[0:04] Good evening and welcome to the Thursday,

[0:06] April 23rd, 2026 Town Council meeting.

[0:10] Before we get going, councilor Foot, would you

[0:13] Yes.

[0:14] Yeah. Thank you. I

[0:21] coordination of regard invisible with liberty and justice.

[0:28] Thank you. Just as a reminder,

[0:32] emergency exits are at

[0:33] the back of the room and the side of the room.

[0:34] And please silence all cell phones.

[0:38] We'll start with roll call. Councilor Mills.

[0:41] Good evening, Councilor Healy.

[0:43] Good evening, councilor Webb. Good evening, councilor Chase.

[0:46] Good evening, Councillor Foot. Good evening.

[0:48] And good evening from the chair.

[0:50] Councillor Flood will not be joining us this evening.

[0:53] Alright, we do have a consent agenda.

[0:57] I think it's just one thing on there. Yep.

[0:59] Consent agenda to approve item 26 42

[1:02] to approve the minutes from the

[1:03] April 16th, 2026 budget workshop.

[1:07] I make a motion that we approve the consent agenda.

[1:10] Second. Alright, on the motion.

[1:14] Council mills? Yes. Councillor Healy. Yes. Councilor Webb.

[1:17] Yes. Councillor Chase? Yes. Councillor Foot? Yes.

[1:20] And chair votes? Yes. Motion passes. Seven zero. All right.

[1:24] We are here tonight for public hearing

[1:27] for 26 31 resolution 2026 dash zero eight

[1:31] to adopt the FY 27 town budget

[1:33] and FY 27 to FY 32, capital improvement plan.

[1:37] And I will turn it over to town administrator Mike ler.

[1:43] Alright, good evening.

[1:46] So tonight this is one of the final steps in our fiscal 27

[1:51] budget in our six year CIP plan.

[1:55] We've had a couple of budget workshops

[1:58] and we did an initial presentation on April 7th.

[2:02] So lemme just go through some of the highlights as

[2:04] to the overall budget.

[2:06] It is definitely a year-round process.

[2:08] We have to, you know, be on top

[2:10] of the data points looking at projected valuations.

[2:14] There's always constant consultation with planning

[2:16] and economic development about what's in the pipeline.

[2:19] That's an important projection that we have to look at

[2:22] as far as setting the tax rate inflation data.

[2:25] Obviously we keep an eye on that pretty religiously just

[2:29] because of world events.

[2:30] And that has an impact on how much we can raise

[2:33] as a maximum cap on our tax rate coordination

[2:37] with department heads on any of their staffing needs.

[2:39] If anything has changed, obviously preliminary quotes have

[2:43] to be sought and sometimes that takes a lot of lead time

[2:46] to get an accurate quote, knowing

[2:49] that sometimes you won't have possession of that vehicle

[2:52] or that equipment for maybe two

[2:54] to three years in some instances.

[2:56] And then obviously financial projections from our CFO on

[2:59] motor vehicle registrations and interest incomes.

[3:02] That's obviously, you know, looking at the data

[3:05] and providing that.

[3:06] So get a lot of input from everybody that you see here

[3:09] behind me and, and they all do a wonderful job at,

[3:11] at keeping the data fresh so

[3:14] that we can provide accurate

[3:15] projections to the town council.

[3:18] So let's start with what the tax rate is

[3:21] for the past year tax year 2025

[3:24] town rate is $5 and 39 cents.

[3:26] And I highlighted the yellow just for illustration,

[3:30] that in the last year

[3:32] it went up 14 cents at

[3:34] 2.66% on the tax rate.

[3:37] And that is only a portion of the total rate

[3:40] of $18 and 99 cents.

[3:42] So the next slide is to illustrate that

[3:46] this budget only is reflecting 28%

[3:50] of the expenditures in that comprise

[3:53] of the 9 18 99 total tax rate.

[3:57] All the other individual groups have their own legislative

[4:01] process that don't involve the group that's here tonight.

[4:06] Okay. Now, one of the areas

[4:08] that is very important talk about is that we have a tax cap

[4:12] and we have had in in dairy for many years,

[4:16] and it's in our town charter.

[4:17] So the way that it works is the 2026 tax rate maximum

[4:21] increase is determined

[4:23] by the trailing years consumer price index.

[4:26] So for CPIU Northeast,

[4:29] it's estimated at 3%, 3.3%.

[4:33] And when you take last year's tax rate at $5

[4:36] and 39 cents, add 3.3%,

[4:39] the maximum allowable is 5.57.

[4:43] So $5 and 57 cents is what we're working on as the maximum

[4:48] rate the capital improvement program must fit within the

[4:52] allowable increase in the tax cap without depleting the

[4:55] capital reserve funds for each department.

[4:57] So that's also important to know that we have to make all of

[5:00] that fit within the tax cap number.

[5:04] When we look at valuation, this is another important part

[5:07] of the equation.

[5:09] So on or about April 1st of each year,

[5:13] the assessor looks at any of the new construction

[5:15] that had happened in the previous year and assesses that

[5:19] and puts that on the roll for 2026.

