[1:04:13] what we've got coming in and what we can use.

[1:04:16] I try to stay cautious and conservative throughout the year.

[1:04:19] You'll see a lot of my capital expenditures

[1:04:22] towards the end of the year.

[1:04:24] Finance loves that, but they, they tolerate it.

[1:04:27] They're a great team and I love working with them.

[1:04:29] They, I couldn't do a lot without their support.

[1:04:32] I really appreciate them. But that's,

[1:04:35] that's the reason why there's a,

[1:04:36] there's a strategy behind that. So answer

[1:04:38] Your question in jeopardy, any of these programs or

[1:04:43] Projects?

[1:04:44] I mean we're reducing, again,

[1:04:44] just staying fluid counselor foot

[1:04:46] and just if, if I've got a smaller scale project,

[1:04:50] like maybe the next phase in opera house connectivity,

[1:04:55] we'll we'll kind of try to address that.

[1:04:58] Something we know we can complete at least a phase of so

[1:05:01] that if we don't receive what we expect,

[1:05:05] we can at least complete something

[1:05:07] and, and keep moving forward.

[1:05:08] But to answer your question, I'm really looking forward

[1:05:11] to getting to finalizing termination points,

[1:05:15] including cameras in the opera house so that

[1:05:17] as events happen there, like candidate forums,

[1:05:22] town forums, more a diverse offering

[1:05:27] of entertainment comes there.

[1:05:29] We can capture that with that connectivity

[1:05:32] down into the master control suite

[1:05:35] and the control room downstairs.

[1:05:37] Okay,

[1:05:38] One more.

[1:05:39] And, and so to that point actually, so the,

[1:05:42] with the Opera House for example, so I know they rent out

[1:05:45] to a lot of other organizations,

[1:05:47] private organizations to that.

[1:05:48] Is there ever any intertwined between Dairy CAM

[1:05:51] and those private organizations?

[1:05:52] Broadcasting for them specifically?

[1:05:54] Yes. Mostly non-profit entities that come in.

[1:05:57] And again, it's very valuable to them to capture something

[1:06:02] that they can then share far and wide.

[1:06:04] It increases the legs on that content

[1:06:06] and their messaging, whatever their priorities may be.

[1:06:10] So we partnered with community caregivers

[1:06:14] and they had a theater project come through

[1:06:16] with very meaningful topics.

[1:06:18] You can watch it on dairy tv

[1:06:20] and we had worked actually with those organizations

[1:06:24] during COVID when there were no other

[1:06:25] options for these performances.

[1:06:27] They did a, they produced a virtual performance.

[1:06:29] We were able to get that out

[1:06:31] for them statewide. So

[1:06:35] What about the, the private organizations

[1:06:38] as far as like a nonprofit?

[1:06:40] Is there any kind ability to do that, to, to air those

[1:06:45] or is that against if you had any kind of franchise rules

[1:06:49] or I'm sorry, is it against any kind of franchise rules

[1:06:52] or anything like that to to, to air

[1:06:55] those other organizations? It

[1:06:57] Would be a case by case basis in terms of what's if,

[1:07:00] if somebody were up there pitching some sort of project.

[1:07:04] Certainly the big, the big thing is no

[1:07:06] non-commercial, right?

[1:07:07] So if there were direct calls to action for a sale,

[1:07:11] which typically wouldn't find in a venue like that,

[1:07:13] but you never know, you know, that would be the only thing.

[1:07:17] We'd have to keep an eye out for that.

[1:07:18] And if there, if it was a performance of any kind,

[1:07:21] we wanna make sure we understand who holds the rights

[1:07:23] to those, the performance and the material

[1:07:25] and make sure we get clearance for

[1:07:27] that and make sure it's okay.

[1:07:28] Other than that, that, you know,

[1:07:32] I'd say whatever we could think up.

[1:07:34] Okay, thank You. We could do,

[1:07:38] I had a question.

[1:07:39] I think you kind of started to answer it.

[1:07:40] I was going to ask that when is their ability to work

[1:07:43] with like the streaming services and stuff to,

[1:07:45] and it sounds like there is some already some kind

[1:07:47] of thought of how to capture revenue through that.

[1:07:52] I'll just say, you know, we can,

[1:07:53] we can talk about this later in the year when we,

[1:07:55] when we need up, but there's just a lot of pushback

[1:07:59] from the industry and they've got everything they need

[1:08:04] to push back really hard. Lots of money.

[1:08:07] Yeah. Council Mills.

[1:08:11] Thank you Madam Chair. I have a question regarding WEVX.

[1:08:14] That is a, that's our streaming radio service

[1:08:18] That is an over the air broadcast station.

[1:08:20] It's a low power FM 95.1.

[1:08:23] Do we have, and I think you said this

[1:08:25] but I just wanna make sure I understood.

[1:08:26] Do we have the ability to override it in case

[1:08:30] of an emergency if we wanted to use it

[1:08:31] for emergency broadcasting? That

[1:08:33] Is exactly the plan counselor.

[1:08:35] We are actually, we have on the, on the books to, to speak

[1:08:38] with the communications team over at both fire

[1:08:40] and police so

[1:08:41] that we've got the messaging prepared in any likely event.

[1:08:45] We actually have it in house.

[1:08:46] We have messaging prepared for any likely event so

[1:08:49] that it can be deployed up upon collaboration, you know,

[1:08:52] with emergency services.

[1:08:54] And we keep an eye on things like the reverse 9 1 1 and,

[1:08:57] and any messaging going out of a social media.

[1:08:59] And we relay that over all of our channels.

[1:09:02] But in the, in, in the event of a, let's say an EO ceva

[1:09:06] activation, we're, we're right there in the room

[1:09:11] and we're working with the team to determine what to deploy

[1:09:15] and what messaging to send out.

[1:09:17] And as best we can, we'll have it ready now.

[1:09:21] Thank you. Yes, sir. Council clerk,

[1:09:24] This isn't as much of a question

[1:09:25] as is a preach in the sense in this day

[1:09:27] and age where we're losing control of all our local news

[1:09:32] and, and input where everything's national news,

[1:09:35] national radio, national newspapers, it'd be nice

[1:09:39] for the public to support this kind

[1:09:42] of programming a little more.

[1:09:43] See better numbers. Because this is where,

[1:09:48] you know, all the information they claim they can't get

[1:09:51] is it's all here.

[1:09:53] They, they should, you know, focus more on local.

[1:09:57] I mean, this is our community. We have our own TV show.

[1:10:00] We have our own news outlets.

[1:10:03] If you, you know, like they say newspapers are dying, its

[1:10:06] because newspapers are owned by 20 communities

[1:10:10] and none of them focus on dairy like you guys do.

[1:10:14] You just need to, people just need to, you know,

[1:10:17] know the resources there and start using it.

[1:10:21] Thank you council. Using it better.

[1:10:23] I appreciate the, the, the comment, if I may, you know,

[1:10:26] I agree with you now more than ever, we have a news desert

[1:10:28] that's increasing all departments.

[1:10:31] I talk with Bev and economic development weekly,

[1:10:34] monthly on how do we get in.

[1:10:36] There's a huge disconnect.

[1:10:37] Everybody seems like they're on Facebook,

[1:10:41] but then they didn't realize it was election day.

[1:10:43] Right? Yeah. We, we are hearing that feedback.

[1:10:46] So how that's, that's our mission, that we're taking

[1:10:49] that very seriously and we're looking at ways we can fill

[1:10:51] these gaps and solve these problems.

[1:10:52] Working with the departments, working with administration

[1:10:55] and anybody to make sure that we can have,

[1:10:58] and that's the idea behind, I invite anybody here

[1:11:01] or at home who hasn't go to dairy cam.org,

[1:11:05] not only check out the tune in page, which is

[1:11:07] that QR code there,

[1:11:08] but look at the dairy happenings calendar.

[1:11:10] That came out of a, a request that was pre COVID.

[1:11:13] And we had two nonprofit organizations that sch, that had,

[1:11:17] some of us may have, may have attended there,

[1:11:19] but both of their gala fundraising events on the same day.

[1:11:25] It was, there was a disconnect.

[1:11:27] So we heard the call to create a single calendar

[1:11:31] that folks can use.

[1:11:32] So not only, we're not just putting stuff on there,

[1:11:34] we invite everybody and there's a little helpful video.

[1:11:36] Any organization can enter their events there.

[1:11:41] So folks can just go to hopefully one calendar.

[1:11:45] Ultimately that's what we'd like to see.

[1:11:46] So we wanna see more use out of that.

[1:11:48] We have blog pages that perhaps

[1:11:52] that we can promote that end up saying maybe

[1:11:56] for example, election information.

[1:11:58] Well, people may find that,

[1:11:59] but they may not find the election information.

[1:12:01] That's all that's here on the town website.

[1:12:03] We guide right to the town website.

[1:12:05] We always go to source information.

[1:12:07] We're not gonna recreate anything

[1:12:08] and have that opportunity for, for

[1:12:10] that disinformation or misinformation.

[1:12:12] We want to guide people right to directly to the source.

[1:12:16] So between the news deserts across the country, you know,

[1:12:21] we just don't want to, we want to, resilient is a word

[1:12:24] that's used in, in, in, in public safety.

[1:12:28] I think. I think we're, we've got a little bit

[1:12:30] of a crisis when it comes

[1:12:31] to information and getting that out.

[1:12:33] And I think our goal is to keep dairy resilient.

[1:12:37] We take our, our sort of slogan very seriously.

[1:12:40] The more connected dairy is, the more resilient we are

[1:12:45] and the stronger we're gonna be.

[1:12:50] Council what, Just a couple things.

[1:12:52] I really wanna re reiterate what Councilor Flood had said

[1:12:57] because it's one of my significant frustrations, you know,

[1:13:00] looking over at a blank wall over there that used to have

[1:13:04] dairy news, Nutfield news

[1:13:05] and Union leader reporter, they don't report on anything

[1:13:09] that's occurring right now.

