[0:01] of

[0:06] thise he to order

[0:10] um because your chance to make comments recommendations um voice your

[0:17] opinions we are going to have PowerPoint presentation so right after each warant

[0:22] is presented or each [Music]

[0:26] um is presented um you'll have a chance to

[0:30] speak we' like you to come up the mic and let us know who you are and weit to

[0:36] 2 minutes so that um everybody has a chance to say something they like to so

[0:43] [Music] welcome to this is the budget committee

[0:48] who've been meeting for a couple months along with last year a few

[0:57] times and Terry and lovely

[1:02] shell take so welcome I'm going to pass this on to Bronson he's going to

[1:08] um thank

[1:12] you okay I'm

[1:16] Administration um so the first article we have is article six that is the um

[1:23] water service first um they're looking to raise and

[1:28] appropriate 10 up to mil um for

[1:35] engineering the first I'll pass this

[1:39] down

[1:55] over you want to get a high level over view just an overview okay article six

[2:03] basically will be aot

[2:24] vote a grant the state

[2:41] service

[2:56] service effec million will allow the department over a

[3:05] period of years stated rules as

[3:12] [Music]

[3:22] Mersa years

[3:30] change to

[3:40] Min 71% princip forgiveness I

[3:56] said they yes people and

[4:02] 7% available this year they also mentioned that after this

[4:08] year it will go down and know forgiveness will be reduced and what you

[4:15] help

[4:25] out the million affect cross the 558,000

[5:06] you want me to go there or if you could just so the M Pi it up or if you want to

[5:12] use the m whatever works best

[5:18] that see the green light you're all set halfway

[5:26] down but if it's green

[5:31] um I know that there's a lot of these and I know you haven't set your rates

[5:34] yet do we have any idea what each of these would do to affect the rates down

[5:41] the road or is that just not something we can figure out

[5:54] right pay stats after the project is completed

[6:16] um Lee one quick Point um I'm Peter Town manager uh the you mentioned the U any

[6:22] payments wouldn't be du till after the project is over my recollection is

[6:26] that's like what a 2035 date was it that late 2037

[6:33] 2037 so this this would after yeah and then one year after the term of the note

[6:39] whatever the state does they did say they may not allow 10 notes so if it

[6:45] could come quickly and if we probably will not have

[6:51] expended

[6:54] be thank you

[7:23] yesim fashion

[7:43] enes

[7:48] old 30 years old it is at the point now

[7:57] where process to get out the process of the land the

[8:06] [Music]

[8:15] lands this one we have a planning is for this

[8:23] project the lack of proceeding with this project

[8:29] the existing CRS will probably end up being an

[8:34] extremely high cost on shift on operations of the plant find another way

[8:40] to dis

[8:44] dispensation handle sles as dry as the

[9:08] will

[9:16] [Music]

[9:35] then

[10:11] this fun

[10:16] plan

[10:24] stationer side has that is the original P station

[10:30] put the treatment station

[10:36] buil not yet reached its end of life but it is approaching

[10:42] it it presently has the PO in a

[10:52] dry Services the modern way of doing these

[10:57] things is quickly pumps up you don't have to worry

[11:03] about are possible yes

[11:29] that is not going to affect

[11:37] water any questions on that

[12:08] which we extended through the first phase of the work in

[12:12] there and this will complete the upgrades of the in that of the

[12:18] operations of the first treatment fail and then this is a planning

[12:23] Grant appr by

[12:27] the given by state after Bill is

[12:35] planning it basically includes replacing a couple of posts and drives in the

[12:45] system in that area

[13:24] this is the plan actually the planning is under way

[13:29] this will take care of the planning which we've already authorized for

[13:34] replacement of the Press on

[13:44] the9 this is

[13:49] passed was completed you have

[13:56] question the fall state resol

[14:28] we're skipping to article 12 now because article 11 doesn't have to do with any

[14:33] money so article

[14:37] 12

[14:44] okay

[14:47] $644 for the operation of the department it be offset by user fees and SE funds

[14:54] it will not affect General Taxation and says so I recommend select

[15:01] them the actual

[15:05] project presented

[15:09] money

[15:14] Department there actually a reduction of

[15:20] $2,278 from what last year's request was biggest side of that is because

[15:28] there's one less period in 2025 and in

[15:34] 2024 there are various numbers of new

[16:00] um I know originally it sounded like the Water and Sewer Department were going to

[16:05] go for a match of the 3% Cola that was being requested by the

[16:11] town um if the voters turn down that 3% how does that affect you

[16:20] folks down we always follow down increases decreases so alth the

[16:29] commission have not taken any formal action on this on this I would expect we

[16:33] would follow the town's or the voters request thank

[16:40] you any other questions

[17:06] waterart General

[17:10] [Music] taxation that is a decrease from last

[17:16] year's request of $1 [Music]

[17:19] 6,437 2.74% and most of that is to the on less

[17:25] pay per have question

[17:42] sork you

[17:45] very questions you ask

[17:52] because thank you very much commissioner okay uh next up is article

[17:59] this one submitted by petition um this article is to see town we favor of

[18:03] requiring the town to issue an RP um honor July 1st to invite qualified

[18:10] external agencies to submit RPS for dispatching services for the

[18:17] town um there's no um tax impacts TI this U there's

[18:25] no from you can see there's no fund Source tied to

[18:29] that's partially why um the idea behind is that I to you

[18:39] know yeah thank um so article as J suggested um

[18:47] system proposal for providing external dispatch service to the town gum

[18:51] including any current contractual agreements for dispatch service to Shel

[18:54] grandol and go County for unincorporated places for the length of said cont s and

[18:59] furthermore to require the town B to accept the lowest proposal received for

[19:04] external dispatch service that is at least 75,000 less than the proposed 255

[19:09] budget of 360,000 for police departments dis service not

[19:15] including one time set of cost related to the change over to ex dispat service

[19:20] for any cost of personal in any town of B Department specifically hired for

[19:25] Police Department office duties issuing this request for proposal not require

[19:30] any additional amount to be raised by taxes perp language there no Express or

[19:36] obligation for the town form to reimburse departments or

[19:41] agencies expens ening preparing foros response to the

[19:46] [Music] RFB um as voted on Monday it was not

[19:51] recommended by the

[19:56] board want to come up

[20:12] discusss thank um budget committee was given a quote

[20:18] not a quote I'm sorry that's probably not right but an estimate over

[20:23] $400,000 to go to external dispatch

[20:29] the towns in Coos County none of them is paying

[20:35] 100,000 none of it now I know that the estimate was

[20:41] given was given a lot of one-time cost to set it up but it wasn't made to

[20:48] sound that way there are going to be costs if this

[20:52] goes through one time cost to set it

[20:57] up we're paying according to this year if it goes through as I'm sure it will

[21:04] $363,000 for dispatch so I'm saying that's

[21:11] $260,000 more than it should cost us per year for

[21:17] external as far as I know there's only two other towns one is a city in Kos

[21:23] County that have their own dispatch all the others are external and have been

[21:27] external I tried to get the board to look at

[21:30] doing this when I was on the board to get our dispatch completely

[21:36] free from Lancaster Highway and it would said

[21:42] no we need to cut CS there is no money tied to this because we don't know how

[21:48] much it's going to cost the plan is find out what the real costs are we know what

[21:55] we'll be talking about then plan on it for next year that gives

[22:01] a chance to budget for those CS to go for the one time

[22:06] charges as long as it proves to be the way I believe it's going to be for

[22:12] pricing in the letter to the endit the day by the chief he said that it's going