[5:22] In the trailing year, we had made an estimate

[5:24] that there was $20 million of new valuation.

[5:27] The actual valuation increased by 55 million.

[5:30] So that was a really positive development on that.

[5:34] Fiscal 2027, again, consulting with numerous departments,

[5:38] we're looking at about $50 million of new valuation

[5:42] for projects that have been completed.

[5:45] And again, we also wanna point out there's additional

[5:48] development within the DCC TIF district Abbott Court,

[5:52] and that ultimately supports the TIF district expenditures.

[5:55] And that would be out in fiscal 28 and beyond.

[6:00] So let's take a look at the tax rates.

[6:02] So one of the things that I have in front

[6:04] of you is looking at the last 10 years

[6:07] and seeing what the CPI is now, not in,

[6:10] not in all cases did the council take an action to

[6:15] put in the full value to the tax cap,

[6:18] but you can see on the left the numbers you went

[6:21] through fiscal 18 to 22,

[6:24] all those years had under 2% inflation.

[6:27] And that's, you know, guided

[6:28] and restricted what the towns budget could be increased

[6:32] by then the COVID

[6:33] or post COVID years hit, those are highlighted in yellow.

[6:37] Now we've come back down to maybe more normalized.

[6:40] I'm not sure if you know, I'm not an economist,

[6:42] I can't predict what the future years would be like,

[6:44] but we're trending around 3% per year

[6:48] after those two spike years.

[6:49] So just to kinda give you some history of, of where

[6:53] that tax rate has been increased.

[6:57] And again, just this is just a data point

[7:00] for the CPIU Northeast, it's just a running index

[7:04] that you look back and,

[7:05] and you know, what we ended up doing was you take those two

[7:07] numbers, you can apply them year over year,

[7:11] you can apply them over a 10 year period,

[7:13] but it gives you an idea of

[7:16] what the inflation increases are.

[7:18] I'm sure in each individual, you know, homeowner,

[7:20] they can say, geez, you know, my price

[7:22] of heating oil has really, you know, not reflected this

[7:25] or the cost of a vehicle,

[7:26] but it's a blended average that the,

[7:28] the federal government keeps and,

[7:30] and it's an important benchmark that they report each month.

[7:35] So one of the things that's within our budget

[7:37] that we do end up having to to talk about is our budget is,

[7:41] is definitely reflective of local, regional,

[7:43] and global economic trends.

[7:45] So the CPIU is up 32%

[7:49] since July, 2017.

[7:52] But we also have a number of products

[7:55] that haven't followed that.

[7:56] For example, we put down 3,500 tons of salt a year.

[8:00] That price was $54 a ton back then,

[8:03] it's now almost $80 a ton and we're waiting a new price.

[8:07] So that's 47% increase trash disposal,

[8:11] that was $64 a ton.

[8:13] Now that's $105 per ton. That's a 65% increase.

[8:19] One of the largest drivers in this year's budget has been

[8:21] the increase of employee healthcare.

[8:24] So again, for the public's edification, we generally, our,

[8:29] our employees are covered

[8:31] with comprehensive healthcare at 87% town share.

[8:35] There's one contract that is not that way

[8:36] because they have an alternate health system.

[8:40] But essentially those costs are driven

[8:43] in our personnel budget.

[8:44] So just to put this into context

[8:47] for the plans are essentially the same from 10 years

[8:49] ago to what they are now.

[8:51] But an Anthem AB 15 plan, the total cost, again,

[8:55] we didn't break it down between employee and employer,

[8:59] but essentially all three categories.

[9:02] One person, two person family, that's up 90% since FY 18.

[9:07] And we had a pretty significant spike this year of 27%.

[9:10] So you can imagine what that means as far as us having to,

[9:14] you know, try to balance this budget within the tax cap.

[9:17] So I do want to talk about how do we manage the tax cap.

[9:20] So we have to leverage, you know, state

[9:21] and federal grants for operations and infrastructure.

[9:24] All all the major departments are constantly looking

[9:27] for those grant opportunities to leverage our funds

[9:30] with state or federal funds.

[9:32] We've been really good at looking at energy

[9:34] efficiency projects.

[9:35] We have a solar field

[9:37] that is going online very shortly at the landfill.

[9:40] We have always been involved with cooperative purchasing

[9:43] of materials either through state or other cooperative bids.

[9:47] We also look at right time capital improvements.

[9:50] You know, we, we try to wait until something has

[9:54] to be replaced, but we don't wanna wait too long

[9:56] until the repair bills are too high.

[9:59] We also have effective use of fund balances that have been

[10:03] placed for specific purposes.

[10:05] And then in some instances, quite honestly,

[10:08] the town goes without and,

[10:10] and that's just the reality items such

[10:12] as curbside trash pickup.

[10:14] There's several positions that other peer communities have,

[10:17] you know, perhaps deputies

[10:18] or additional, you know, folks on the line

[10:21] that we just can't afford.

[10:22] So every decision we have to really take a hard look at

[10:26] because of the tax cap

[10:28] and all of the other factors that come into play.

[10:32] So what does our budget support?

[10:33] So emergency services 24 7 365, full fire and police.