[1:13:11] And it's getting to the point that yes, we are a news desert

[1:13:15] now not becoming one.

[1:13:16] We have to, we are, we are that news desert.

[1:13:19] And I think that if we want to have true

[1:13:24] open government, we need to have an information service.

[1:13:29] We can no longer rely on the union leader for,

[1:13:33] because they're failing dairy news.

[1:13:36] I have haven't seen a hard news article in them in ages.

[1:13:41] So I think it's important.

[1:13:42] And with that, it sounds like you need

[1:13:45] to look at developing almost like a five

[1:13:47] year strategic plan. Yeah, and I

[1:13:49] Was, And going with that

[1:13:55] because we've been talking like news.

[1:13:56] The other valuable resource you have

[1:13:58] to the town is the opportunity

[1:13:59] that you give pretty much anybody to come

[1:14:01] and learn about how to produce

[1:14:05] and you know, it's a, a live way for in essence

[1:14:10] somebody to learn, earn college credits.

[1:14:13] Might not be a college,

[1:14:15] but to earn that experience that they can apply.

[1:14:18] So

[1:14:20] Absolutely.

[1:14:21] On that, on that note, if I may, I can't be at the mic,

[1:14:23] I would be remiss if I didn't shout out my dream team Dairy

[1:14:26] camp Dream team, loud and proud.

[1:14:28] It's because of them we can do,

[1:14:31] that's why you see us everywhere.

[1:14:32] Yeah. They are dedicated, they're willing,

[1:14:34] they get the mission, they understand what's going on.

[1:14:38] That's Catherine Mamo, Ben Morris, Brady Miller,

[1:14:41] Kyle Schreiber, Jeremy Tremaine.

[1:14:44] I'd also like to mention

[1:14:47] and shout out our brand new interns.

[1:14:50] We take school to work very seriously.

[1:14:53] We have, since my time

[1:14:58] about eight, nine years now, we've had a continuous feed

[1:15:02] of interns both locally from the high schools,

[1:15:05] regionally from colleges.

[1:15:06] They're finding out about us, knocking on our door

[1:15:10] and they're getting that credit, they're getting

[1:15:12] that experience and some of 'em are going off

[1:15:15] and working at news outlets in, in in the area.

[1:15:20] Some of them are because due to the work that they've done

[1:15:23] and that the body of work they've created, they've gone off

[1:15:26] and gotten scholarships at prestigious film schools.

[1:15:29] So there's, there's a lot going on there as well in the,

[1:15:34] in the, in the young team that we've got.

[1:15:35] And this, this year's we interns

[1:15:38] that we've recently welcomed in our Aaron Hagman,

[1:15:41] he's attending next charter school

[1:15:43] and Gavin McDough who's actually coming in from out of town

[1:15:47] and volunteering alongside, he's actually here tonight,

[1:15:50] downstairs doing a little bit

[1:15:52] of post-production editing

[1:15:54] training 'cause that's where we need him.

[1:15:56] So excited to have them on board and watch them grow.

[1:16:01] One last thing, man. Yes. Thank you mania.

[1:16:03] For those at home who don't know it's dairy cam,

[1:16:06] a woodwind dairy cam.

[1:16:08] I bless you. Yeah, if you just, can you highlight it then?

[1:16:10] I know you did it a couple meetings ago, but it's, thank

[1:16:12] You very much.

[1:16:13] Free Press is good press. Right?

[1:16:15] I appreciate you doing that without taking too much more

[1:16:17] of everybody's time.

[1:16:20] Very proud of the team in this respect as well.

[1:16:22] We placed once again, so we've got a continuous streak

[1:16:27] showing our proof of concept

[1:16:28] and what we can do in categories,

[1:16:31] three categories this last time around one,

[1:16:36] one for independent programming and,

[1:16:38] and that was for our All Things recovery program.

[1:16:44] And we had a youth placement, which that was

[1:16:49] over a tour by some, a couple of

[1:16:53] fine young ladies giving us a tour of Jan F Farms,

[1:16:56] which is timely for this year.

[1:16:57] And we'll be replaying that for a while.

[1:17:00] And then the overall excellence we placed in overall

[1:17:02] excellence, which we've continuously done over the

[1:17:05] past eight years or so.

[1:17:07] So very proud of that. Mostly proud of the team.

[1:17:10] And I will say that it's really when we, when we go

[1:17:14] and show these pieces

[1:17:17] and we have a number of entries throughout the region,

[1:17:19] not only New England, New York state,

[1:17:21] including the big city.

[1:17:24] People are impressed.

[1:17:25] And what they're impressed with is,

[1:17:26] I've actually heard the comment more than once,

[1:17:29] I would like to go visit dairy.

[1:17:31] Not even kidding. They said,

[1:17:33] that looks like a great community and it really is.

[1:17:37] And that's makes my job a little easier when we just aim,

[1:17:41] point the camera and show the world

[1:17:44] who Dairy New Hampshire is.

[1:17:47] Wrong work. Thank

[1:17:49] You. Thank you

[1:17:50] Madam Chair.

[1:17:51] Seeing no further questions, I'd like

[1:17:53] to move the bottom line for cable TV in the amount

[1:17:56] of $535,900.

[1:18:00] Second. Any further discussion on the motion?

[1:18:04] Councilor Mills? Yes. Council Webb? Yes. Councilor Flood.

[1:18:08] Yes. Councilor Foot? Yes. And chair votes? Yes.

[1:18:10] Motion passes. Five zero. Thank you.

[1:18:12] Thank you. Alright, next up we'll move

[1:18:15] to our libraries.

[1:18:16] We'll start with Dairy Public Library.

[1:18:18] Okay. And while we're setting up for that, I just wanted

[1:18:21] to make one comment that just I think is relevant here

[1:18:24] to the cable television.

[1:18:28] The budget that was submitted

[1:18:30] from Owen was about $636,000.

[1:18:35] We went through a process

[1:18:36] because of the declining balance, to reduce that

[1:18:40] by about a hundred thousand dollars.

[1:18:41] We just couldn't make it based on the lack

[1:18:44] of the franchise fees.

[1:18:46] So when we come back,

[1:18:47] we've talked at length about having a workshop

[1:18:50] with the council and one of the philosophies

[1:18:53] that the council

[1:18:54] and the public should be thinking about is this has always

[1:18:57] been a, almost like a self-sustaining enterprise fund.

[1:19:01] It's not. But now that you have, you're chasing lower

[1:19:05] and lower revenues.

[1:19:06] It may be time to start to think of this more

[1:19:09] as the general Government general fund has some

[1:19:12] role in supporting this.

[1:19:13] Because obviously you have all of these programs

[1:19:16] that really didn't exist 15 years ago.

[1:19:19] And the fact that every single governmental meeting is

[1:19:22] covered and covered well and people rely on that service.

[1:19:25] So I just wanted to put that framework out there to say

[1:19:28] that, you know, we took some drastic steps this year to get

[1:19:31] through, but we do need to, you know, we will be back

[1:19:34] with a, a sustainability plan Jack that you talked about.

[1:19:36] That's a five year looking ahead plan.

[1:19:40] Thank you.

[1:19:53] Good evening. Good evening. I'm Kathleen Neek

[1:19:56] from the Dairy Public Library.

[1:19:57] I'm the library director,

[1:19:59] so I'm just gonna give you a little information

[1:20:01] about what we've been up to.

[1:20:05] So all of the, all the numbers in my presentation

[1:20:09] all come from fiscal year 25.

[1:20:13] So we recently submitted our annual report to the state.

[1:20:16] So these are numbers taken from that report.

[1:20:20] So in an average week, we welcome a little over 2,500

[1:20:26] patrons to, to the library.

[1:20:30] We pull 365 physical items from our shelves

[1:20:34] to fulfill patron requests, both for our library

[1:20:38] and also the libraries.

[1:20:39] In the G Milks network,

[1:20:43] we have an average weekly circulation

[1:20:45] of both our physical items and our downloadable items.

[1:20:49] A little over 3,500 items.

[1:20:52] Our public PCs are used about 177 times per week.

[1:20:56] And we answer a little over 200 reference

[1:20:59] questions each week.

[1:21:03] So I know this by now, it's almost become a little bit of a,

[1:21:07] a cliche, but libraries are not just books.

[1:21:10] We do host a wide variety of events at the library.

[1:21:15] Some of the, the pictures here are from

[1:21:18] the Fan con event that we do.

[1:21:22] I think typically it happens in June.

[1:21:24] We have the McGregor Poetry Contest

[1:21:27] and the Annual Author Fest event.

[1:21:30] We also circulate a number of what we call unusual items.

[1:21:35] So we have games, outdoor sporting equipment,

[1:21:38] different electronics that patrons are able

[1:21:41] to borrow free of charge.

[1:21:45] We host a lot of programming for all age groups.

[1:21:50] So starting with the services

[1:21:52] and programs that we provide for adults,

[1:21:55] we've hosted 201 programs in FY 25.

[1:22:00] And these are programs that take place at,

[1:22:03] primarily at the library, but also some offsite

[1:22:07] and also online.

[1:22:09] And in FY 25,

[1:22:11] we had over 2000 people participate in our programs.

[1:22:15] So in addition to just sort of one-off events that we have,

[1:22:18] we also have a wide variety of book groups,

[1:22:22] a film discussion group.

[1:22:24] We recently started a graphic novel discussion group

[1:22:28] and we have a knitting and crochet meetup group.

[1:22:30] So there, there's really, there's something

[1:22:32] for just about everybody at the library.

[1:22:36] And then we have our children's programming,

[1:22:38] which is always very, very popular.