[22:18] to be extended response time because you have to call 911 or look up a

[22:23] dispat it's exactly the same you dial 911 or you dial the same number that's

[22:29] downstairs right now and it will be picked up that whatever external dis

[22:33] dispatch takes over you're talking a fraction of a

[22:38] second different time for radio signal or electronic signal on fiber to get

[22:44] here negligable difference this is something that really

[22:49] needs to be looked at the town is bleeding and as taxpayers I think we

[22:55] have a right to say where our money is going and if there are enough people to

[23:00] agree then that's the way it should be all these other towns are doing this and

[23:05] have been doing it forever I mean lter have on dispatch

[23:11] never is in my so this one this article cost us

[23:19] nothing except gives us the real information because over a phone call

[23:25] they can guess there's no way to get it unless

[23:28] you actually put out an RFP so this is an absolutely no cost way

[23:34] other than time for probably Peter to get together with you know the different

[23:40] paries that be to draw up an our and then we'll get the real answers

[23:46] then we can be educated to go at it the way we should if I'm wrong and it costs

[23:51] more it didn't cost us a thing to find out you know it's always we can't do it

[23:57] we can't do it we can't do itad so my question is on

[24:04] 14 my question is [Music]

[24:08] um if this is accepted it sounds like they're asking for a SEL to

[24:16] go numbers for this and then if if it comes in 75,000 less that they have to

[24:26] accept it Y is that correct that's what I'm looking

[24:30] for accept it if we can save at least $75,000 a year I think it's worth

[24:37] it if they accept the proposal of wherever how do we go about setting all

[24:45] that well the the RFP will explain pretty much what has to be done to set

[24:50] it up budgeting for be in the 2026 year so then it would be an artic for next

[24:57] year well that point same as our dispatch is now but they've already

[25:01] accepted it who's already accepted yeah they

[25:05] already have to accept it to put a budget together than what it

[25:08] is not so you're not asking for the board to go out and get bids and see

[25:14] what it would cost you're saying if it's if it's

[25:18] $75,000 decrease that they have to accept it and our FP is a bid to do

[25:24] it that is a bid to do it and then if it comes in

[25:30] under then planning has to be done to set it up and budgeting to be put in in

[25:36] 2026 to

[25:40] cover that is sh down and in after you

[25:48] accept well I guess I can't tell you that one exactly but I guess what it

[25:52] comes down to the board does this stuff all the time doesn't matter

[25:56] what no matter what the call is the board has had the authority to do it

[26:01] they add full-time positions as is their prerogative with this funding they have

[26:05] already on and it's expected that it's going to

[26:10] go through to do it so I would think that if you're if

[26:15] you're reducing the budget let's say next year by the dispatch budget this

[26:21] year is 363 if you take that out the next year

[26:25] and you put in just say a 250,000 budget well that's over $100,000

[26:31] decrease I don't know why people wouldn't go for

[26:36] that but you're also losing the revenue that you gain from Rand

[26:43] off I am you are the wife of the police chief and as a budget Committee Member

[26:49] who is the wife of the police chief cannot participate in this

[26:55] conversation I don't mind answer but I'm saying I'm I realized there is a very

[26:59] small of Revenue that comes in on the uh the contracts for the EMS thank you and

[27:08] slightly on they do on fire County correct I don't know what what's the

[27:13] percentage for that not contract okay but it was never a very big percentage

[27:19] before and I find that it will be saving a lot more than anything we gain for

[27:25] that little bit of Revenue without the RFP in question also

[27:30] addressed that point so we would know like what was coming in because we'd be

[27:36] taking bids we'd also know what income was coming in from dispatch so the num

[27:41] should be there so income should like we should know if

[27:46] we do this then we should know and then we'll know whether it's good or not

[27:50] right but that contract not going to change by that RFP it still comes out of

[27:54] what we that money that comes in for Revenue

[27:58] right now that helps off at the $363,000 will still be coming in to pay

[28:03] for whatever we have to pay on the new

[28:09] one it wasn't worth trying to figure out because it's the same thing we still get

[28:13] the same because we're Contracting or we're

[28:17] taking it in for the other towns that we're going dispatch for so yeah oh yeah

[28:22] do yeah just a maybe quick Point um we have just like you might hire somebody

[28:29] to build a deck and you think you're getting a premium service and they find

[28:32] out oh we're going to subcontract and the group out a Home Depot in

[28:36] Manchester you might not like that there could be an issue where the county and

[28:42] town of Rand and schel that we have contracts with might say we signed a

[28:47] contract for G dispatch and now you're going to go out and save for 100,000 we

[28:54] we want more of it or the contract so good

[28:59] I'm not going to speak for that but that that is it could be a a complication

[29:04] well I guess it would be in the wording but I believe it just says contract or

[29:07] dispatch services are included in I don't believe it says it has to be by

[29:12] done by goram's internal dispat and we explained to them that that number is

[29:17] generated from the overall contract based on our budgets and then they'll

[29:23] say oh your budgets went down 100,000 so now we want a new

[29:29] contract so that's that's the thing just to be aware I understand but as I

[29:33] remember it was just worded on paying for the Amber service and fire for

[29:37] County two separate things and I don't believe it was I know the person I did

[29:42] not see the second contract it wasn't broken out just included dispatch

[29:45] Services yeah we didn't we didn't break that I know I'm way over my two minutes

[29:49] that okay do we have any other questions from anyone about article 14

[29:59] thank

[30:03] you um this is kind directly to Mar I'm just I'm curious because I'm coming in

[30:09] at the last strike the the Bell so what are we looking at on a guest purpose on

[30:17] the equipment that we're going to have to

[30:20] upgrade brought this to take place and is anybody keeping in mind

[30:26] with the fact of everything that is going on in our country just in general

[30:30] and what may have been a $300,000 gig today might be twice that tomorrow so

[30:38] I'm what I what concerns me because I'm a taxpayer too and I'm all about saving

[30:42] money there's no doubt about it I paying up in taxes trust me but what I'm

[30:47] concerned about is that if we do this like I'm kind of going where you were

[30:51] going so if we say yes we're going to put out the

[30:56] dispatch to someplace El but then we're going to have to

[31:01] spend a substantial amount of money to do that and it's going to take us that

[31:06] much more it's almost like the water department I know that you guys and I

[31:10] didn't get up and say anything but you're looking to spend $2 million

[31:16] you're going to get back 71% have you been saving money for the

[31:20] other percentage or is it all going to be

[31:24] today I I'm just I'm asking that's all because it's going to end up costing us

[31:29] more money in the long run I I just want to

[31:34] save money I I agree that's all the best I mean it's just a it's just a simple

[31:40] question and I'm not trying to be combative or I

[31:44] think Phil P here just to quickly answer that I guess I don't think there's

[31:49] really any way of knowing what the cost would be until an RFP actually came back

[31:55] with what was needed we don't we don't know right now what would be needed by

[31:59] the outside agencies to dispatch for us I guess I'm just I feel like we're

[32:03] putting the cart before the horse by not finding out what it's going to cost us

[32:07] to upgrade all of this equipment I I agree with you there's just no way of

[32:12] knowing that number I do I'm kind of sorry I'm kind

[32:16] of late I had a prior here kind of miss all the

[32:21] questions but I can kind of answer the dispatch budget a little bit what's

[32:26] going on so I reached out to can we turn it up a little bit so we can hear people

[32:32] speaking I don't think it's long it's not

[32:39] even so I've already out prior to the budget season even started when I put

[32:47] the budget together I realized how fixed it was so I reached out to see what we

[32:51] can do to save buddies I reach out to gra County they gave me a figure of