[10:38] Our municipal center is open 45 hours per week Monday

[10:41] through Friday for in-person services.

[10:43] And obviously people can utilize online servicing as well.

[10:48] We have a full station, full service

[10:50] drop off transfer station.

[10:52] We have our DPW operations for road maintenance

[10:55] and building maintenance.

[10:56] We have two highly regarded libraries that are operated.

[11:00] And then we have recreational activities parks year round

[11:03] including tennis courts, rail trail, hiking areas,

[11:07] conservation parcels, summer concerts and fireworks.

[11:11] Additionally, we have access

[11:12] to government meetings through dairy cam.

[11:14] We support a number of social service programs.

[11:18] Just wanna make a point that the users support the water

[11:20] and sewer systems that's not covered by

[11:23] the general fund taxes,

[11:25] although you'll see references to that in this budget.

[11:28] Only the people that are utilizing those services are paying

[11:31] for those costs.

[11:33] The tiff district revenue support activities within the

[11:36] boundaries of the, the district.

[11:38] We have two of them, which called the Dairy commerce

[11:41] corridor, TIFF and the Gateway TIFF District.

[11:44] And then as we had mentioned earlier,

[11:46] the capital improvement plan is also covered

[11:48] within the annual budget.

[11:52] So these are the final details of, we went through a number

[11:56] of discussions with council.

[11:59] You had a few minor adjustments.

[12:02] I went over those adjustments on the 21st.

[12:06] But essentially what you see here is a list

[12:08] of all the different categories.

[12:09] General fund, capital improvements, capital bonds,

[12:13] water fund, wastewater fund, cable revolving fund,

[12:18] TIF districts, and then we have revenues.

[12:20] And so in the end, what you see at the bottom is

[12:23] what we started with the tax rate last year was

[12:25] $5 and 39 cents.

[12:28] This budget delivers when it nets out

[12:30] after revenues are subtracted $5

[12:33] and 57 cents, which matches the 3.3% increase.

[12:37] So to put into perspective for, you know, real terms

[12:41] on an average $500,000 assessed home in dairy.

[12:46] And we have, you know, that's, that's pretty close to the,

[12:48] the average, if you go up at that 3.3% increase,

[12:52] that's a $90 increase over last year's tax rate.

[12:56] And again, remember that is only one portion

[12:58] of the four legs within your tax bill.

[13:02] Okay. And again, just to put this little bit larger here,

[13:06] gross appropriations are 77,000,914

[13:10] $185.

[13:12] Once you subtract out revenues, veterans credit

[13:14] and overlay, we come down to the bottom line

[13:17] of $31,818,022.

[13:22] You divide it by the total estimated valuation

[13:26] of 5.7 billion.

[13:27] And that's how we arrive at the 5.57 tax rate.

[13:33] Again, just want to go through some of the major

[13:36] variances year over year.

[13:37] These are the big drivers in our budget.

[13:40] Full-time wages because of union contracts

[13:42] that were recently settled,

[13:44] those are up 5.2% over last year.

[13:47] It's important to note that that is representative of steps

[13:51] for, you know, as a, a junior employee works their way

[13:54] through and gets more proficient.

[13:56] You have to compensate them

[13:57] and also cost of livings that are enveloped within there.

[14:02] Health insurance, as I had referenced earlier,

[14:04] that's up 27.4%.

[14:07] That was a pretty vicious spike for the town

[14:09] to have to absorb this year.

[14:11] Workers' comp is up 9.4%.

[14:14] That's just been a trend that we've seen.

[14:16] Retirement contributions are up 7.1%.

[14:19] Again, that's a result of just increased full-time wages.

[14:24] It service contracts up 4.8%.

[14:27] We are dropping our electricity 12.9% as a result of

[14:32] better costs that we're getting as a result

[14:34] of the solar field going online.

[14:37] And then lastly, one of the concerns

[14:40] that we had in our budget was to make sure

[14:42] that typically roadway maintenance is funded at

[14:45] around the $1.6 million level.

[14:47] And the council has done a great job at keeping up with that

[14:50] as time has gone on.

[14:52] We did an assessment and looked at the condition

[14:54] of the roads town wide

[14:55] and they're at an 88,

[14:56] which is the highest number that we've had.

[14:58] It's, it's beyond the good category.

[15:01] We also have a number of projects that are concurrent

[15:04] that are going to continue to enhance the roads such

[15:07] as Chinita Road Exit four A.

[15:09] So those projects are going to also enhance the road

[15:13] and we felt it was prudent this year to help with some

[15:15] of the other pressures on our budget

[15:17] to reduce the roadway maintenance budget by $250,000.

[15:21] So, so major goals of the fiscal 27 budget.

[15:26] We want to continue favor momentum in our development train.

[15:31] We wanna sustain core functions, emergency

[15:33] and regular town service.

[15:34] This does meet the town charter

[15:37] with the 3.3 tax rate increase.

[15:40] We also had as part

[15:42] of the negotiations address competitiveness in pay

[15:45] through the CBA implementation trust fund.