[1:22:41] The photo here is from our, the library field day

[1:22:44] that we had in June of last year.

[1:22:47] Last year we had a total of 444 programs for children

[1:22:52] aid from birth to 11.

[1:22:55] And again, most of

[1:22:56] that programming is primarily at the library,

[1:22:59] but the librarians also do go out into the community

[1:23:02] and do programming like at the schools and Don Ballpark.

[1:23:08] So in FY 25 we had 12,779 children

[1:23:14] attending our programs.

[1:23:17] And just like for the adults,

[1:23:18] we do have some special programs throughout the year that,

[1:23:22] that are always super popular.

[1:23:24] We have our New Year's Eve program where kids get

[1:23:27] to celebrate the new year at noon

[1:23:30] we have our annual one Spooky night program.

[1:23:33] And last year over 250 children

[1:23:36] and adults attended that one.

[1:23:39] Summer reading is a very, very busy time for the library.

[1:23:44] Last year we had 3,200 children attending the

[1:23:48] summer reading programs.

[1:23:50] We had 71 story times

[1:23:52] and events that were held just in that eight week period.

[1:23:56] And 587 children

[1:23:59] did begin at least one reading log.

[1:24:02] And a lot of those did come back and,

[1:24:03] and kids picked up another one that,

[1:24:05] that's a really valuable thing that we do.

[1:24:10] And here I, I provided some information about our network.

[1:24:15] We are part of the Gmails network

[1:24:17] and we're kind of fortunate

[1:24:18] 'cause a lot of libraries in New Hampshire are

[1:24:20] not part of a consortium.

[1:24:22] So we, this network is 12 public libraries,

[1:24:27] one academic library, and we all share our materials

[1:24:31] and, and cataloging.

[1:24:34] We we're a, a net lender

[1:24:38] 'cause our collection is very popular in the network.

[1:24:40] So we sent 4,670 items just from our

[1:24:45] library to our partners.

[1:24:47] And in exchange, they, they send materials our way as well.

[1:24:51] And membership in G Milks does just provide us

[1:24:55] with access to just a lot more physical

[1:24:59] and downloadable items than we

[1:25:01] otherwise would be able to do ourselves.

[1:25:06] So this year our proposed budget for FY 27

[1:25:10] is $1,000,567

[1:25:14] 1,000,567 $202,000.

[1:25:19] In FY 26 it was 1,000,519

[1:25:22] $797.

[1:25:24] So that is an increase of 3.01%.

[1:25:30] Like everybody else, we were affected

[1:25:32] by rising health insurance costs.

[1:25:34] So that increased our personnel line and it hardware

[1:25:39] and software costs.

[1:25:41] Were also a big contributor to that.

[1:25:44] And that includes our, our computers,

[1:25:46] our G milks membership, our website on just all

[1:25:50] of the technology that we run on.

[1:25:53] That was it for me. Thank you. Questions.

[1:25:58] Council whip. Just a, a couple

[1:26:01] of them you mentioned gimmicks

[1:26:02] and being New England College.

[1:26:05] Just outta curiosity, why, why is the university,

[1:26:10] do you know why the university system

[1:26:12] of New Hampshire is not involved

[1:26:14] In a library?

[1:26:15] That, I don't know. I, the consortium's been

[1:26:17] around for quite a while.

[1:26:19] Right. And because

[1:26:20] You've mentioned it before, I'm like,

[1:26:22] Yeah, so I, I'm not sure actually.

[1:26:24] I, I had a meeting with, with the Gmails board today

[1:26:27] and I I was kind of wondering that myself, like

[1:26:30] what are they getting outta this?

[1:26:32] But, but they they are, they are one of our members.

[1:26:35] But it predates my time by Yeah, a lot

[1:26:41] Years ago.

[1:26:42] I remember it was a service called ebsco, which was to help

[1:26:46] with research, particularly

[1:26:47] with scholarly journals and so forth.

[1:26:49] Is that still something that the public can access

[1:26:51] if they have the library card?

[1:26:54] We, It might be a different name now, but Well,

[1:26:56] We do, it's still around. Yeah.

[1:26:58] Yeah. EBSCO is still around and we do have some services.

[1:27:02] They, they're, they, they provide a number

[1:27:04] of different databases for libraries.

[1:27:06] So we do subscribe to some of them.

[1:27:09] Unfortunately, we're across the board,

[1:27:11] all libraries are noticing that

[1:27:14] our online resources don't really

[1:27:15] get a heck of a lot of use.

[1:27:17] So, so we're kind of paring back on some of those.

[1:27:21] Yeah, I was a I've been a heavy user

[1:27:23] of those in past wives.

[1:27:25] Yeah. I I think

[1:27:26] that many people just might not be

[1:27:28] necessarily aware of that.

[1:27:31] The last question I have is more on AI

[1:27:35] and it has to, again, do with research.

[1:27:37] Do you see AI coming into

[1:27:41] libraries in library functions at all, or

[1:27:45] We're, we're not really using it to, to do our work.

[1:27:49] Right. And, and librarians in general are just

[1:27:52] a little leery of ai.

[1:27:54] It's something that we're, we're really trying

[1:27:56] to keep on top of just, you know, just for patron education,

[1:28:00] if nothing else, one area that

[1:28:03] where AI is really affecting us is in

[1:28:06] our collection development.

[1:28:08] There are, there are certainly

[1:28:11] entire books are being generated by ai.

[1:28:13] Right. And that it, it's not always clearly disclosed.

[1:28:19] So some librarians have ordered books

[1:28:21] and found that, that they're providing wildly incorrect

[1:28:25] information or just the same AI generated

[1:28:28] image page after page.

[1:28:30] So we're working to kind

[1:28:32] of address those concerns in our policies

[1:28:34] and just our own awareness Yeah.

[1:28:36] Of things to look out for.

[1:28:44] Okay. Sorry. Any other questions?

[1:28:46] We're just checking your,

[1:28:47] your number on your slide doesn't match the number we had on

[1:28:49] our paper, so we're just making sure we have the right

[1:28:51] number when we vote the bottom line.

[1:28:53] Okay. So hold please.

[1:28:59] All right. Yeah. So the number

[1:29:00] That we're referring to is correct on the sheet

[1:29:03] that the counselors have.

[1:29:04] So page 1 44, the bottom line

[1:29:07] for DPL is

[1:29:08] $1,569,140.

[1:29:13] So that's the correct number that you have on your sheets.

[1:29:15] Okay. So we'll give you a little more money

[1:29:18] If there are no other questions.

[1:29:20] Madam Chair, I would like to move the bottom line

[1:29:22] for the dairy public library in the amount

[1:29:24] of $1,569,140.

[1:29:30] Second. All right. Any other discussion?

[1:29:33] Let's go down this way on the motion. Council flood? Yes.

[1:29:37] Councilor foot? Yes. Council Mills? Yes. Councilor Webb?

[1:29:41] Yes. And chair votes? Yes. Motion passes. Five zero.

[1:29:44] Thank you. Thank you very much.

[1:29:45] Thank you. Have a great night. Good night.

[1:29:47] You switch it up just to make sure we're all

[1:29:48] The work.

[1:29:49] Yeah, I figured we're about halfway through

[1:29:50] so I'd start going the other end now.

[1:29:52] All right. Taylor Library.

[1:29:58] All right. Good evening, counselors. My name is Jen Ker.

[1:30:01] I'm the director over at the Taylor Library

[1:30:04] and I have with me Angel Fontaine, who is our

[1:30:09] secretary of, of the trustee board.

[1:30:11] Sorry I, a couple of roll changes lately,

[1:30:13] but I am here to talk to you about

[1:30:17] the little library on the hill.

[1:30:19] So I'd like to start with talking about some

[1:30:21] of our fiscal year 2026 highlights.

[1:30:24] The biggest one is the increase to our middle grade

[1:30:29] to adult participation in our library programmings.

[1:30:31] This has always been an area that we have struggled with.

[1:30:34] Usually the early education we do very,

[1:30:39] very well, but have kind of lost whole generations

[1:30:43] of people once they've entered third grade or around then.

[1:30:48] But we have seen a huge increase in participation

[1:30:51] and kids coming back to the library

[1:30:53] and sticking around for a bit.

[1:30:55] So part of that is the start

[1:30:59] of our junior librarian program, which has helped with

[1:31:03] youth participation and interest in literacy.

[1:31:07] Typically, if kids see a book that a friend recommended,

[1:31:10] they're more likely to read it.

[1:31:13] We have been rethinking how we do our story times,

[1:31:18] providing a hands-on activity

[1:31:21] after every single one of them to connect

[1:31:25] what we do in story time with learning and tactile play.

[1:31:29] And then a, we saw a 6.89% increase in the amount

[1:31:33] of books checked out compared to the previous year.

[1:31:37] That should say 2024. Sorry. All right.

[1:31:42] So here are those numbers in some pretty graphs.

[1:31:46] As you can see, the book checkouts have increased every

[1:31:49] single year for the last five years by a large portion.

[1:31:55] I don't, I think eventually we'll hit critical mass

[1:31:58] and that will plateau,

[1:31:59] but we haven't figured out what that limit is yet.

[1:32:01] So I'm gonna just keep on keeping on.

[1:32:05] On the bottom left hand side, you see the teen

[1:32:10] and adult growth in both programs offered and participation.

[1:32:13] So on the left side you have the amount

[1:32:18] of programs offered.

[1:32:19] So we're offering more adult programs, more teen programs.

[1:32:22] And then the partici participation of those has

[1:32:25] absolutely skyrocketed, particularly with the teens.

[1:32:29] So teens we qualify as 12 plus for your certification.

[1:32:34] We have offered slightly less programs this last year.

[1:32:37] We got rained out a couple of times

[1:32:39] and then a couple of staffing issues.

[1:32:41] But we are seeing more participants per program offered.