[32:55] $210,000

[32:59] excuse me I've read online where people are posting numbers like uh light Fields

[33:05] Lancaster can do it for a little less than 100 Grand so my Curious is where

[33:11] are you getting your numbers where where right off their uh

[33:16] budget seat sheets right off their budget Sheets White Field I believe went

[33:19] up to oh I think it was 55 this year oh you

[33:26] do realize that is for PD only not ambulance not fire and it is for the

[33:32] town of Lancaster the town of White Field I have their store

[33:37] M Lancaster is 51 Bethlehem is 91 Whitefield is 35 gorm as 10 communities

[33:46] covering 600 square miles we have 10,000 calls in gor Lancaster has a little over

[33:54] 5,000 Whitefield 3,000 around 4000 so even those three towns

[34:02] combined is only what G does itself and the square miles of covers is not even

[34:08] close and then we got to factor in the dispatch contracts to the 700 communties

[34:15] because people contract with us we don't contract with anybody else they come to

[34:19] us and if we took half the contract gave the other half to fire RS that takes

[34:25] 125,000 directly off the top of our budget which is income which is cheaper

[34:30] than what ra County can do it for so I didn't even reach out any further

[34:35] because it wasn't the point we're actually doing it cheaper than we

[34:40] contract I still say the best thing about article 14 it doesn't cost us

[34:45] anything to get real numbers in writing I have the real

[34:49] numbers like I said I've already I did this prior

[34:53] to they seem to be quite a range your numbers though that you were giving at

[34:57] on the budget

[35:06] committee I thought was a question for you I thought it was a question for you

[35:10] that's why what was the question again oh I thought he had a

[35:16] question we're playing what everything that we're doing right now is what did

[35:20] you put a contract together did you push it out for anybody or did you just get a

[35:24] whole gra County from a bud and that was it not a what is wrong with doing

[35:31] this what is wrong with trying to get a proposal to see how much it's going to

[35:35] cost from other contracts why are we just going oh I did this but we're not

[35:39] seeing any contracts there's nothing on a piece of paper right here that that

[35:43] work going to cost the what if needs a stop the next question I have actually

[35:49] for you select board uh Town manager why do we have a chief of police putting his

[35:58] idea of what he thinks is right on a public forum in on duty in

[36:05] unicor check out Facebook your your fire chief

[36:10] there put their own ideas on Facebook so people that don't want to say anything

[36:16] are now seeing this on Facebook and getting worried that a cheap fire and

[36:21] police are writing stuff on Facebook saying this is a bad idea you're not

[36:26] giving them their option to think on their own because they're

[36:34] Afra have paper and it cost more money to go where is everybody

[36:43] see right here it's right here my folder it's in email form s to me and it is

[36:48] minimum cost of

[36:54] $28,000 sure I'm more than happy to what you want and as far as public go I am

[37:01] charged in the police chief of Gordon hire and the Facebook it was put on is

[37:06] the Bo Police Department Facebook page so I'm more than happy to do that and

[37:10] can do that and is part of my job thank

[37:20] you I have to say our current tax rate is

[37:26] unsustainable and we have to start looking at options to reduce this tax

[37:31] rate this is an option I have to say you don't want to see anybody lose their job

[37:39] but salaries and benefits cost a lot of money and I don't know where we came up

[37:45] with 600 miles are we including all the national forest here that's part of I'd

[37:51] like to know how many square miles we have in Goro I don't have them in have

[37:55] with me today but a lot of even the land we have

[38:01] in gorum is not populated it's just Forest you look at what we have that

[38:08] populated town G round 16 you know R tomb for a little ways I'm

[38:15] interested in GM New Hampshire not the surrounding towns and the federal

[38:20] land we have to reduce our taxes here thank you sir

[38:48] I think it's important to understand Mary turn to speak more directly in m

[38:58] I think it's important to understand that an

[39:03] RFP is a request for proposals that's it it gets it from

[39:08] anybody who wants to respond not just one but anybody who offers that service

[39:15] can respond it could be Berlin PB could be gra PD could be Carol County PB um

[39:22] not PD but Sheriff's Department graft County Sheriff's Department for whole

[39:26] people or any other dispatch because really it doesn't matter anymore about

[39:32] the distance okay that's not an issue

[39:37] anymore 100 years ago would have been different with all the technology we

[39:42] have right now it's just like this okay you pick up the phone you're di 911 out

[39:50] of it doesn't matter if it's in grafting County Carol County dispatch or

[39:54] someplace else it's still going to be almost no

[39:58] time at all before that call goes through Okay the reason article 14 is

[40:05] here is because the select board and the budget Committee in the past has been

[40:12] passed multiple times why can't we go someplace else why

[40:18] can't we think outside the box and do something different it was even asked of

[40:24] the select board and Mike if you want to if you want to not look me that's fine

[40:28] whatever are you are youing me I'm looking at you all pray your the

[40:37] board has even been asked can we take advantage of free dispatch from New

[40:44] Hampshire do the board majority said no show me

[40:50] that right my husband was on the board show me that in right okay you want to

[40:55] play that game not there was never a formal there was

[41:02] never a

[41:04] form speaking this is public comment I'm the

[41:09] one who's speaking right now thank you thank you you can you can talk after I'm

[41:15] done but we asked about free dispatch multiple times we asked about trying to

[41:21] do something different multiple times to save

[41:25] money never happened all I heard was it's been talked about a

[41:32] lot that's it it's been talked about a lot but no action ever was

[41:40] taken this article says the board will be required to issue an official request

[41:49] for proposal that's it if the requests for

[41:53] proposals come back and they're lower work then Part B of it kcks in if they

[42:02] come back and they are higher it stops right

[42:08] there it stops it just stops with the RFB but the RFP gets us specific details

[42:17] for external disat so that we know exactly what this

[42:23] entity would charge what this one would charge what this this one would charge

[42:28] and what we charge and then you look at everything

[42:32] because they put it all out this is what the basic would be this is what it would

[42:36] be for hooking us up to the system one time

[42:41] charge you look at everything you figure it out does this work or not do I want

[42:48] to puts I don't want to put people l jobs I

[42:52] was there in

[42:55] 2011 I want that for people but with the tax rate impact let me just ask if every

[43:03] article that has money Associated to it for this

[43:08] budget what's the tax rate going to be can I just steal that

[43:15] back it's 28 what's it be if everything

[43:21] passes uh the tax rate change today there's various fact get into

[43:28] today but today 81 C change an 81 Cent increase yes I think we're getting off

[43:36] the article 14 so hang on to that thought Mary all

[43:43] right all right two things first off and I know people think well you

[43:51] know my he's an old and I am an old started here 39 years ago pointed to the

[44:00] budget I yeah all right but I am going to

[44:05] address a couple of things here is simply not

[44:07] true now one of the things that happened back in

[44:12] 1990 was that we looked at dispatch we attempted to have our

[44:21] dispatch Handle by the city of then

[44:28] we we attempted again to have the city of grow and handle our dispatch when

[44:33] they built their Dispatch Center some of you will remember that because it made

[44:37] sense they were building a whole new Dispatch Center clearly that would be

[44:41] the time for us to go Regional and then after that we went to

[44:46] them a third time and the reason I'm giving to this to one two three is

[44:50] because the answer we got 1 two three was a budget that was equal to what we

[44:56] were were already expended and and that was all right now

[45:01] one of the compromises that happened with Board of s it was a tax Revol going

[45:06] on much like this and people were very excited about the tax rate which had

[45:10] something like $16 per th000 and and one of the compromises was

[45:17] that all the clerical work in the police department was going to be done by the