[15:47] So we were u we are utilizing a significant amount

[15:51] of money in that fund to make sure that we don't continue

[15:55] to see some hemorrhaging of police officers fire off fire

[16:00] fighters and DPW employees.

[16:02] We're gonna continue to support the TIFF

[16:05] District economic expansion

[16:07] and it continues to support infrastructure growth, water,

[16:10] sewer, and exit four.

[16:11] A couple of highlights that I just wanna put out there.

[16:15] All staffing levels, capital

[16:17] and debt service are funded within this budget.

[16:19] The administrator's budget does include one new full-time

[16:23] position, which is a building inspector.

[16:24] And again that's reflective of the development

[16:27] that we're seeing out in the field.

[16:28] We don't want people to be waiting unnecessarily for permits

[16:31] and and responses on that.

[16:32] And it's been something we've, we've identified for a number

[16:35] of years but just couldn't afford.

[16:37] But now we think the revenues can support that.

[16:40] Revenues in motor vehicles, that's up 4% interest income,

[16:45] we've projected up 4% as well.

[16:47] And then state sources mainly rooms

[16:49] and meals tax, that's up 2.6%.

[16:52] And then as we had mentioned earlier,

[16:54] the roadway management program is reduced

[16:56] as a one year adjustment by 250,000.

[17:01] Again, some other variances, full-time wages,

[17:04] health insurance, workers' comp, electricity

[17:08] and IT contracts.

[17:12] One of the features of this budget is the

[17:14] use of dedicated funds.

[17:15] So the CBA implementation trust has been built over the last

[17:20] five years and we are requesting use

[17:22] of $1.275 million primarily

[17:26] to overcome the health insurance increase.

[17:29] That wasn't anticipated last year.

[17:32] I believe we had a 15% increase.

[17:33] But to make the budget work within the tax cap, that is one

[17:38] of the the relief measures that we're looking to do.

[17:41] We're also seeking to use $569,000 a fund balance.

[17:45] That's been an a regular practice of the council.

[17:49] There's still $444,000

[17:51] of COVID trust per previous designation by town council.

[17:55] And then we also move $675,000

[17:59] for compensated absence funds.

[18:01] Similar contributions for past years.

[18:03] This is for if we have an employee who leaves

[18:06] and has a large earn time balance

[18:08] or whatnot, we have funds at our disposal to make

[18:11] that without making an unnecessary hit on the

[18:15] existing years budget.

[18:17] Okay, so to cap off,

[18:19] this is the schedule that we've gone through.

[18:21] So we've had, this is the fifth opportunity to go

[18:25] through some of the discussions on the budget

[18:27] and the CIP the council is scheduled to vote on May 5th

[18:32] to adopt both of those budgets.

[18:34] And your playbook will look something like this.

[18:36] You have two resolutions public hearing

[18:40] and two resolutions for the water

[18:42] and sewer rates that'll be in effect for FY 27.

[18:46] And then you have two resolutions.

[18:48] One to adopt the town budget FY 27

[18:52] and a second one to adopt the FY 27

[18:55] to 32 capital improvement plan.

[18:57] And we'll go over that here momentarily.

[19:01] Alright, so I guess one of the questions,

[19:03] did you wanna break and have any questions on the budget?

[19:06] We can do that. Or would you rather me steam through the CIP

[19:10] and take any questions and public comment at that point?

[19:13] Yeah, I think if you wanna finish your,

[19:14] your presentation then we can do the public hearing

[19:16] and then counselors can ask questions from

[19:19] there if that's all right with everyone.

[19:20] Okay.

[19:23] All right. Thank you Owen. Alright,

[19:26] so now looking at the FY 27 to FY 32 CIP,

[19:30] again, this is a, a really iterative process.

[19:35] Lot of help from department heads

[19:36] and senior staff looking at, you know,

[19:39] needs in about four categories.

[19:41] So we're looking to replace existing units that are due

[19:44] to be replaced on their age

[19:46] or their future projected repair cost.

[19:49] If there's an enhanced service opportunity, you'll see some

[19:52] of those, A bonded

[19:53] or grant funded project for a utility expansion

[19:56] and then ongoing maintenance for roads.

[19:59] So generally fall into those four categories.

[20:03] Process starts before January of 26th,

[20:06] but typically all the department heads submit their needs

[20:09] and cost estimates to the town administrator and the CFO.

[20:12] We review that, take that

[20:14] to the planning board in mid-February.

[20:17] Then we look at this

[20:18] and see how it can fit within the budgets

[20:21] that's been submitted by each department in April.

[20:24] Then we bring it to town council.

[20:25] And then on May 5th, the adoption date.

[20:29] So the six year plan values out to $62.5 million.

[20:34] The general fund is covering 30.4 million,

[20:38] the water fund at 12.9 million.

[20:40] And then the wastewater fund has $19.9 million.

[20:43] So sounds like a, a substantial number.

[20:47] But looking at fiscal 27, 26

[20:51] $0.6 million

[20:52] of projects general fund 7.4 million water funds 11.6

[20:57] and the wastewater fund is 7.6 million.

[21:00] Now this is where this gets interesting.

[21:05] So in many instances the town has the opportunity

[21:09] to receive a grant up to 100% reimbursement.