[1:32:44] So more bang for our buck.

[1:32:48] Okay, so here we have,

[1:32:50] we now have a little free library in the back of the library

[1:32:53] for books that we might not be able

[1:32:56] to use in our collection due to their age or quality.

[1:33:01] Might end up in the, the little free library for people

[1:33:04] to take at any point.

[1:33:06] We have our adult tea party here.

[1:33:08] You can see some of those hands-on activities

[1:33:12] where like we talked about bird feeders

[1:33:16] and then made bird feeders.

[1:33:19] We had escape rooms for kids, candy,

[1:33:24] fine art, as well as presentations from

[1:33:29] the Audubon Society

[1:33:31] and our annual bubble party, which is loved by all.

[1:33:35] So what that means in numbers,

[1:33:38] we are requesting a larger budget for our programming

[1:33:41] to accommodate the larger sizes.

[1:33:44] On average, we're getting about 30, 35 0.7 participants per

[1:33:49] program hosted, which is better than national average

[1:33:53] for a library our size.

[1:33:54] That's fantastic.

[1:33:57] We have, are looking to increase our book budget to deal

[1:34:01] with an aging collection.

[1:34:03] We've made some strides on that.

[1:34:05] But the biggest area of concern is our

[1:34:09] nonfiction section.

[1:34:12] A healthy library has an age of 10 to 15 years old

[1:34:17] for the average collection copyright date.

[1:34:20] Ours is currently 20 years old.

[1:34:22] So building that up a little bit.

[1:34:23] And unfortunately nonfiction books are expensive.

[1:34:27] They cost about $40 a piece.

[1:34:30] So we will be, we're slowly

[1:34:34] leasing new computers.

[1:34:36] So this is, we're adding a second one this year

[1:34:38] for the lease program so

[1:34:40] that we can stay current on technology

[1:34:41] and then a slight adjustment across the board for

[1:34:45] the true cost of supplies.

[1:34:51] All right, we have a couple

[1:34:52] of capital projects in mind for this next year.

[1:34:55] There is a crack down the center of the parking lot,

[1:34:59] which is susceptible to frost teves and other issues.

[1:35:01] We'd like to address that before it becomes a

[1:35:04] catastrophic problem.

[1:35:07] The air vents are long overdue for a little bit of love,

[1:35:11] clean out repair, and just an inspection for safety.

[1:35:16] And then we would like to put in

[1:35:22] a request for engineered drafts on a pavilion project

[1:35:26] that would come out about in fiscal year 2028.

[1:35:31] So bottom line, we'd like to request

[1:35:35] $249,009 for use in 2027.

[1:35:39] That's a 3.58% increase.

[1:35:42] That number is slightly off 7 1 5 0 in capital reserve funds

[1:35:47] of which we currently have $390,877

[1:35:52] and 31 cents in that fund.

[1:35:57] Thank you. Any questions?

[1:36:02] Same, same. Same issue as last library first don't match.

[1:36:06] So we just wanna make sure that's that Madam,

[1:36:08] Madam chair we have 2 56, 1 59. That's correct.

[1:36:10] Madam, Madam chair. I've taken

[1:36:11] care of that already. Oh, look

[1:36:13] At you Little

[1:36:15] Side. You were

[1:36:15] Way ahead of me.

[1:36:16] Thank you. Alright, questions before we go to

[1:36:18] That, I would like to move the bottom line

[1:36:19] for the Taylor Library in the amount

[1:36:21] of $256,159

[1:36:25] Second.

[1:36:26] Alright, any discussion on the motion flood? Yes.

[1:36:30] Council put yes. Council mills? Yes. Council Webb? Yes.

[1:36:34] And chair votes? Yes. Motion passes by

[1:36:36] Zero. Thank you. Thank

[1:36:37] You.

[1:36:38] Thank you very much. Have a good night.

[1:36:40] Okay, now we are up to OMO, other municipal obligations.

[1:36:53] Okay, I've returned Welcome back.

[1:36:57] Other municipal obligations.

[1:37:00] I'm not sure if everyone knows what that means,

[1:37:02] but other municipal obligations is also known as OMO.

[1:37:06] It's an activity center within finance.

[1:37:08] We budget general fund revenues

[1:37:10] and expenses that are not allocated

[1:37:12] to any given activity center.

[1:37:14] New Hampshire rooms and meals, revenue sharing,

[1:37:16] general fund interest revenue bond and lease payments

[1:37:20] and property and liability insurance.

[1:37:22] Premium payments are examples of line items budgeted there.

[1:37:29] So in OMO budgeted revenues include New Hampshire meals

[1:37:34] and rooms tax at $3.43 million.

[1:37:36] It's based on what we received in FY 26.

[1:37:40] We're using 444,000 of COVID-19 funds.

[1:37:45] 1.2 million from the collective bargaining expendable trust

[1:37:48] in $400,000 from the unallocated

[1:37:52] fund balance towards the CBA settlements.

[1:37:56] Interest revenue we're budgeting 1.1 million

[1:37:58] and that's based on a three year historical trend.

[1:38:03] We're using fund balance the FY 25 surplus

[1:38:07] of 675,000 at transfer

[1:38:09] to the general fund compensated absence, expendable trust.

[1:38:12] We're also using $78,800

[1:38:16] of unallocated fund balance to transfer to capital reserves

[1:38:19] for capital purchases.

[1:38:20] That's a 2.5% inflator allocated

[1:38:24] for FY 27 versus FY 26.

[1:38:28] We also are using $90,500 of unallocated fund balance

[1:38:33] for property and liability insurance increases

[1:38:37] 1.385 million is being transferred from the fire facility

[1:38:40] and equipment capital reserve fund

[1:38:42] to cover the FY 27 debt service payment on the fire

[1:38:45] station and culvert bond.

[1:38:47] And we're using capital reserve funds

[1:38:50] to offset general fund capital lease debt payments.

[1:38:53] A lot of this is just stuff that we've been doing year

[1:38:56] after year and the numbers are just changing.

[1:39:00] Some of the appropriations in located now OMO are estimated

[1:39:05] earn time bio payments related to CBAs with roll-ups.

[1:39:09] This amount decreased 16.8% but that is subject to change.

[1:39:14] 'cause the trend is people kind of wait till the last minute

[1:39:18] to say, Hey, I'm retiring.

[1:39:20] Retiree health insurance premiums have increased $26,400.

[1:39:25] And then we're also expecting that to keep increasing

[1:39:28] 'cause there's gonna still be a wave

[1:39:30] of retirements over the next few years.

[1:39:33] Legal expenses, there is no increase.

[1:39:35] Property and liability insurance as indicated

[1:39:37] before, increased 32.6%

[1:39:40] and that is being funded by unallocated fund.

[1:39:43] Balance funding for the capital reserve funds for additional

[1:39:48] capital purchases is $728,800.

[1:39:53] We've increased the fees

[1:39:55] for the original car transportation program to $123,000.

[1:40:00] Also budgeted here are our general fund bond

[1:40:03] and capital lease payments and we're taking $750,000

[1:40:08] and transferring it into the fire FAC facility

[1:40:11] and equipment capital reserve fund

[1:40:12] for future fire station bond debt payments.

[1:40:16] So the total appropriation is 7 million

[1:40:19] 161 9 1 5.

[1:40:24] And that's what I have

[1:40:26] Questions?

[1:40:28] Nope. Council, what? Just one on revenues

[1:40:30] and it's on the room

[1:40:32] and meals tax as we're looking to,

[1:40:37] this is probably a, you know, a swag guess for you.

[1:40:41] Scientific wild ask guests.

[1:40:42] But generally when we see,

[1:40:44] let's say like a business like the Grindhouse

[1:40:46] or Starbucks come in, do we,

[1:40:51] do you see a noticeable increase in the room

[1:40:54] and meals tax revenue so that he could say,

[1:40:57] and so like to Bev says that you bring in this business,

[1:41:00] we'll see on the room tax revenues an increase of roughly

[1:41:03] X.

[1:41:04] So for FY 26 there was about a $60,000

[1:41:09] increase versus FY 25.

[1:41:12] And we, unfortunately, we don't know what

[1:41:14] that number's gonna be until

[1:41:15] around the time we set the tax rate Correct

[1:41:18] and that there's a delay.

[1:41:20] So it's almost like you don't know,

[1:41:21] but based on what you see for the restaurants around here

[1:41:24] and certainly Starbucks, they get a lot for a coffee.

[1:41:26] There's gotta be some, there's gotta be some decent

[1:41:30] money going in there.

[1:41:31] Yeah. So I, I feel it's just gonna keep going up.

[1:41:33] There were a number of years there that

[1:41:36] where the state just wasn't increasing the amounts properly.

[1:41:40] They were keeping all the money.

[1:41:41] But then a few years back, I don't know,

[1:41:43] within the last five years, I think they

[1:41:44] legislation changed that.

[1:41:46] So now we're getting much steadier income from

[1:41:49] This because as we see growth driven by other areas,

[1:41:53] that's a lot of people just thinking, oh,

[1:41:56] extra property tax revenue.

[1:41:58] But it's gonna be revenue

[1:41:59] that we may see in other areas like the room and meals tax.

[1:42:02] Right. I mean this is, we're really dependent on this.

[1:42:05] This is important.

[1:42:11] Madam Chair. Seeing no further questions.

[1:42:13] I move the bottom line for OMO in the amount

[1:42:17] of

[1:42:18] $7,161,915.

[1:42:23] Second. Any further discussion on the motion?

[1:42:28] Council Webb? Yes. Council Foot? Yes. Council Mills?

[1:42:31] Yes. Council Webb?

[1:42:33] Yes. And chair votes? Yes. Motion passes by zero

[1:42:37] You. Thank you so much.

[1:42:38] Looks like we have administration next.

[1:42:45] Okay.