[45:21] dispatchers now that wasn't the case back then they they had a secretary so

[45:27] the secretary went away fulltime person and and the dispatch Temple not only

[45:34] that CL work but any other as aign um projects in Ni St case all right so so

[45:43] inquires this this this myth of free dispatch you know the board of

[45:50] selectman um doesn't go and call around or at least I don't I rely on whoever

[45:56] the police put a moment in to do the due diligence to reach out and get numbers

[46:02] just as our chief is doing today and in every case numbers came back that were

[46:10] High um that required a lot work on our side to make them work and or no we we

[46:19] can't handle it so it

[46:23] really it doesn't matter what the deal Lancaster has and they used to

[46:30] have it free it doesn't matter what Whitefield has doesn't matter what cook

[46:34] does what matters is is will what will they charge us to to do it that's the

[46:42] only thing that matters so gra gave a quote of 210,000 there was another

[46:47] 200,000 to change the system this article second

[46:52] problem so does a select board have a problem going out and getting an RFP

[46:59] no not at all no problem whatsoever it's the

[47:04] mandatory processing here

[47:09] mandatory if and and this is this is a line that that is going to cause real

[47:17] problems even if the board were in favor um C of War to accept the PO

[47:24] proposal received or external dispatch service that is at least 75,000 less

[47:30] than the pros proposed 2025 budget of [Music]

[47:36] 36,000 for the for Police Department's internal dispatch service not including

[47:42] onetime setup cost okay so we still have to if it's grapping we got to reason

[47:47] appropriate over $200,000 to change our system over we don't know those num um

[47:55] you know the numbers that the chief gave that is I listen

[48:03] to I I actually talked to him about four hours ago today and he said it was going

[48:11] to be 100 Grand okay

[48:15] actually but it is $100,000 we have to come up come up just to make this system

[48:22] that's that's why he was mistaken because you had added in correct extra

[48:26] help

[48:31] [Music]

[48:34] understand what this article is asking for because it will be out there and we

[48:40] will have to respond whether we want

[48:47] or just like to say one thing I I would recommend that we really don't need to

[48:53] Hash this over tonight because this is more towards the town meeting than the

[48:56] budget there's no tax impact by the article that's my thought on

[49:07] that everybody can resarch it for the thank you so move on to Article 15

[49:15] uh 17 that's money see the to vot raise

[49:22] in 80,000 for the purpose of Highway inside w as repaving and curving project

[49:29] tax rate impact 21 cents recommended by board

[49:35] 380 anybody

[49:42] that what sidewalks are being done that's just

[49:47] random no have a plan

[49:57] [Music] this in

[50:02] Char

[50:05] this thank you tell um this is the typical amount we

[50:10] put in for general purpose um our in house Crews to go out and there pave I

[50:17] think Union Street was a good example this year of what we did as well as some

[50:22] work bani and race trots so this is our inhouse resurfacing and the sidewalks go

[50:30] with RS so it helps you know patching patch as things like that no I mean I'm

[50:36] kind of bringing it up because ban Street was one I live just on bazan

[50:41] street and The Catch job they did like I hit a ridiculous bump every time I go up

[50:48] or down the road so I'm about to go out through a cold

[50:55] patch and fix it myself like because it's so bad like these are supposed to

[51:00] be fixes and like it was contracted to an outside company like is the town

[51:05] actually inspecting like afterwards because I mean I know I have P truction

[51:11] experience but it's like it was like the worst patch drop I've ever seen on my

[51:15] road it was a tiny little section and the top section so is like the town

[51:20] doing this or this just get subcontracted at um that particular job

[51:25] was sub contracted out with asphalt we don't have our own asphalt uh machine um

[51:31] now you could recommend you know for next year's budget we can put more money

[51:35] in for that but this has kind of the traditional 80,000 we we put in do we

[51:42] come back like does somebody from the town actually look at it because it was

[51:45] such like I know it's my road particularly that you up but it was just

[51:50] such a bad job I can defer I see our chief over here

[51:59] you can say inspection no we we did inspect it then

[52:05] you got a little bump like this or you got big holes like this what I don't

[52:10] know

[52:12] what the part that goes up like this actually I did transition it's like any

[52:18] hot top We Just sh it on there to try to make it better instead of having holes

[52:23] in the road we try to make it better as what we did and I really don't think

[52:29] it's that bad if there's a little bump in the road compared to a big hole in

[52:33] the road it's dark he I I was what's going on here but we're talking about

[52:38] the 880,000 what do we want to appropriate the 80,000 so

[52:44] um I think if there's issues like that maybe bring

[52:50] that bringing up at another time thank you

[52:57] okay uh so Mar 18 is to see the town vote to amend the purpose just to

[53:03] clarify um the road construction and resurfacing CRF to include sidewalks

[53:09] that matching funds toward grants and to uh raise an the sum of

[53:15] $250,000 to added into the BR serving reconstruction capital reserve fund um

[53:22] the balance as of the end of 2024 was 6515

[53:27] $557 um the tax rate impact is about

[53:34] 65 um comments

[53:43] question okay uh Article 19 is the to V raise

[53:51] appropriate the amount of 18591 for the town Parks operating

[53:56] budget um my board

[54:00] to1 [Music]

[54:03] um I guess that's arle any comments on Article

[54:11] 19 is that a different line item from yeah it's we wanted this year we're

[54:18] changing kind of how the town has the town separated out to have that be its

[54:23] own article just was clear so does that am include salary and

[54:29] overhead uh it's salary and all DayDay

[54:35] costs and as mentioned in budget meetings meeting the budget um it's a

[54:42] elected position so it's this stting this year going be 4,000 years plus a000

[54:48] per election

[54:58] you uh way this is presented you've got Public Safety did you break down what

[55:04] Public Safety I

[55:07] [Music] getd

[55:12] [Music] I okay anybody have any questions on

[55:19] fine right so article 20 so to see the town raise and

[55:24] appropriate the bud or sorry there is a this is not the recommended am this is

[55:31] the um recommended amount of 5 m419 426 for the general Municipal

[55:39] operations uh this article does not included any special individual articles

[55:45] address uh this was recommended by the board SEL 3 nothing um as Su just asked

[55:51] um Public Safety includes um and this is broken down from me um but that would be

[56:00] Fire EMS police dispatch and I believe Emergency

[56:06] Management I think I hit all

[56:17] those what is it I'm sorry I'm out but I wanted to

[56:23] know and I guess I jump I want know Fire cost fire

[56:28] department how much EMS cost how much the police cost and how much dispatch

[56:33] cost down the board approved budget is posted to the town

[56:38] website pardon me the board approved budget is posted to the website the

[56:44] finance page so it can be found there so I don't have right in front at this

[56:48] moment it can be found on our website so there is an expense budget

[56:53] and it's posted on the website

[56:59] buy and EMT together is $938,000

[57:26] [Music] police 907

[57:43] 671 I have EMS while you're waiting I have those already together with fire

[57:57] Emergency Management and dispatch Emergency Management

[58:02] is

[58:08] 8,281

[58:19] 8281 363 what 417 417

[58:30] um and as I have noted on here um in the wars themselves you can't really put it

[58:36] in there um but we do have offsetting revenues I will know that this Revenue

[58:41] will get adjusted later with the Dr which is the Department of Revenue

[58:46] Administration um it's a same process we do every year that's you around

[58:50] September but currently that amount operating revenue is budged

[58:57] 1,615 55 um that amount will likely end up in

[59:03] high time of September but the Dr recommends you budgeting more

[59:07] conservative figure because we do not know what the state will give us for