[21:13] So one of the things that's been going on

[21:15] the Southern New Hampshire Regional Water Project

[21:19] is furnishing $11.3 million in grant funding.

[21:22] And that is 100% of the cost

[21:24] that's represented as an expenditure.

[21:27] So it's no net cost to the town.

[21:29] Vehicles in certain classes

[21:31] of equipment usually are put on a spread finance.

[21:33] So five to seven

[21:35] or seven year financing packages,

[21:37] those are competitively bid.

[21:38] But what this does is it promotes level payments.

[21:40] So if we take a package of several vehicles

[21:43] or equipment market those to all the different banks

[21:47] and we get sets of principle

[21:48] and interest payments that can be woven in.

[21:51] And so we have some predictability of

[21:53] what we can and can't afford.

[21:55] Nearly $10 million of that $62 million plan is committed

[21:59] to pavement management and that is supported

[22:02] through annual tax receipts.

[22:03] So you see that within your annual budget each year.

[22:06] And then per year council policy,

[22:08] unrestricted fund balance proceeds are distributed

[22:11] to each department's capital reserve fund along with use

[22:14] of current fiscal year funds.

[22:16] So those are some of the mechanisms that we use to fund that

[22:19] and again, fall within the tax cap.

[22:22] So looking at the tax impact of the CIP projects,

[22:26] you can see in the, in the yellow, that's a dollar 14

[22:30] of net tax impact on FY 26.

[22:34] For fiscal 27 we're at a dollar 10.

[22:36] And then the projects, as you move further out,

[22:39] sometimes we maybe don't have as good of a handle on some

[22:42] of the projects out to the sixth or seventh year.

[22:46] But again, that project list is updated annually.

[22:49] But just wanted to give everybody an idea of

[22:52] what those ramifications are on our tax rate.

[22:55] Again, this is just a large summary of this,

[22:58] it's probably too small for everybody

[23:00] to see in the audience,

[23:01] but this is just a summary of all the various departments

[23:04] and all the various line items

[23:05] and how they total together

[23:07] for the large scale plan that we've put together.

[23:10] Let me go through some of the highlights of each department.

[23:14] The police department, they're looking to replace six

[23:18] of their vehicles with hybrid police interceptors.

[23:22] And again, the old ones are shown on the left.

[23:24] The new versions are there on the right.

[23:27] Again, just to highlight, we are specifying hybrids

[23:31] because the value in terms

[23:34] of reduced fuel usage was born out.

[23:37] And we feel that that's gonna be an actionable item to again

[23:41] continue to keep the taxpayer's money solvent.

[23:45] There's also $93,358

[23:48] for an ongoing communications contract.

[23:52] And then there's another hybrid police interceptor

[23:55] for the canine cruiser at just under $60,000.

[24:00] In DPW, they're looking to purchase a,

[24:03] a new sidewalk machine at $200,000.

[24:06] This is a frontline plow truck and F

[24:09] or 5,500 with plow wing plow and front plow.

[24:13] That's $165,000 a

[24:17] chipper, 75,000.

[24:20] Three smaller pickup trucks with equipped

[24:23] with plows at $65,000 times three.

[24:26] And those are situated in various divisions.

[24:29] One might be in a highway, another one might be in parks.

[24:32] So those are replaced as needed on the, in the cycle

[24:36] that we have established by the department head

[24:39] to support the code enforcement director.

[24:42] I mean the code enforcement position that we are seeking

[24:44] to add, we obviously need a vehicle to support

[24:47] that individual to do their inspection.

[24:49] So we're proposing a 1500 truck

[24:52] for $60,000 in the parks department.

[24:55] One of the areas looking to maybe a force multiplier

[24:59] as a ball field groomer, we're seeing more

[25:01] and more teams seeking to play is the weather allows.

[25:05] So that was a recommendation by the parks

[25:07] and recreation director at the transfer station.

[25:11] We had damage to an A former, basically it was a tarped

[25:16] shed and we we're looking to replace it with a steel

[25:21] transfer station pre-engineered building

[25:23] to allow our trash trailers to be undercover so

[25:26] that they don't be subjected to the weather

[25:30] and they can go out of here as legal loads,

[25:34] $1.35 million for the pavement management program.

[25:37] And that was reduced for fiscal 27 in fire,

[25:43] $1.3 million for an engine replacement.

[25:46] I think it's been well chronicled that if we go ahead

[25:49] and specify and pay for this, it may be several years

[25:53] because of the, just the way

[25:56] that the fire engine manufacturing process and fewer

[26:00] and fewer companies that are out there, that is,

[26:03] that is a challenge for municipalities across the

[26:06] northeast and across the nation.

[26:08] So we need to, to jump on that.

[26:11] And then also an ambulance replacement at

[26:14] $446,500

[26:18] in the water division.

[26:20] As I had mentioned, the projects ahead

[26:22] of them in the water division is looking at phase two

[26:26] with a tank and with a new water main along Old Dairy Road.

[26:30] DES had also provided some indication that phase two A

[26:35] and phase two B were going to cost $11.3 million.