[1:43:01] Okay. Now we're into a couple of departments that

[1:43:06] fall under the town administrators jurisdiction.

[1:43:09] So starting with our administration,

[1:43:13] staffing levels are unchanged.

[1:43:14] There's four full-time employees

[1:43:18] and total appropriations.

[1:43:20] 720,000 5 38.

[1:43:23] A small amount of revenue,

[1:43:25] mainly copy charges, things of that nature.

[1:43:29] Increase in this budget is simply due to cost of living

[1:43:31] and health insurance increases for personnel.

[1:43:35] And that is, that is it pretty much for this Department

[1:43:40] Council web.

[1:43:41] All right. I have an addition that I want to make to

[1:43:43] that line and ask the counselors to please go

[1:43:48] to page 56 of your budget book

[1:43:53] and you'll see second from the bottom a dollar amount

[1:43:57] of $13,302.

[1:43:59] This is in the human services budget.

[1:44:03] I actually asked for that thir that item to be put in

[1:44:06] and it was to be half of a housing voucher essence

[1:44:12] for the Dairy Housing Redevelopment authority.

[1:44:15] They would fund the other half.

[1:44:19] Subsequently, they have looked at their finances

[1:44:21] and felt that they could not necessarily fund the other half

[1:44:24] of that voucher at here was,

[1:44:29] yeah, it would be a small drop in the budget,

[1:44:31] but to one family that housing voucher would mean a lot.

[1:44:35] But they can't fully fund the other half.

[1:44:38] So I want, when we get to it, I would be reducing that

[1:44:42] to a placeholder value of $1.

[1:44:45] But what I'd like to do is on the administrative line,

[1:44:50] if we just look at page 28,

[1:44:52] or actually, sorry, page 30

[1:44:57] we go down into the three 90 section, is to add some money

[1:45:03] under administrative line for marketing,

[1:45:07] specifically marketing of vacant positions.

[1:45:12] This allow human resources to,

[1:45:19] particularly in the fire, the police,

[1:45:20] or any other part of the town, to market the positions at

[1:45:23] a national level.

[1:45:24] So I'd like to add that,

[1:45:25] and I imagine would be in the three 90 line,

[1:45:27] but Mark would be the better person of that,

[1:45:31] of $13,301

[1:45:34] that would bring the administrative bottom line

[1:45:38] to 7 33 8 39.

[1:45:44] And I think that's a, a reasonable trade.

[1:45:48] And then obviously there'll be an offsetting

[1:45:50] reduction in the human services budget when we get to that.

[1:45:52] Yeah. So your new bottom line would be

[1:45:54] $733,839.

[1:45:59] Any questions, comments, concerns with

[1:46:02] that change or any other questions?

[1:46:06] All right. I'd like to make a motion then

[1:46:08] that we adapt the bottom line of the executive department

[1:46:11] of

[1:46:11] seven hundred thirty three, eight hundred and thirty

[1:46:13] $9,000. Don't,

[1:46:15] This is just the administration.

[1:46:16] Don't we have to make a motion to transfer that money?

[1:46:19] I don't think we do. And we can. Yeah.

[1:46:23] 'cause we haven't, we're still able to

[1:46:25] Adjust.

[1:46:26] Right. You're in the process of establishing that budget.

[1:46:28] So by virtue of doing this, you are capturing

[1:46:32] what your individual, and then we

[1:46:33] vote formally on the budget.

[1:46:35] Once that's done, if you had any other changes,

[1:46:37] that constitutes a transfer.

[1:46:39] But for now you just, bottom lines are fine.

[1:46:41] We can bottom line and it's just to clarify,

[1:46:43] it's the administration portion of the executive budget.

[1:46:46] 'cause there are two divisions in there. Okay.

[1:46:48] I will second that motion then.

[1:46:50] All right. So we have a motion to accept the bottom line

[1:46:52] of 7 33 8 39 for the administration

[1:46:56] budget on the motion.

[1:46:58] Council mills? Yes. Council Webb? Yes. Councillor Flood?

[1:47:02] Yes. Councillor Foot? Yes. And Chair Votes? Yes.

[1:47:05] Motion passes. Five zero. Okay. Alright.

[1:47:07] Thank you. Now we'll go to Human Services.

[1:47:09] Yeah, human Services. I would say one of the areas

[1:47:13] that coming into this position that I really didn't have

[1:47:17] a lot of, you know, firsthand contact

[1:47:21] with was our human services department.

[1:47:23] And over the course of the last year,

[1:47:24] I've had an opportunity to reach out to almost all

[1:47:27] of those groups and,

[1:47:28] and have had a wonderful opportunity to learn

[1:47:31] and to, to understand what they do for the community.

[1:47:34] And, and I think one of the things that

[1:47:36] is really illuminating is there's a lot of people who,

[1:47:38] who care and stretch the dollars that are available through

[1:47:43] the town funds and items that are passed down

[1:47:45] to the various nonprofit organizations.

[1:47:47] We're very fortunate here in town, as I think all

[1:47:50] of you can attest that our nonprofits do a wonderful job at

[1:47:54] maximizing the funds that they get.

[1:47:56] And it, it's a great impact on the community.

[1:48:00] So some of the highlights,

[1:48:01] obviously the three major objectives, we need

[1:48:05] to just make sure that all of our citizens' needs are met

[1:48:07] to the extent that they can when they're in,

[1:48:09] in an emergency circumstance.

[1:48:11] We do leverage our local assistance funds

[1:48:14] with other agency funds

[1:48:15] and then obviously within our contract with CHS,

[1:48:19] continue case management services to assist residents

[1:48:23] to return to self-sufficiency.

[1:48:25] Just for everybody's knowledge, the town migrated from

[1:48:31] a, an in-house welfare model to a contracted model

[1:48:36] back in the fiscal 27 model.

[1:48:39] And so, I'm sorry, 2017.

[1:48:41] So we've been at this for about nine budget cycles now

[1:48:45] and it's been a very good partnership

[1:48:47] with Community Health Services.

[1:48:49] Their portion, or they've requested a 5% increase.

[1:48:53] The town council just voted on that on April 7th.

[1:48:56] So that'll increase from 120,000

[1:49:00] to 126,780 for a fiscal 27.

[1:49:05] We also fund nine agencies.

[1:49:08] They're designed to strengthen the social services net.

[1:49:11] I had the slide in there indicating the 13,302,

[1:49:14] which has been since reduced.

[1:49:16] And then our general assistant budget is

[1:49:19] remaining stable at $80,000.

[1:49:22] That's your catchall for if there's fuel assistance,

[1:49:25] housing assistance,

[1:49:26] and it's been determined to meet the criteria.

[1:49:29] That's the fund that is utilized to make sure that our,

[1:49:33] our folks are protected and, and sheltered as needed.

[1:49:38] And with that, the bottom line would then be adjusted based

[1:49:42] on Councilor Webb's suggestion

[1:49:45] to $308,681. Is that correct?

[1:49:50] That's correct. That's Correct.

[1:49:51] Alright. And so just to look here, these are,

[1:49:54] these are the lists of the agencies that we support,

[1:50:00] you know, all the way down in the various amounts.

[1:50:02] So those have remained unchanged.

[1:50:05] We do take in each year

[1:50:09] the request for each agency.

[1:50:10] They provide backup for the services that we provide.

[1:50:15] And so again, good partners with us and,

[1:50:17] and we'll continue to support those partners

[1:50:19] because it's important for the community.

[1:50:22] So with that, I think that's it for Human services.

[1:50:27] Mad of Chair, Oh, hold on.

[1:50:29] I'm sorry. Question a question.

[1:50:31] 'cause I, I don't see it in this budget.

[1:50:34] I don't know if it's elsewhere

[1:50:36] or if it's funded differently.

[1:50:37] And that's cart.

[1:50:39] Yes. So CART was in other municipal obligations.

[1:50:44] Okay. So I think the question you're gonna ask me, I'll,

[1:50:46] I'll anticipate this.

[1:50:47] Yeah. So we had, if you recall, we sat

[1:50:50] amongst this group here

[1:50:51] and looked at some of the, the financial constraints

[1:50:53] because they're losing grand funding

[1:50:56] and also their cost of operation have increased.

[1:50:58] So we were carrying a baseline for enhanced service

[1:51:03] of 60 i, I could be off here by a few dollars,

[1:51:07] but basically within the OMO budget, we increased it

[1:51:10] by about $60,000 right?

[1:51:12] To $123,000.

[1:51:14] So that is it within the OMO budget,

[1:51:16] we will continue that service.

[1:51:18] We're still exploring ways

[1:51:20] by which we can capitalize on other options,

[1:51:23] but to keep the service going as of July 1st, 2026,

[1:51:28] we are increasing the funding that's being asked

[1:51:31] by Manchester Transit Authority.

[1:51:36] A question, Madam Chair, I would move the bottom line

[1:51:39] for human services in the amount

[1:51:41] of $308,681.

[1:51:46] I'll second that. All right.

[1:51:48] Any discussion on the motion? Council mills? Yes.

[1:51:52] Council Webb? Yes. Councilor Flood? Yes. Councilor Foot?

[1:51:55] Yes. And chair votes? Yes. Motion passes. Five zero. Okay.

[1:52:00] Alright. Onto the TIF district.

[1:52:02] So as Bev had mentioned, there's a lot of great activity

[1:52:06] that's been going on in both of our TIF districts.

[1:52:09] And so just for the public's information,

[1:52:12] we have two TIF districts that are currently in effect.

[1:52:16] The Gateway district, which is the Ash Street, Folsom Road,

[1:52:20] Madden North High,

[1:52:21] which is basically in the exit four a quarter

[1:52:25] police station area.

[1:52:27] That area, obviously there's been a lot of work done to try

[1:52:31] to, you know, tune up the zoning

[1:52:33] and make sure that we're ready to go when that area is,

[1:52:36] is mature and ready for traffic

[1:52:39] to utilize the four A corridor.