[59:10] things like RS comms tax um soend budget that L out um So currently the net

[59:18] operating budget um for article 20 as of today would be 3,843

[59:27] so I just want make sure that was not and explain because in the war you see

[59:32] town that not would be in there so that's why I want to get it out here um

[59:37] because there isn't really a mechanism to include

[59:40] that so any additional questions for article

[59:52] 20 okay article 21 to see if the town will vot to raise an appropriate the sum

[59:58] of

[1:00:03] [Music]

[1:00:07] $171,400 um any comments questions on article

[1:00:22] 21 now V appropriate this Su of 10,000 for the purpose of supporting the 4th of

[1:00:29] July committee for the cost of fireworks for the 4th of July celebration tax impa

[1:00:35] 3 cents recommended by board 3 any questions on article

[1:00:47] 22 article 23 the town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of 55,000

[1:00:53] to be added to the fire truck capital reserve fund as established uh end of

[1:00:57] your balance is

[1:01:06] $329,600 any questions on article

[1:01:15] 23 I ask question sorry are we to get another fire truck oh toss over

[1:01:26] who fire chief so we actually have one um that we're going to be picking up in

[1:01:30] the next four months it's 222,000 that we're using out of that and

[1:01:34] another 100,000 that was ARA funds that were as part of total funding and then

[1:01:40] our next truck is four to five years

[1:01:51] down article 24 to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate a su of

[1:01:56] that to the scva which stands for self contained apparatus half Reserve fund as

[1:02:03] previously established uh end of year bounds was

[1:02:13] $7,881 um and I'll just 25ck to see appropriate some 45,000 to the ambulance

[1:02:20] drf I your balance is 14, 334 12 C also unanimously

[1:02:28] approved any comments on articles 24 or

[1:02:36] 25

[1:02:40] okay go and appropriate 25,000 the police cruiser

[1:02:45] CRF balance as of the end the Year 27574 ta imp 7

[1:02:54] cents uh um article 27 to see if the T raise an appropriate the Su 10,000 to be

[1:03:00] add to at leud CRF and a year balance 37621

[1:03:06] 46 ta impact 3 cents and Article 28 see the town Lo

[1:03:13] appropriate the Su 13,000 be added to the dispatch

[1:03:16] CRF the balance as the end of the year 74,000 A Dollar Cash impact three sets

[1:03:22] all unanimously um recommended by the board so any comments or questions on

[1:03:27] any of these

[1:03:33] three okay article 30 see if the tunel r is

[1:03:39] appropriate some 271500 to be added to the highway heavy

[1:03:44] capital reserve fund as previously established end of year balance is

[1:03:49] [Music] 23525 tax impact 53

[1:03:55] recommend by the board of SEL 3 nothing and then quickly uh article 31 is to

[1:04:02] raise an appropriate 225,000 we added to the sanation recycling capital reserve

[1:04:06] fund and your balance is $2,791 tax rate back said since any

[1:04:13] comments questions on articles 30 or 31 why so hot so me and

[1:04:24] our John sat down and initially came in at a much

[1:04:29] lower number and for the board of Select request were asked hey those don't seem

[1:04:34] like realistic numbers please do your homework come back with qu assessments

[1:04:39] and so we did and when we came back it seemed like every single piece of

[1:04:43] equipment that we needed to replace came back at right around 2/3 to double what

[1:04:49] it was so P equ like I believe replacing used to cost $60,000 cost

[1:04:56] 250,000 same size piece of equipment nothing really changed other than the

[1:05:01] market changed postco so things that used to cost

[1:05:06] 160,000 now cost 90 to 100,000 more so across the board things are place over

[1:05:11] the next five six seven years all cost all s so to economy that's what increase

[1:05:38] small ones to see if the T ra appropriate some 3600 be added to Cas

[1:05:42] Hill landfill Expendable trust fund balance as of the end of year

[1:05:47] 15660 taach impact Penny and AR 33 to see the to ra an appropriate some of

[1:05:54] 3500 eing Federal trust fund and your balance

[1:06:03] 346 and there is a typo bu not V recommend so that is a

[1:06:10] typo any questions one quick question and maybe e

[1:06:15] can answer it is that those closing funds is that Perpetual that's from a

[1:06:21] rdd I'm assuming right no the the adro district is

[1:06:28] self-funded entirely by the communities in the county that want for we have all

[1:06:34] our money in in the bank so we're we're all

[1:06:39] set this is actually for the ber Landfield and we used to take St to the

[1:06:47] Landfield we need

[1:06:52] to provide the closing cost I the agreement from way back when we done the

[1:06:57] second year we'll be doing it for a while longer okay yeah I know it was an

[1:07:02] every year thing before I just didn't realize for forever I know I've heard it

[1:07:06] before until it's closed till it's closed

[1:07:11] yeah okay article 34 to see to rais

[1:07:17] appropriate Su $2,725 oper house C Reserve fund as

[1:07:23] previously established uh funds to come from the end of year un assigned fund

[1:07:29] balance um balance as of the end of the year and year is $

[1:07:34] 7,481 um so M amount to be raised through taxation that's all revenue that

[1:07:39] we generated in the year for town hall rental um article 35 to see if the town

[1:07:44] will vote to raise an appropriate sum of 62,000 to the assessment Capital fund

[1:07:50] Bal as of the end of the year

[1:07:54] $17,620.63 tax R back 16 and article 36 to see

[1:07:59] the appropriate the sum of 20,000 to be added to the information technology CRF

[1:08:05] B at the end of the year 3977

[1:08:10] actually okay any questions on 34 35 or 36

[1:08:22] okay I well first reason I said about the 200,000 and they didn't

[1:08:28] want you to be wrong and the chief had said that it was different numbers that

[1:08:34] added up that and there was a report a year and I didn't want to do that but

[1:08:38] for this you guys signed an RFP contract now I'm sorry for assessing

[1:08:45] the other night there was no price to given at all you're so I don't not

[1:08:52] okay however you have $125,000 in the assessing budget to do a

[1:08:59] statist statistical reevaluate evaluation this year it was 72,000 last

[1:09:06] year to do that and it didn't get done but half the money was spent on Pi

[1:09:13] whatever so does this change the amount of money that you got on

[1:09:18] that from that RFP saying it's still going to be

[1:09:23] 125,000 the second part of that is That's supposed to set us off so we

[1:09:28] have five more years before we do another

[1:09:31] rebound yeah which is what you folks said correct I want to make sure if

[1:09:36] that's the case why don't we take the 125 out of this capital reserve fund you

[1:09:40] have to do a separate wording for the

[1:09:44] assessing take it out of this because we have five more years to earn that back

[1:09:49] ready for another one instead of taking it all out of our tax for one year for15

[1:09:56] so can this be

[1:10:04] done Le Bronson perfectly capable answering that but the capital reserve

[1:10:11] fund for assessing is uh is is basically the war chest for um

[1:10:20] big suits and we have one perfield and um

[1:10:26] and that is why that fund needs to exist and the

[1:10:31] 125 is separate if we lose um from F you're

[1:10:37] you're looking at2 or3 per thousand on that case now we're we're in that battle

[1:10:45] with the city of Berlin and with the town of

[1:10:49] dber so we're spreading our costs um we have the firm we've used for the last um

[1:10:58] 30 some odd years which is sanc they have good track record in

[1:11:03] court better than any other firm that we get so so we're fairly confident we're

[1:11:08] going to Prevail um sadly uh when you're dealing with a

[1:11:13] multibillion dollar Corporation who has a legal department that is funded by

[1:11:18] millions and you're a municipality you're starting off 98

[1:11:25] all um we have succeeded more often than not in the past but the answer the quick