[26:38] So within the CIP you'll see that represented council voted

[26:42] to accept those grant funds on March 3rd, 2026

[26:46] to secure no net cost to the rate payers

[26:49] or taxpayers in wastewater.

[26:53] A couple of projects of note, 1500 feet

[26:57] of effluent force main is gonna cost $1.4 million.

[27:01] We have the sewer main

[27:03] talking about Route 28 from the Frost Farm working in a

[27:07] southerly direction towards Ryan's Hill.

[27:09] Design is being underway as we speak

[27:13] and that it was within the FY 26 CIP.

[27:16] The next phase of this would be construction funds.

[27:19] And so an estimate

[27:21] of 6.181 million is in the FY 27 CIP.

[27:25] And an EPA grant will cover 80% of an original cost estimate

[27:30] of $3.2 million.

[27:32] So that's also represented in the CIP.

[27:35] So with that, those are the major projects

[27:37] and happy to answer any questions or take the public comment

[27:44] There.

[27:45] A motion to open the public hearing.

[27:46] Mad chair, I move open public hearing. Second that.

[27:50] All right, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed?

[27:55] All right. Public hearing is open if anyone would like

[27:58] to come up and speak all about budget or the CIB

[28:07] just come on up.

[28:09] I like being first.

[28:15] Good evening Council. Brian Church, six Rollin Street.

[28:22] I just first want to congratulate this council

[28:25] and the town administrator

[28:26] for putting together a outstanding budget.

[28:32] We all know that the town of Derry operates under a tax cap.

[28:36] I like the tax cap. I always tout the tax cap.

[28:41] A lot of people do not like the tax cap,

[28:43] but the town dairy's operate under a tax cap for 33 years,

[28:47] by the way, it started in 1993.

[28:51] Never been overridden.

[28:53] And look at we've got done and,

[28:55] and all the good work that,

[28:56] that the council has done over the years is fantastic.

[29:02] A couple of things. I thought

[29:04] that the adding the building inspector was a smart move.

[29:08] I know Bob Mackey was a really smart guy

[29:10] and was here for many years and could do a lot.

[29:13] And then we have Ms. Owen come in, she's, she's newer.

[29:17] So with all of the, the building

[29:19] and development happening, it's a smart move

[29:21] because I, I know that it can get slow sometimes with,

[29:25] you know, a two person office.

[29:27] So that was a smart move. I appreciate you doing that.

[29:32] A couple of things, concerns that I do have with the budget,

[29:35] and it's not anything particular,

[29:37] but it's, I mean this is going across the whole state.

[29:39] The healthcare costs

[29:41] as the town administrator mentioned is

[29:43] something that's really shocking.

[29:45] A lot of people, London Dairy got hit with a $2 million

[29:49] increase on their healthcare side of things,

[29:52] which we didn't, but it's still, it's significant.

[29:55] It, I don't know how sustainable it can be

[29:57] because when we keep paying that,

[30:00] that's taking away from some

[30:01] of the projects that we wanna do.

[30:02] So I think maybe in the future

[30:05] you may wanna have a workshop, a discussion of how,

[30:08] how we can arrange some of that pricing in if, if possible.

[30:14] The, the other thing was the concern,

[30:16] and it's not a major concern

[30:17] because dairy's always been in the forefront

[30:20] of the road program.

[30:21] I know that you've cut

[30:22] that back $250,000 to make things work.

[30:27] And I get that because the way the tax cap works,

[30:30] as Mike said, sometimes you have to go without,

[30:33] or that's, that's real world folks.

[30:36] Okay? I don't, I don't know anybody who has a household

[30:39] that wants to do everything

[30:40] and they can't, they've gotta prioritize.

[30:43] However, with the road program, you gotta be careful

[30:46] because those costs are going up as well.

[30:48] So we get less and less done for, for, for that money.

[30:52] So hopefully maybe

[30:53] that's just a one time thing to make things work.

[30:56] So that's, that's fine.

[31:01] So I want to point out something very interesting.

[31:06] So Mount ca my calculations bring this out

[31:10] to an 18 cents per a thousand

[31:12] of assessed value on, on a home in dairy.

[31:16] That's what your budget is gonna actually produce if

[31:19] passed 18 cents.

[31:22] And like I mentioned, you guys have done a tremendous job.

[31:27] Unfortunately I think people are not gonna see that

[31:31] because come December

[31:34] this town is gonna get hit and hit hard.

[31:37] Okay, school's going way up.

[31:40] I found out that the county's looking at a 12% increase

[31:44] and so I think there's gonna be some angry people.

[31:47] But I wanna leave you with one thing.

[31:50] And again, good job everybody, Mike, very good job.

[31:55] 18 cents on the tax rate for the town.

[31:58] The school is going up a dollar 99.

[32:03] That's 10 times the amount that you guys can raise.

[32:07] That's 10 years of town

[32:09] that the school is gonna raise in one year.

[32:13] And if people talk to me, I'll let them know.

[32:17] But they don't know

[32:18] how government necessarily works in in town.

[32:21] There's a lot of new people that come in and out.

[32:23] But that's alarming to me 10 times. Okay?