[1:52:41] The dairy commerce corridor started in the Manchester Road

[1:52:45] area with the widening back in 2013.

[1:52:48] It has since been grown to the Crystal Ave

[1:52:54] Broadway downtown area, which has perpetuated our ability to

[1:52:59] take on the garage project at Abbott Court.

[1:53:02] So essentially these are self-balancing funds using the

[1:53:06] portion of the assessment base known as captured,

[1:53:09] assessed value to cover the expenses within those districts.

[1:53:13] Okay. So the idea is that there's a retained value

[1:53:17] of $102 million within the DCC tiff.

[1:53:20] And so those tax proceeds

[1:53:22] of just under $2 million are utilized to cover bond costs,

[1:53:27] maintenance within the corridor and other relevant expenses.

[1:53:31] And there is some marketing in both of the TIF districts

[1:53:35] that we could utilize as needed to bring in growth

[1:53:39] and bring in new opportunities for the gateway district.

[1:53:42] The retain value is, is smaller, it's $41 million,

[1:53:45] but there's tax proceeds of

[1:53:48] just over three quarters of a million dollars.

[1:53:50] So again, that supports items within that TIF district

[1:53:54] and then whatever is not utilized goes into

[1:54:00] fund and that's utilized for future growth as needed.

[1:54:04] This is just a kind of an idea of

[1:54:07] where the corridor is located.

[1:54:09] You can see that in the green.

[1:54:11] So there's the area to the north

[1:54:13] and then obviously coming back into downtown for the,

[1:54:17] for the TIF district, the DCC

[1:54:19] and then the gateway is primarily out

[1:54:22] towards the four A area.

[1:54:25] So let's talk about the dairy

[1:54:27] commerce corridor TIF district.

[1:54:29] So we do have employees

[1:54:31] that are embedded within that district.

[1:54:32] So some of the costs that come out

[1:54:34] of there are 1.5 full-time equivalent of DPW employee costs

[1:54:39] 0.13 FTE of economic development coordinator.

[1:54:43] But obviously there's maintenance expenses,

[1:54:46] seasonal activities that are supported

[1:54:47] that bring business to downtown.

[1:54:50] Sidewalk maintenance, trash removal, economic development,

[1:54:53] marketing, street like expenses, street sweeping banners,

[1:54:57] signage, trees.

[1:54:58] And then we do have an allocation

[1:55:00] to repave streets within the district

[1:55:02] as they are, as they're needed.

[1:55:07] One question that I think gets asked a lot is about the debt

[1:55:10] structure within the TIF district.

[1:55:11] So we have two bonds

[1:55:14] that are currently being paid with principal and interest.

[1:55:18] So the Route 28 North, which is Manchester Road up

[1:55:22] by the Walmart, we're in year five of 10.

[1:55:25] You have principal payment of 210 K

[1:55:27] and the interest payments are at $19,058.

[1:55:32] The Abbott Court bond we sold roughly nine months ago.

[1:55:36] And so first principle

[1:55:38] and interest payment will be due in 2020, fiscal 27.

[1:55:42] And so again, $976,000 in the principal

[1:55:47] and the interest amount is 961,000.

[1:55:50] So the idea would be that the captured tax values,

[1:55:53] the proceeds are utilized to cover both the expenses

[1:55:56] and the principal and interest in within the district.

[1:56:02] Again, gateway TIFF district, this just gives you an idea

[1:56:04] of, of the properties within that district.

[1:56:09] Again, district operations, we have a marketing ability.

[1:56:13] We also have our economic development

[1:56:15] office partially funded by that.

[1:56:17] There's one full-time DPW employee

[1:56:20] and equipment that's there to maintain the four a quarter,

[1:56:24] obviously current

[1:56:25] and future obviously it's balanced for redevelopment

[1:56:30] and infrastructure trust for implementation

[1:56:33] of master plan activities, investment

[1:56:35] for alternate transportation,

[1:56:36] including the rail trail heading north.

[1:56:39] And then obviously the main goal we're looking to do is

[1:56:43] access and redevelopment of the north side of Folsom Road

[1:56:46] after the F four a quarter is completed.

[1:56:49] So those are the major goals.

[1:56:52] Bottom line within the TIF district,

[1:56:54] you have revenues matching up with expenditures.

[1:56:58] $3,310,276.

[1:57:04] Questions. Counsel

[1:57:11] Asked me if several times

[1:57:14] any update on the rail trail construction

[1:57:18] and somebody asked me, I know it's not us,

[1:57:22] but are you aware of any plans to

[1:57:25] how it's the rail trail's going across 28

[1:57:27] and interconnect with one and dairy?

[1:57:29] How? Although I know that crossing is,

[1:57:30] would be in one and dairy.

[1:57:31] Right. Okay, so we'll, we'll start from,

[1:57:35] let's just say we start from Hood Park

[1:57:37] and work our way north, right?

[1:57:38] So obviously the first group would be,

[1:57:41] or the first phase is the completion of the four A tunnel.

[1:57:44] Okay? Correct. So we are still waiting from the state

[1:57:47] despite numerous inquiries with them,

[1:57:49] what the technical part of that's going to look like.

[1:57:53] Meaning how high is it, where does it connect

[1:57:56] to our existing infrastructure?

[1:57:58] But we've been assured that that is going to be a component

[1:58:02] of the finished exit four a project.

[1:58:04] I think the construction crew is the one

[1:58:06] that's really waiting for how tall, you know,

[1:58:08] how much fill do I bring in or how much do I not?

[1:58:11] But that issue, they've at least assured us

[1:58:14] that there is going to be a tunnel pursuant to that court

[1:58:17] agreement that they made with the petitioners to have that

[1:58:20] as a straight through so that we'd expect to be done with,

[1:58:24] you know, by 2028 is,

[1:58:26] and that's in their process of putting

[1:58:28] that all together going north of there.

[1:58:31] The town has been awarded

[1:58:34] a New Hampshire DOT grant.

[1:58:37] I think it's just over $900,000.

[1:58:39] So design work we're soliciting currently

[1:58:42] for the design work,

[1:58:44] Tom's DPW group is soliciting engineering

[1:58:47] and that will set up a design

[1:58:49] to take us from basically north

[1:58:51] of the exit four a culvert going under the,

[1:58:53] the new road all the way to the London dairy town line.

[1:58:56] So the design will be done

[1:58:58] and then shortly thereafter we'll be looking to bid

[1:59:02] for construction using an 80 20 split on the cost

[1:59:07] share that the state is going to kick in.

[1:59:09] I'd anticipate that probably will not happen

[1:59:12] until the construction won't happen

[1:59:13] until we get into the completion of the four A project.

[1:59:16] Right? 28 29, somewhere in that timeframe.

[1:59:20] And then in London I had heard rumors about them doing some

[1:59:25] work to complete that last link between Route 28

[1:59:29] and London Dairy and the Dairy London dairy town line.

[1:59:32] But I don't, I don't have any further information as to

[1:59:34] where their project timeline is on that.

[1:59:36] So I I I don't know the discussion.

[1:59:39] I have not heard that there was any alternate

[1:59:41] design of that.

[1:59:43] In other words, it would remain an at grade crossing

[1:59:46] at Route 28 in London dairy.

[1:59:49] The other question, it's more of a,

[1:59:51] it's really nice when you come through the Dairy Commerce

[1:59:54] district, particularly in the winter time

[1:59:55] and stuff like that with all the signage

[1:59:57] and banners that you put up,

[1:59:59] and then I know it's too early for

[2:00:03] the Gateway Tiff district,

[2:00:04] but is there a plan to do something similar as people enter

[2:00:08] into town once that whole project is completed?

[2:00:10] As far as signs and banners?

[2:00:12] I, I think we would be open to something like that.

[2:00:14] I think, you know, this would be something I think

[2:00:17] that would fall within the economic development office and,

[2:00:19] and looking at some of the, the opportunities right.

[2:00:22] It's gonna be a vastly different Yeah.

[2:00:24] Visual when you come into town, I mean,

[2:00:26] you've got residences on your south side

[2:00:29] and now you've got kind of a wide open area,

[2:00:31] but once, once used to be a 24 foot wide road is going

[2:00:34] to now be multiple lanes on both sides.

[2:00:36] So the pole lines will be set back,

[2:00:38] but I do think there'll be some opportunities for, you know,

[2:00:41] having some banners or some signage that commemorates.

[2:00:45] Welcome to Dairy

[2:00:49] Madam Chair signal further questions.

[2:00:52] I move the bottom line for the TIF districts in the amount

[2:00:55] of $3,310,276

[2:01:01] Second.

[2:01:02] All right, we have motion and a second.

[2:01:05] Any discussion on the motion? Councilor Mills? Yes.

[2:01:09] Councilor Webb? Yes. Councilor Flood. Yes. Councilor Foot?

[2:01:13] Yes. And chair votes? Yes. Motion passes by chair.

[2:01:16] I just thought of it, it,

[2:01:17] it's not gonna have any effect on this

[2:01:18] but flags downtown this year.

[2:01:20] It's not a problem. We still have those.

[2:01:21] Yeah, we, we would be basically, I think between now

[2:01:24] and Memorial Day we'll get those put back up.

[2:01:26] As you can tell, they, they do take a lot of abuse with wind

[2:01:30] and thunderstorms and things like that.

[2:01:32] So usually they come down in the winter,

[2:01:34] but as soon as we can before the memorial day we, you know,

[2:01:36] clean everything up and downtown

[2:01:38] and there'll be some flags back up. Right.

[2:01:40] I i I know it's not gonna be a big thing, but between now

[2:01:43] and the time we vote on the final budget,

[2:01:44] if we need anything extra for that, then yeah,

[2:01:46] I, I I think we'll be fine as far as that's concerned.