[1:11:31] question Adam the U the money in that Capal Reserve is is more or less

[1:11:39] already planned for this upcoming lawsuit and I'll let Peter who was in

[1:11:46] negotiations today at add a little to

[1:11:52] that sure you enjoy we um we can't right it really involves too much I can tell

[1:12:00] you that the like many large utilities they have a standard operating policy

[1:12:05] rolling through the communities and they might let's say this run out round

[1:12:09] numbers we think they have $20 million property and with a straight face

[1:12:13] they'll say no it's worth about 8.5 and if you don't like that here's

[1:12:17] our reorders and we're going to take it to cour so the tax revenue that we would

[1:12:22] lose is is catastrophic when we have tax bills are out there the

[1:12:29] typical strategy for them is to come back and say you've over Valu we want

[1:12:34] all our money back um and we'll throw a number at you like just not being too

[1:12:39] creative Norm us

[1:12:43] $800,000 so it's important for us to be able to have the quality experts and War

[1:12:50] chest is a I guess an accurate enough U to say we can find not going to pushed

[1:12:56] over from the disch by whatever big corporate utility or commercial that's

[1:13:01] out there so yeah the best answer to your question is this is needed money

[1:13:06] for us to basically have the funds to go forward to

[1:13:12] protect they well the other half of that or maybe third of that question was when

[1:13:18] 120 $5,000 was put into the assessment budget it was because we didn't have an

[1:13:24] answer back at least way explain at the meeting on we didn't have the rfps

[1:13:31] back find out what it was going to cost to have somebody do the statistical read

[1:13:37] and now we do do we still need that $125,000 or is going to be less so the

[1:13:44] the good news with that RP when we had original numbers Ross and I put together

[1:13:49] you know a conservative number and the good news was we were able to negotiate

[1:13:54] um some of down there's two contracts uh we have a new assessor their contract is

[1:14:00] being reviewed by the Dr so it won't be official

[1:14:05] official actionable until they give us the heads up which could be the next few

[1:14:10] days um everything lines up everything looks good um one contract was for a

[1:14:15] statistical three Val in 2025 and then the other was a three-year

[1:14:20] contract for General assessing purposes which um Michelle able to negotiate down

[1:14:26] to a much lower rate than was presented to the budget committee so that contract

[1:14:33] should be available as soon as the says

[1:14:37] great and so basic we still don't know as what yeah what what that 125 number

[1:14:44] is going to be no we do know yeah we do know we do know I mean it's it's going

[1:14:49] to be 125 that is the fixed sum with the new Assessor

[1:14:55] and and and I know um from a meeting that some of you were at

[1:15:03] earlier so I know some people have concerned with it's doing the

[1:15:07] statistical update because the residential property values having done

[1:15:11] what they've done over the last four years has led to a shift in tax burden

[1:15:17] that is real and demonstratable and so one of the

[1:15:20] comments I heard um was Mike you know we don't want statistical this is bad

[1:15:26] enough so this is the Dilemma that the the board faces and I explaining this

[1:15:32] simply if they can you have an equalization rate this year of

[1:15:38] 75% and we asked our assessor what will that do to us on utility

[1:15:45] property and they came back with a $6 million value adjustment and just keep

[1:15:51] the math simple all right we're close enough to $30 per thousand so just think

[1:15:56] of it as 30,000 for every million 36 is 18 that's

[1:16:04] $180,000 that we're going to have to find if we don't do this this the update

[1:16:12] yet at the same time there's every indication that residential property as

[1:16:18] and need to go off now we're hoping that things are finally starting to level off

[1:16:25] um real estate doesn't seem quite as crazy as it was two years ago but that's

[1:16:32] a circumstances we find ourself in we can we can we can go find

[1:16:37] $180,000 somewhere or we can spend 25 and the town will be up to 100% And The

[1:16:45] Dr has said to the town that even though this is a statistical update which is

[1:16:51] different than a full R they are willing to accept it as a full reval so we will

[1:16:57] not have to do another one till um [Music]

[1:17:01] 2030 and so that's a significant savings for us um and for

[1:17:07] you that would probably you know be over

[1:17:11] [Music] 125,000 So Adam I don't know if that

[1:17:16] answers all your questions most of it most are you know that's basically where

[1:17:21] I was getting at uh the other thing is at the meeting where this was being

[1:17:29] discussed you said the was forcing us to and we had to do just correct I call the

[1:17:38] yeah they don't do that they said the BLT the B A I'm thinking sandwiches now

[1:17:45] get so right they sold you was right but but they said to me and

[1:17:55] to the entire Board of s to the town manager is you don't want us to go to

[1:18:00] the btla and tell them you need to do this that's what they said so so I know

[1:18:08] the semantics that they weren't lying to you but they weren't being entirely

[1:18:13] truthful either so our circumstances were dual fold all right one we had btla

[1:18:21] threat given to us by the Dr and then we also have the was of value

[1:18:29] on utility property of $6 million so between those two there's

[1:18:34] really no Wile room we're going to do this um we may not and we won't be I'm

[1:18:41] not very happy with where we are with valuations right now uh it's it's

[1:18:48] absolute it's Madness but here we are and it's not just happening to us I mean

[1:18:55] the town of Conway is is an open Revolt over this and every town around us and

[1:19:02] you'll see this play out at town meeting you're going to see big increases in tax

[1:19:06] rates and it's going to it's not going to be the full impact just like here you

[1:19:13] you looked at you know an almost $4 increase in your taxes but then when you

[1:19:18] did the math in your individual houses it was like oh wait a minute I'm paying

[1:19:23] a lot more than that and you are because I went and and so the combination of

[1:19:30] those two things is um is driving a tax revolt that starts at the sea and ends

[1:19:36] in Canada um it's affecting every Community some more than others and just

[1:19:42] to be fair it doesn't end in

[1:19:47] can you can say keep going but anyway the main part of this

[1:19:53] was the be taken out of capital reserve and that was the answer the question I

[1:19:58] want to bring up to try and save some here instead of the other I thought B

[1:20:03] stuff was all done

[1:20:06] legal so anyway thank

[1:20:14] you Mike I don't want to meet a it took me so long to learn what Equalization

[1:20:19] ratio really means for us I think maybe an overview for everybody of what that

[1:20:24] why do c rebout so important the equalization ratio can I

[1:20:30] yeah I mean commit I don't know I should I should

[1:20:37] that answer is under state law um utility companies have special rules

[1:20:44] and if the equals meaning if if you have a

[1:20:49] house that we say is worth 100,000 but it sells 150 it means were off we are

[1:20:55] taxing correctly utilities will automatically get that

[1:21:00] discount so if the the town gr R municipality city town has an

[1:21:06] equalization rate that's not 100% if I say it's a

[1:21:10] 50% the utilities in that Community will say thank you you can value US a 20

[1:21:16] million and and it be automatically get a 50% is count so Mike says we're at 72

[1:21:22] in the 70s that's almost 30% discount that all the utilities would get and

[1:21:28] then the other crial note is it's especially dangerous because then you

[1:21:32] have other commercial properties don't get

[1:21:36] the automatic drop but they go to the btla they go to support and say we want

[1:21:41] that too so then we end up in court and saying why isn't XYZ commercial getting

[1:21:47] that 30% discount as well and then lose so that's what Equalization is important

[1:21:54] thank you

[1:22:02] is that it only the um it only comes out in September or October so what we

[1:22:09] decide during this budget and the 81 cents could be totally offset by this

[1:22:16] Equalization rate that comes out in September

[1:22:19] October so it it um and that's what happened to us last year that came out