[32:28] And we all know, 'cause I've sat in

[32:29] that chair 18 years come December,

[32:32] they're gonna be calling all you making the complaint.

[32:35] They're gonna be calling him, they're gonna be calling town

[32:38] clerk and the people downstairs.

[32:40] And I don't think that's fair

[32:41] because we do, the town does the hard job

[32:44] and they always have and they've prioritized.

[32:47] And we've done a lot of good job, a lot of good in this town

[32:50] and we've thought outside the box and things work well.

[32:53] Okay. So I just wanna say congratulations.

[32:56] I hope that that everything works out well.

[32:58] But keep in mind that come December

[33:02] you may have some angry people.

[33:03] Thank you.

[33:10] Is there anyone online? Madam

[33:11] Chair?

[33:12] Seeing none rise online.

[33:16] All right, motion to close public hearing.

[33:19] Second. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye.

[33:24] Opposed or abstentions? All right. Public hearing is closed.

[33:28] Counselors, do you have any questions or comments?

[33:32] I know you do. Councilor Webb,

[33:36] Just a, a couple.

[33:38] Going back to the COVID funds of, I believe it's 444,000

[33:42] at some point those are going to run out.

[33:45] I know it won't affect this budget,

[33:46] but how do you look at funding that in the future?

[33:49] Yeah, so I believe in,

[33:51] and I have to tell you, I don't have that chart with me,

[33:54] but there was a projection

[33:56] that was made over a five year period

[33:58] and it's obviously a declining balance

[34:00] because the COVID funds came in, they were banked

[34:02] by a council action this year was 444,000.

[34:06] I do believe that it diminishes

[34:08] and it sunsets ARPA funds had sunset, right?

[34:12] You had a period in fiscal 26.

[34:15] I think that was the last revenue allocation.

[34:17] So to your point, yes, that is going to be, again,

[34:20] another challenge we're going to have

[34:22] to incorporate in a future year's budget

[34:24] because that revenue source won't be there.

[34:26] Yeah.

[34:28] Another question, this is

[34:31] somebody in my neighborhood asked me this one,

[34:33] which surprised me is the DPW pickup truck.

[34:38] And they said, why don't you get the

[34:40] hybrid like the cruisers?

[34:42] And I said, I promise I'd ask. Okay.

[34:45] No, it's, it's a great question.

[34:46] So when we typically, we,

[34:50] we've partnered from day one with Net Zero, Jeff Molten,

[34:55] Mike fom and the whole committee.

[34:57] And, and I've had a great opportunity to work with them

[35:00] as we've evaluated various options for

[35:04] hybrid electric vehicles.

[35:08] Sometimes they make sense.

[35:10] For example, we have two vehicles that are used

[35:13] by municipal purposes that are in the parking lot here,

[35:16] which I think have, have come out great.

[35:18] We've had, we were able to get a grant,

[35:20] but those don't have heavy loads on them, right?

[35:22] They go around the police vehicles, the hybrid vehicles,

[35:26] it was evaluated

[35:28] and it was felt that an electrical VE electric vehicle

[35:30] wouldn't have been suitable for them.

[35:32] But when you think about the needs

[35:34] for the hybrids had basically the same performance

[35:37] as a gasoline fired vehicle.

[35:38] They don't tow anything, they don't push snow,

[35:41] they don't do anything of that nature.

[35:43] So again, that was a suitable use.

[35:45] But when it came to the DPW

[35:46] vehicles, and I can tell you from my,

[35:48] I was thinking the, the, I think it was talking about the

[35:50] one for the inspector, the new one. Yeah.

[35:53] You know, I, I guess it's something we could look at.

[35:55] Yeah, if it was just a pickup truck versus that.

[35:57] I mean I would say one of the things that we do try to do

[36:01] specific in public works is a lot

[36:03] of times if you have a lighter use for a vehicle,

[36:05] it might be in buildings and grounds

[36:07] and then it can be pushed into a plow truck Gotcha.

[36:11] Later years. It gives us that opportunity.

[36:13] So a 1500, a 2,500, they have some capabilities

[36:17] to put a plow on the front,

[36:18] but again, we try to to push those out for many years.

[36:22] So again, we'll have Tom's here in the audience,

[36:25] he can take a look at that as, as far as the viability,

[36:28] you have $60,000 in the budget.

[36:30] Yeah, so, so it is something we could

[36:33] potentially take a peek at.

[36:35] And the last thing I have is just general comments.

[36:41] And again, thank you. I think this, a lot

[36:43] of work was done on this

[36:44] and we just wanna

[36:47] endorse Mr.

[36:49] Churchill's comments on the healthcare.

[36:52] But just a reminder to the general public, 90%

[36:56] of our budget is roughly personnel costs.

[36:58] And a lot of that was decided when we did the CBAs.

[37:04] Then the rest is,

[37:07] I call non-discretionary funds like electricity, diesel,

[37:12] even office supplies that you just have to have to run a,

[37:15] run a department that only leaves.

[37:17] And I know in the case of like the police department,

[37:19] about 2% discretionary spending.