[2:01:48] I mean again, the cost to

[2:01:50] to buy a new flag is not tremendous.

[2:01:53] Thank you. Thank you. Alright. Planning department.

[2:02:09] Good evening counselors. Good evening.

[2:02:11] Okay. So the planning department is comprised

[2:02:14] of two employees myself

[2:02:15] and the fabulous Caroline

[2:02:17] who helps keep things running in the department.

[2:02:20] We also have one temporary employee.

[2:02:24] We are in the process

[2:02:25] of hiring another intern for this summer.

[2:02:28] It was very successful last year.

[2:02:30] We had a great candidate who really helped to move some

[2:02:33] zoning projects and things along for us.

[2:02:35] So we hope to have another good candidate this year.

[2:02:40] Our projected division cost is $388,912.

[2:02:44] Most of that is personnel.

[2:02:47] Our revenue projections for the next year.

[2:02:50] Right now our year to date application revenues, well as

[2:02:55] of the end of March we were 137% over

[2:02:59] what we had anticipated.

[2:03:01] We don't expect that trend to keep continuing.

[2:03:04] We're starting to see a little bit of a decline in

[2:03:09] TRC applications,

[2:03:10] which usually means things are gonna drop off a little bit.

[2:03:13] So we do expect our revenues will drop off just a little bit

[2:03:17] heading into fiscal 27.

[2:03:19] But there shouldn't be a detrimental impact

[2:03:22] because we do have, dairy does continue

[2:03:26] to be a favorable market.

[2:03:28] We are in deep discussion with developers for new commercial

[2:03:31] and industrial projects

[2:03:33] and projects that will add housing to the town.

[2:03:37] Although we're not a revenue producing department,

[2:03:39] you do get to see the results of our work in the permit fees

[2:03:43] and things that come in through other departments.

[2:03:45] So I'm happy to answer any questions.

[2:03:48] Questions You already took care of my question Madam

[2:03:52] Chair. I've got a new figure

[2:03:54] You do For the planning department.

[2:03:56] I move the bottom line for planning in the amount

[2:03:59] of $343,662.

[2:04:03] Oh 'cause I can't math. Thank you.

[2:04:06] I do a lot of things well but not math.

[2:04:09] Alright, any further discussion? All right.

[2:04:12] On the motion Council mills? Yes. Councilor Webb? Yes.

[2:04:16] Councilor Flood. Yes. Councilor Foot? Yes. And chair Votes?

[2:04:19] Yes. Motion passes. Five zero.

[2:04:20] Thank you counselors. All that

[2:04:24] Waited two hours just for that.

[2:04:26] I know right now we have

[2:04:31] capital improvement program.

[2:04:32] I know. Yeah. Poor Liz.

[2:04:33] We had had her stay for 92nd for us to

[2:04:37] Be like That's great.

[2:04:38] Yeah.

[2:04:39] Alright, so let's move on to, so

[2:04:44] there's two items remaining as far as bottom line.

[2:04:48] So you have the expendable maintenance trust, which is

[2:04:52] $205,000.

[2:04:55] And those are just miscellaneous projects

[2:04:57] that are spread out throughout.

[2:05:00] They're primarily existing buildings

[2:05:02] where we've identified a small capital need.

[2:05:06] Like for example, many of them this year are upgrades

[2:05:09] to station two, three, and four, not headquarters

[2:05:14] because obviously we spent a lot of time, effort,

[2:05:16] and energy to get the headquarters built.

[2:05:18] But some of the other stations still age on.

[2:05:21] So bathroom projects,

[2:05:24] garage doors seem to be another theme.

[2:05:27] So those projects are covered under

[2:05:28] the expendable maintenance trust.

[2:05:30] We've tried to target somewhere between 200

[2:05:33] and $265,000 per year,

[2:05:35] but these are needs that have been identified

[2:05:38] by the department heads.

[2:05:39] And then finally there's a provision

[2:05:42] for some sidewalk paving at $50,000 out of the EMT.

[2:05:46] So this is just a revolving fund put in place

[2:05:49] probably about 10 years ago just to make sure

[2:05:51] that we have a pot of money to address.

[2:05:53] We've done air conditioning units before.

[2:05:56] We've done some repairs at police station.

[2:05:59] We've done some repairs at Adams Memorial.

[2:06:01] So the bottom line on that is $205,000

[2:06:05] unless you have any questions regarding that.

[2:06:07] And then I can go into the Capitol

[2:06:10] Questions on the expendable trust.

[2:06:13] Okay. Seeing those no questions Madam Chair,

[2:06:16] I move the bottom line

[2:06:17] for the expendable Maintenance trust in the amount

[2:06:20] of $205,000. Second.

[2:06:23] Alright, any discussion on the motion? Councillor Mills?

[2:06:27] Yes. Councilor Webb? Yes. Councilor Flood? Yes.

[2:06:30] Councilor Foot? Yes. And chair votes? Yes.

[2:06:33] The motion passes five zero.

[2:06:35] Okay. And lastly we have capital.

[2:06:38] So just gonna run through these slides just

[2:06:41] to give a snapshot of what's being supported.

[2:06:44] The fiscal six year CIP is a product that,

[2:06:48] as I had said in our meeting on April 7th,

[2:06:52] is a year round process we go through, we look at a number

[2:06:56] of different items to replace right time them, make sure

[2:07:00] that we were able to meet the needs of each one

[2:07:02] of the towns departments.

[2:07:05] And obviously we also incorporate items such

[2:07:08] as ongoing maintenance for roads, bonds

[2:07:10] for grant funded utility expansions

[2:07:13] and things of that nature.

[2:07:14] So you'll see all those projects within the six year CIP

[2:07:18] projection, but then year by year you have

[2:07:22] a payment that has to be taken out of the general fund

[2:07:26] once you go ahead and you split all those projects.

[2:07:28] Some are paid in year one because they're smaller projects.

[2:07:32] Some are put through spread financing, five

[2:07:34] or seven years, particularly the vehicles.

[2:07:36] And then others are bonded over a 20 year

[2:07:39] or 30 year period depending on the size of the project.

[2:07:42] Talking about the capital improvement plan process, again,

[2:07:46] we're gonna work through this today.

[2:07:47] We'll have the public hearing on the 23rd

[2:07:51] and then on May 5th the council will vote on the CIP

[2:07:55] and the fiscal 27 budget.

[2:07:59] In CIP plan, it's about $62.5 million.

[2:08:02] General funds, 30 million water funds, 12.9

[2:08:05] and the wastewater fund is 19.9 million.

[2:08:10] Talking about some of this, the FY 27 CIP requests,

[2:08:16] it is 26.6 million for all projects.

[2:08:18] The general fund is 7.4 million, water fund 11.6 million

[2:08:23] and the wastewater fund is at 7.6 million.

[2:08:27] Now with that said, those numbers look pretty daunting, but

[2:08:31] because of the way we bring in revenues

[2:08:33] and the spread financing that I was talking about,

[2:08:36] we are able to spread these payments out

[2:08:39] and Mark does a really good job at keeping a scorecard as to

[2:08:42] where we stand because there's some trailing year

[2:08:45] obligations as well.

[2:08:46] If we bought a a fire truck seven years ago,

[2:08:49] we may still have payments on that that have to be captured

[2:08:53] in this year's budget.

[2:08:54] So that is a very intricate process.

[2:08:57] But we have a blend of, of spread financing

[2:09:00] and grants that we take in from state and federal sources.

[2:09:04] This is probably too small to to share,

[2:09:06] but this is in our budget books just showing all the

[2:09:09] departments for, for the request this year, each one

[2:09:14] of the departments DPW, fire

[2:09:16] and Police each have a capital reserve balance

[2:09:20] and that is a mechanism that they are able

[2:09:22] to fund their particular projects over the six year period.

[2:09:26] In the exercise that we do is we look at

[2:09:28] what we project based on fund balance.

[2:09:31] There's a formula that passes down funds

[2:09:33] to each capital reserve fund

[2:09:35] and then we look at what the projected payments are based on

[2:09:38] what the requests are

[2:09:39] and we try to project out where that fund would be

[2:09:43] and we want to obviously keep that in a good situation so

[2:09:47] that we are not dipping below zero

[2:09:49] and in, in most cases we're able to do that.

[2:09:53] Alright, just to run through the projects real quick.

[2:09:56] For fiscal 27, the police departments identified

[2:10:00] six hybrid police intercept interceptors,

[2:10:03] $341,312.

[2:10:06] There's a couple of photos of the old and,

[2:10:09] and a picture of what it's gonna look like new.

[2:10:11] They've gone to kind of the SUV version.

[2:10:13] Now as a, as a backup, there's a Motorola contract

[2:10:17] for communications at 90 3003 58.

[2:10:21] There's also gonna be the Canine Cruiser replacement

[2:10:24] with a hybrid police interceptor.

[2:10:26] And that's 59,957 in DPW.

[2:10:31] I'll run through these really quick sidewalk machine,

[2:10:34] $200,000 plow truck, $165,000,

[2:10:40] chipper, 75,000,

[2:10:43] a smaller pickup truck with plow.

[2:10:46] There's three of them throughout various

[2:10:48] divisions at 65,000 each.

[2:10:52] Code enforcement we had talked about in the DPW budget is

[2:10:55] seeking to add a position of an inspector.

[2:10:58] So we obviously have to support that with a vehicle

[2:11:00] that's a $60,000 endeavor, ballpark ball field groomer,

[2:11:05] 45,000 storage trailer for the public works,

[2:11:10] trash trailers, $300,000 roadway maintenance.

[2:11:13] We've reduced that as a result of some

[2:11:16] of the budget realities.