[1:22:25] and then our taxes went up crazy so we

[1:22:30] thought we were getting taxed a certain thing and it didn't happen because of

[1:22:34] the legalization rate so we always have to keep that in mind also with the

[1:22:38] revenues that doesn't come out right off neither so that comes

[1:22:44] out whenever September September as well so we decide a budget now but in

[1:22:51] September it changes did that

[1:23:01] help7 to see if the town will raise and appropriate the sum of 41,000 to be

[1:23:06] added maintenance exteral trust fund set funds come from unassigned fund balance

[1:23:12] uh December 31st balance of

[1:23:18] [Music]

[1:23:24] back into this um trust fund um article 38 see town will vote to raise

[1:23:30] appropriate the sum of 3,000 to be add to the special Insurance Expendable

[1:23:35] trust fund as previously established December 31st 2024

[1:23:40] [Music] 97277 um and article 39 to see a town V

[1:23:47] to raise rate the some 15,000 add to the longevity s Expendable trust fund Bal as

[1:23:53] the end of the year , 7724 tax impact 4 any questions about 37

[1:24:01] 38 430 ju just a quick one do these have

[1:24:05] ceilings on them I know that I don't believe

[1:24:13] these I think that you guys would work on setting those figuring out what's a

[1:24:17] reasonable so just things keep going every year no matter how much is in it I

[1:24:22] don't know what the right amount is but as as just put it on once it gets to

[1:24:29] a certain point we don't put into it till it goes Bel again but figure out

[1:24:32] what it is going forward it be a suggestion okay thank

[1:24:40] you in the home stretch to see if Town V rais

[1:24:44] appropriate the sum of 14,000 for the purpose of supporting clients of

[1:24:48] amstrong Valley Home Care Services through with war tax rate impact 4 cents

[1:24:53] this is by a petition board recommended 3 nothing article 41

[1:24:58] the CF vote to raise and appropriate the sum of$

[1:25:02] [Music] 6,745 for the operation of Tri County

[1:25:06] Community Action Program service programs

[1:25:11] G tax 2 cents recomend the petition and recommend by the board 3 nothing and

[1:25:17] article 42 to see if the town will vot to raise appropriate the some 10,000

[1:25:22] which is 250 per enroll for the purpose of supporting the Learning Center in

[1:25:28] with 40 children tax impact 3 Cents by petition and recommend by the board vote

[1:25:34] of three nothing any questions comments on 40 41 or

[1:25:52] 42 White um G Community learing Center is a

[1:25:57] wonderful place okay it provides really good child care for kids who are going

[1:26:02] there and I'm very happy that they're going to be getting out of their current

[1:26:06] location because I think it was pretty tight for them there

[1:26:10] however we already um are looking at the

[1:26:15] significant loss of tax revenue because they are purchasing the old Credit Union

[1:26:22] Building and because we cannot tax them because

[1:26:27] they are a nonprofit is it correct that we will get no tax from that

[1:26:35] building that would be correct um they can operate either as a school and and

[1:26:39] then not for profit so they are um they would be the tax exemp

[1:26:44] stats and um the building I believe is valued at over $650,000

[1:26:56] 65 it's I think the current P the purchase prices around that so yeah

[1:27:03] [Music] last and

[1:27:09] so what would that be in terms of lost tax because that building is now own to

[1:27:19] be own by a nonprofit versus

[1:27:25] 4,000 yeah think it's around

[1:27:29] 18 it's a chunk of change that we are going to

[1:27:33] lose in terms of tax revenue from that bu I don't think it's appropriate that

[1:27:40] they should be asking the town for anything at this point the other

[1:27:44] question I had I just saw that we put out an RFP for a

[1:27:49] grant I believe administrator um what is cost to the

[1:27:55] town for that and that was for their will

[1:27:59] be it was a pretty sophisticated complex Grant they a grant stack um a cdfa CDG

[1:28:07] grant part of Grant application had Grant Administration costs in that so

[1:28:12] that would be one of those it cost me time to coordinate and but I kind is you

[1:28:19] know I'm on track the town extra so that would be covered by the grant is

[1:28:24] so what will the town pay if anything for the administrative is that new

[1:28:30] or the town is the sponsor for the grant um part of the grant paperwork you can

[1:28:35] put in for different you know we're going to put in a driveway we need

[1:28:39] equipment we need to part of the Grant application has a grant administrator l

[1:28:44] so the person that we are going to be hiring will have cost to the town that's

[1:28:49] all I was looking for thank you for the par application I still feel the 10,000

[1:28:53] is is not appropriate because we're already

[1:28:56] using tax income more than that thank

[1:29:04] you any other comments on 40 41 or

[1:29:10] 42 okay right along last three article 43 to see if T

[1:29:17] ra appropriate the sum of 2,000 for the purpose of supporting our local Special

[1:29:21] Olympics team and St River athletes uh less than the penny impact by

[1:29:27] petition article 44 to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate the

[1:29:31] some 3,000 for the purpose of supporting the inter value Chamber of Commerce

[1:29:36] marketing efforts P imp is also less than Penny and article 45 to see the

[1:29:42] town goer rais and appropriate the sum of 5,000 for the purpose of supporting

[1:29:48] hostus palive home health and long-term services from North Country Home Health

[1:29:53] and Hostess agency res of B taxa and by always are you have

[1:30:01] a young lady here from the hospice health and Home Health that would like

[1:30:05] to [Music]

[1:30:12] speak so I just wanted to come share some stats with you for

[1:30:17] 2024 um so 2024 we made 53,1 162 visits and goon County um and

[1:30:25] we experienc 11% increase in the number of patients that we served with a 14%

[1:30:30] rise in our total visits um in gorm we visited 86

[1:30:36] patients or 1,820 times for home health longterm and

[1:30:43] um our hosital services um despite the challenges of rising cost and reduced

[1:30:48] reimbursements from insurance company our country home heal and health

[1:30:52] steadfast our commitment to insuring that no needs to go

[1:31:01] without these These funds basically um fill in for the loss that you have yeah

[1:31:09] than

[1:31:25] I want address this year

[1:31:30] person no money there no money on 14

[1:31:36] but I suspect I saw the article

[1:31:43] for giving the board permission to sell our interest in the Family Resource

[1:31:51] builing by wholehearted I mean you know that I mean I pushed it how many

[1:31:57] times many I do not like the idea of selling a

[1:32:02] nonprofit just to be able to keep out unsavory

[1:32:06] businesses that's a million doll building even if we don't get millions

[1:32:11] for it it's a million doll building should be put on the

[1:32:15] taxs it should be tried to get it out for for profit and possibly what they B

[1:32:22] housing apartment whatever but that should be tried first

[1:32:27] instead of losing more money them there a chance to gain good acts

[1:32:35] dollars instead of just throwing away more so Adam just for the benefit you

[1:32:41] know I you've

[1:32:45] heard people and um I've been pushing this since you

[1:32:53] were on uh I also sit on the school board I push

[1:32:57] it there Reed not a very positive response

[1:33:03] so they own 11% of the building the town owns 89% of the

[1:33:09] building what this article does it it is just give uh some verbal support to the

[1:33:19] selectman going forward it's a wide open field like

[1:33:24] anything it's going to be worth what someone's willing to pay for it and at

[1:33:29] the end of the day um the hard reality is that even though the school own

[1:33:35] 11% that's that's a if they only own 1% they would still have e on on anything

[1:33:43] that we might want to do they can simply say you know no we're not going to go