[37:21] And so, you know, you gotta recognize the department heads

[37:25] for being able to bring in new programs

[37:29] when they really only have a couple percent in their budgets

[37:33] of discretionary spending.

[37:34] So that's really nice.

[37:36] But to go back to health insurance at 27.4%,

[37:39] we've gotta do a hard look at that.

[37:41] So the last time we did it was 1994,

[37:44] I was heavily involved in that

[37:46] and I remember the numbers that we went from $617 a month

[37:51] for family plan for Blue Cross JW to $450 a month

[37:55] for Anthem Blue Choice.

[37:58] And the council at the time was, oh that's fantastic.

[38:01] We're saving 200 a month.

[38:02] And if you look at those figures just adjusted by inflation,

[38:06] that $450 a month just

[38:08] for inflation would be $1,150 a month now

[38:12] or roughly 13,800 a year.

[38:15] We're paying 50,000 a year now

[38:19] for health insurance.

[38:23] And if you adjusted that 13,000 for inflation back in 95,

[38:27] it'd be 31,000.

[38:29] So we've gotta take hard work

[38:31] because that really does, you know, as those COVID funds

[38:36] go down, as we have to restock the

[38:41] CBA trusts, we've gotta really look at that.

[38:46] Thank you. Those are my comment for tonight.

[38:49] Anyone else Continue?

[38:53] Yeah, I would just add on, on the health insurance.

[38:55] You know, I'm concerned with the costs

[38:57] and I would be interested in maybe pursuing some other

[39:00] options, but I would just be careful when pursuing those

[39:03] options that, you know, I believe the plan

[39:05] that we have right now is very good in

[39:07] that if we're interested in, in switching

[39:10] that we're gonna get kind of the same service that we want.

[39:13] I think a lot of the employees are probably happy

[39:15] with the health plan now I would be interested in seeing

[39:19] what else is out there, but I don't want to also decrease

[39:24] any types of their, their coverage as well.

[39:27] And I know that would be part of the discussion

[39:29] and you know, when, if we do go that route,

[39:32] but I'm, I'm pretty confident that a lot

[39:36] of the employees are, are satisfied with the plan.

[39:40] Council mills, did you have something as

[39:41] Well?

[39:42] Yeah, I just had a, a small comment.

[39:43] I wanted to thank all the department heads

[39:45] that helped put together this budget

[39:47] because in all my years of doing budgets here

[39:50] and at the state and everything else, I've never seen

[39:52] so much diligence put into a, a set of budgets

[39:56] requiring us as overseers to not have

[39:59] to do any heavy lifting

[40:00] and sit here having giant debates on do we need this bus,

[40:05] do we need this snowplow?

[40:06] Because it's all been done, it's all been looked at.

[40:09] And the fact that we've got everything down to literally 90%

[40:13] of the budget is just wages

[40:16] and salaries makes it a lot easier to go

[40:18] through the rest of these items.

[40:20] So kudos to all the department heads for bringing something

[40:23] that was so diligent.

[40:24] Thank you

[40:26] Mr. Chase.

[40:29] I just want to echo what Councilor Milt said looking,

[40:33] excuse me through the line items.

[40:35] I didn't see any fluff at all.

[40:39] They, they really did a tight, tight budget this year

[40:42] and I wanna congratulate on what a

[40:46] fantastic job that they did in keeping the cost low

[40:49] and providing the town what it needs.

[40:54] I concur.

[40:57] As do i, I I think it, it may be

[40:59] that five years in I finally have an easier time getting

[41:03] through all the budget stuff, but I felt like in addition

[41:06] to being very diligent in, in what they were going

[41:08] to spend on, I really appreciate all of the department heads

[41:12] and, and Mr. Fowler putting together, when you come in

[41:15] with the presentations, it also makes it easier that I have,

[41:18] I've, I have a list of questions when I walk in the door

[41:20] and almost all of them get answered.

[41:22] So I really appreciate that thought that's put into

[41:26] what you bring to us so that we don't again, have

[41:28] to be asking a lot of questions in the moment

[41:31] and having those discussions.

[41:32] 'cause you've already had them and you've already

[41:33] explained the rationale for them.

[41:35] So great job. Thank you.

[41:37] Okay, so now what will happen next is on the agenda

[41:40] for the five five meeting, you have those resolutions

[41:45] and you can go right to the vote pursuant

[41:48] to your agenda that you have.

[41:50] But there are any questions

[41:51] that pop up either from the public

[41:53] or through your constituents.

[41:55] Please get those to me.

[41:56] I'm happy to answer any of those

[41:58] as I do 365 days a year if there's

[42:00] any questions about our services.

[42:02] Excellent, thank you. Okay, Thank you.

[42:05] Alright, that is all we have for this evening,

[42:07] so there's no vote tonight.

[42:08] We will be voting on the budget

[42:10] and our meeting on our regular council meeting on May 5th.

[42:13] Madam Chair? Yes.

[42:15] Seeing no further questions

[42:16] or business, I move to adjourn. Second.

[42:19] Alright, all those in favor? Aye. Aye. Thank you.

[42:22] Have a good night everybody.

Town Council Budget Workshop - 4/23/2026

Agenda

Transcript