[2:11:17] But obviously we talked about our ability

[2:11:20] to stay very high on the PCI rating

[2:11:22] because of all the other projects that are going on

[2:11:25] through DOT and other state agencies.

[2:11:29] On the fire side, two major projects.

[2:11:33] Fire engine two replacement, that's a $1.3 million endeavor.

[2:11:38] Obviously those payments are gonna be spread

[2:11:40] over multiple years.

[2:11:42] And then we also have an ambulance replacement

[2:11:45] estimated at 446,500 water.

[2:11:51] Obviously there's a number of regional water projects

[2:11:54] that are going on that we were able to just take in

[2:11:58] some grant funds.

[2:11:59] And so those projects are going

[2:12:01] to be accelerating over the next two years.

[2:12:05] Council voted to accept a hundred percent grant funds

[2:12:09] for phase two A projects, and that's at $11.3 million.

[2:12:13] So none of those projects are costing the town of dairy

[2:12:16] or the town of dairy water department rate payers,

[2:12:20] anything in wastewater.

[2:12:22] We do have a couple of projects

[2:12:24] that will hit against their rates replacement of 1500 feet

[2:12:28] of Effluent Force Maine.

[2:12:30] We're obviously in the process of starting the design work

[2:12:33] for the Route 28 South sewer going towards Ryan's Hill.

[2:12:38] And obviously that's got an estimated cost of 6.18 million

[2:12:42] EPA grant's gonna cover 80%

[2:12:44] of a lower number at $3.2 million.

[2:12:47] So again, we have revenue sources

[2:12:49] to offset most of those costs.

[2:12:52] And with that, when you blend this all together,

[2:12:55] all the capital, all the spread payments, all the grants,

[2:12:59] the bottom line for the capital

[2:13:01] for fiscal 27 is

[2:13:03] $4,092,207.

[2:13:09] Council, I just have a question and it, we'll go back.

[2:13:13] I'll use the fire vehicles as an example

[2:13:16] where we're looking at some of them being two

[2:13:18] to four years out.

[2:13:20] So yeah, we may be setting aside in the capital plan this

[2:13:23] year, but they're looking at a date of maybe 2030 to 2031.

[2:13:28] Now we're encumbering that money.

[2:13:30] Now does, do we,

[2:13:34] I know there'll be some payments, you know, you pay

[2:13:38] for the plans, you, you know, you pay

[2:13:39] for deposits, stuff like this.

[2:13:40] Yeah. But the bulk of the payment isn't paid at the end is

[2:13:46] will we be collecting interest on those

[2:13:48] and encumbered funds for ourselves? I

[2:13:51] Believe we do.

[2:13:52] And I'll have Mark come up and,

[2:13:53] and clarify how that works on the shorter term borrowing.

[2:13:56] I know how it works generally

[2:13:57] for the longer term borrowing, but Yeah,

[2:13:59] So when we go ahead and we approach a leasing company

[2:14:03] and give them our needs, we,

[2:14:07] we categorize each piece of equipment

[2:14:09] or a vehicle depending on how long we wanna finance it.

[2:14:12] So like the police cruisers, we go three years.

[2:14:14] Most of the vehicles are five to seven fire apparatus.

[2:14:17] We go out probably 10,

[2:14:19] not necessarily ambulances, that would be like seven.

[2:14:23] But whatever we decide during that year, we,

[2:14:27] we are, it's not encumbered.

[2:14:28] We end up basically issuing a PO and we start paying on it

[2:14:33] before we even receive it.

[2:14:34] Especially the way the lead times are these days.

[2:14:37] So, you know, a piece of fire apparatus,

[2:14:40] we have one out there that's been out there

[2:14:42] for about seven years now and still paying on it.

[2:14:47] Does that answer your question? I'm not sure if it does.

[2:14:49] So I, I think it does.

[2:14:50] So that in essence we're buying

[2:14:51] that lease now we're paying on that lease before we even get

[2:14:55] The vehicle, the, the first payment.

[2:14:56] So whatever we take out in FY 17, I mean FY 27,

[2:15:00] the first payment will be in FY 28

[2:15:03] and then that's when it starts.

[2:15:05] Yeah. And we might not even physically have possession

[2:15:08] of the vehicle when we're paying on the lease.

[2:15:10] That's correct. So it's getting so expensive with,

[2:15:15] with these vehicles and the lead times is incredible.

[2:15:19] We do have to try to figure out some different type

[2:15:23] of financing, I think.

[2:15:24] Yeah, because I'm wondering if,

[2:15:26] I remember when we switched to the sing system from

[2:15:30] basically directly purchasing the vehicles, which was

[2:15:32] what, probably 10 years ago.

[2:15:35] Yeah, I think that was about right. Yes.

[2:15:38] So that when we, you know, again,

[2:15:42] because the fire trucks are the ones,

[2:15:44] and sometimes with the dump trucks and stuff like that,

[2:15:46] because they're, we may encumber the money now,

[2:15:49] but we may not actually physically receive the vehicle

[2:15:51] for three to four years from now.

[2:15:53] Correct. If we weren't leasing them

[2:15:55] and we were doing the direct purchase of them,

[2:15:59] would we be banking that money that we encumbered now

[2:16:02] for the purchase of this budget

[2:16:03] and generating interest on it?

[2:16:07] You see where I might, yeah,

[2:16:10] I'm, I'm not sure.

[2:16:12] I mean, the way with the leasing company Yeah.

[2:16:14] It, they take our, when once the lease is closed,

[2:16:17] I'm talking about if we don't do, if we don't do a lease.

[2:16:19] Right. I'm just, So let's say if we had to purchase

[2:16:22] that $1.3 million firetruck,

[2:16:25] which we would receive in 2031.

[2:16:28] Right. We encumber

[2:16:30] that funds in this capital, in this budget.

[2:16:34] So that would be that $1.3 million in 2027, correct.

[2:16:37] Right. And that money would, would carry on

[2:16:40] to the next year as an encumbrance. Right.

[2:16:42] Do we, It'll keep going until it turns,

[2:16:44] till we actually pay for it.

[2:16:46] Right. Does that encumbrance generate

[2:16:48] any interest as of revenue?

[2:16:51] It would generate interest.

[2:16:52] 'cause you haven't spent the cash. Yeah.

[2:16:53] You haven't written a check yet for it.

[2:16:55] You still have the cash, you just, it's just spoken for,

[2:16:58] but they still, it's still gonna be

[2:17:00] earning interest for you.

[2:17:03] Does that make sense? Yeah. Okay.

[2:17:06] And that's what I'm wondering if it makes sense to

[2:17:09] where the we time is so great, if it still makes sense

[2:17:11] to do the lease purchasing versus banking,

[2:17:16] you know, encumbering banking the money now.

[2:17:19] So with the lease, once we, once we close on the lease,

[2:17:23] they take the whole lease

[2:17:24] and they put it into an escrow account

[2:17:26] and it collects interest until we draw on it.

[2:17:29] Okay. When the vehicles are delivered.

[2:17:31] So it could be sitting out there for years

[2:17:35] as an open escrow account basically.

[2:17:37] Yeah. All right.

[2:17:40] Okay. We good? Yep.

[2:17:43] Any other questions? Alright,

[2:17:46] So, you know, for the questions Madam Chair, I would like

[2:17:49] to move the bottom line for the, for the capital account

[2:17:54] in the amount of $4,092,207

[2:17:59] Second.

[2:18:00] Alright, any discussion on the motion Council mills? Yes.

[2:18:05] Councilor Webb? Yes. Councilor Flood? Yes. Council Foot?

[2:18:08] Yes. And chair votes? Yes. Motion passes. Five zero.

[2:18:12] Mr. Fowler, anything else

[2:18:13] This evening?

[2:18:14] Yeah, so in closing, so we've mapped out

[2:18:18] the two budget workshops tonight

[2:18:22] and on last Thursday,

[2:18:23] so appreciate all the staff's help on that.

[2:18:27] Now I have a handful of questions more from the

[2:18:32] first session, which I will bring back to the council

[2:18:37] and I can do that on the 21st.

[2:18:38] So we have something on our agenda

[2:18:41] where if anybody has any questions or any concerns

[2:18:45] before we go to the public hearing,

[2:18:46] that'll be an opportunity to do so.

[2:18:49] But I will also provide for the 21st

[2:18:53] the answers to some of the questions.

[2:18:54] We had some questions about how vehicles are inspected.

[2:18:57] There was question tonight about what the balance

[2:19:00] between online registrations versus that.

[2:19:02] So they're, they're relatively minor questions

[2:19:04] and most of them the department heads

[2:19:06] have already answered for me.

[2:19:08] So I'll provide that on the 21st.

[2:19:10] We'll march into the public hearing for both the CIP

[2:19:14] and FY 27 budget on the 23rd,

[2:19:18] and then we're lined up for an official vote on May 5th.

[2:19:22] So I think we're all in good shape.

[2:19:24] The only other loose end is water and sewer rates.

[2:19:27] Those are gonna go on the consent agenda.

[2:19:29] Those are gonna be on the April 21st consent agenda.

[2:19:34] You'll vote on both of those rate increases

[2:19:38] on May 5th as well.

[2:19:40] Okay. So I think we've got everything stitched up.

[2:19:42] If there are any other questions, please let me know.

[2:19:46] I'll try to have those available for the 21st.

[2:19:48] And for the public, all this information

[2:19:51] that we've talked about is on the town's website

[2:19:54] and can be extracted any way.

[2:19:57] You know, if you wanted to look at individual budgets.

[2:19:59] And if there's any questions, feel free to reach out

[2:20:01] to the town administrator's office.

[2:20:03] Thank you. Anything else? All right.

[2:20:08] Motion to adjourn. Second.

[2:20:10] All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed?

[2:20:13] Have a good night everyone. Thank you. Okay.

Town Council Budget Meeting - 04/16/26

Agenda

Transcript