[1:33:48] along with that and you can't sell a each simple

[1:33:52] property um yeah one part of it belongs to someone

[1:33:57] else and the contract and an agreement between the town and school and I somewh

[1:34:05] convoluted but what we hope to do is to get the town out of the ownership of

[1:34:12] that building because at this point it's gotten old enough that somebody is going

[1:34:17] to start needing to put money aside um to maintain the building and and the

[1:34:23] town has no real use for the structure the goal was to save the structure you

[1:34:28] saved it $750,000 put into it by a nonprofit they

[1:34:34] renovated and so um is it worth a million dollars well for Workforce

[1:34:40] housing um we had two organizations come through town who would probably given

[1:34:45] us but the the hard reality is is that if the town's people say yes we're okay

[1:34:53] with you taking the next step to take the town's

[1:34:58] name off the deep um the next step is to somehow

[1:35:04] negotiate an agreement with the school only the

[1:35:07] 11% and I think the minimum we're looking for is that the town's name is

[1:35:13] off that deed and we don't have to start raising and appropriating money to the

[1:35:18] building so that's at the bare minimum what we want to see and what's actually

[1:35:23] going toen Happ is kind of a noble right now but but our first our first goal is

[1:35:28] to get permission from the people of gor to um start working towards getting the

[1:35:35] town off of that de and I hope that answers your question well it does to

[1:35:40] the point but like I said at the meetings I know there's already an

[1:35:45] agreement so so going on with a nonprofit by comments by

[1:35:50] Peter and Judy's comment of wanted to have say over who goes in there for

[1:35:56] businesses because we don't want the unsavory businesses in

[1:36:01] there well first of all I don't think that's our

[1:36:04] choice and I really think you should be pushing to sell it for for-profit first

[1:36:10] if it can't happen I agree with you I want our name off the building I do we

[1:36:15] don't need it I'm 100% behind I guess I'm sorry 89% behind that because

[1:36:22] 11 but try and put it on the tax RS first give

[1:36:27] it a real old school try because that would benefit the town

[1:36:34] more than just having our name on we would we would have

[1:36:39] to we would have to look at any and all um offers or interest or I mean we can't

[1:36:49] just Market it to nonprofits we would have to look at everybody who might be

[1:36:55] interested in it and take the best deal and as long as that's the way that would

[1:37:00] be great but does not the way it sounded at the meeting that's what I'm bringing

[1:37:05] it up for just saying thank you those comments and now back to our

[1:37:09] budget someone else

[1:37:18] question earlier it was asked what the if all oh I'm sorry call M thank you um

[1:37:25] I'm just assuming everybody know I'm sorry so earlier somebody asked what if

[1:37:30] all of these warrants P what the impact on the tax rate would be and did I hear

[1:37:36] it right that somebody said 84 cents uh it be assuming all equal which it never

[1:37:43] is it would be 81 cents on the municipal tax rate the school the state not the

[1:37:48] county okay but so I to clear up my confusion in going down through each one

[1:37:54] of these you're telling us what the tax rate impact would

[1:37:58] be the total change like one cent or three cents or five cents yes go through

[1:38:06] okay so so when I added them all up I came up to over $14 not 84 three of them

[1:38:13] four of them one is 53 cents one is 21 cents one is 65 cents and one is 44

[1:38:20] cents and that's not counting the that's the amount for the year not

[1:38:27] the change okay so if all of these pass my taxes are only going to go up 84

[1:38:35] cents or 81 or 86 or whatever per thousand for the town for the town

[1:38:43] Fortune I I

[1:38:47] know okay so has his account he I look at this as a c so as we get

[1:38:54] more revenues in again we do meals and Road tax get around4 million the Dr the

[1:39:02] state says only put down 150 because you never knew what Comer's going to do you

[1:39:06] don't want to put in you're going to get 250 and then only get50 that's bad so we

[1:39:11] put in conservative low numbers as we get more revenues in um that 81 Cent

[1:39:17] ceiling you know hopefully that'll come down to 72 or 78 or 75 things like

[1:39:23] but even worst case scenario you're not saying that the in the individual taxes

[1:39:28] for residents no school is just under $2 per

[1:39:34] thousand as it is right now the the increase the ceiling would be 81 cents

[1:39:41] 82 cents okay my other quick question is going back to AR the 14 article 14 I'm

[1:39:48] just curious how could that have been read written where you guys said yeah

[1:39:53] that's a good idea let's go out and get bid proposals you don't like the way it

[1:39:57] was written at least that that's what I'm understanding so what could be taken

[1:40:03] out of that article to give you the incentive to follow your taxpayers

[1:40:10] request to at least go get bids uh simple um the

[1:40:15] $75,000 mandate yes is that what it definitely is and then couple

[1:40:22] for that is telling us not to consider the clerical need in the department and

[1:40:28] the the capital expense to um over over and so then there's there's a number of

[1:40:37] other floating things here like this building and currently there's someone

[1:40:41] in this building 247 so you know if we were just a group of people from town

[1:40:47] using this room you get you get on the calendar you

[1:40:51] use the room to go out we don't worry about it we don't lock the door if

[1:40:55] there's someone in here and so we talk to primx the insurer of the town they

[1:41:01] say is the building being monitored yes there's always someone in the building

[1:41:06] they have cameras and and they there's a physical presence so you work all these

[1:41:13] things out all right and then you come back to the people and say say to the

[1:41:18] people all right this is the best deal we can get on an RFP

[1:41:23] and and then you follow on that yeah I I do understand the workings of an RFP my

[1:41:30] my question was more it was evident from your reactions watching on the zoom

[1:41:36] thing whatever um you weren't even going to consider this you dismissed it right

[1:41:40] out of hand that that told me that there was something about it that you did not

[1:41:48] like in trying to find compromise if the voters are asking you and they did there

[1:41:54] was a petition the voters are asking you to please just research this how do you

[1:42:00] want that thing written so you will approve it and just what I said and and

[1:42:05] I've already been through this process half a dozen times before I no problem

[1:42:10] at all I don't think the other sele has any problem at all um doing an RFP

[1:42:15] process it's you just don't just there a lot of moving parts and really whatever

[1:42:21] it is we come up with on that RFP that RFP and the budgetary impacts and the

[1:42:28] changes all of that should come to the people at town meeting so they can see

[1:42:33] exactly what it is they're voting on I I agree I I understand that my question

[1:42:39] just was if in order to get the board of Selectmen on board no F intended with

[1:42:45] the taxpayers obviously the wording was not

[1:42:49] the way you wanted it that's kind of petty to me but but I get it you're

[1:42:54] trying to cover your bases you're contacting a lawyer blah blah blah I'm

[1:42:58] curious who's paying for that lawyer so every warrant every warrant goes to our

[1:43:04] lawyer every warrant goes to the Dr there was nothing special about that so

[1:43:08] that is Mis information everyone goes to makes makes sense the second part is

[1:43:16] our lawyer is scratching her head because it was so written in a way that

[1:43:21] it was not clear to her what was being requested so there's a

[1:43:26] word in there you must accept a bid that's

[1:43:30] 75,000 less so it's not just go over an RFP it says you will when and will

[1:43:36] accept so if we went just for the RFP and took everything out aside that would

[1:43:44] would you then actively research if if this is even possible

[1:43:51] cost analysis yes yeah yes of course of course we thank

[1:44:02] you so otherwise that will conclud the budget hearing for tonight uh town

[1:44:07] meeting will be on Tuesday March 11 at 7:00 nor middle high school

[1:44:13] gymnasium um now the bud

[1:44:18] will schedu meeting to body

Town of Gorham, NH: 2025 Public Budget Hearing

Transcript