SELECTMEN’S REPORT March 2008
We wish to continue with the
‘tradition” started two years ago regarding thanking our employees
and volunteers at the start of the report rather than the end. The
Town’s employees and volunteers on the various boards and
throughout the town are the backbone of our community and our
recognition of them deserves the first paragraph location. Once
again, on behalf of all of Bartlett’s
citizens, THANK YOU for all that you do to make the Town of
Bartlett
such a great place to live.
The ever increasing job of trying to
control spending gets a little more difficult each year and while
the Selectmen try to control the budget yet still provide services
to our citizens, we are ever mindful that there are other factors
such as school and county spending and these specific factors are
rising at an alarming rate and citizens need to be aware and
scrutinize those budgets as well, especially since the school is by
far the largest portion of the tax rate.
Despite an extremely busy winter
season in November and December and some other blips in the budget,
we were very close to being right on track only overspending by some
$18,596. Since our revenues were $84,000 higher than anticipated, we
ended the year in sound financial condition.
The largest expenditure item in this
year’s budget over last year’s budget is the first principal payment
on the new fire truck in
the amount of $57,587 plus interest payments. When other proposals
for more or higher spending come before the voters at Town Meeting,
please keep in mind this item. This year’s budget shows an increase
of $93,000, coupled with the warrant articles requested by the
Selectmen, the total increase over last year’s budget and warrant
articles is $144,500.
The Town has applied for and received
a $50,000 grant for a
generator to be installed at the
Josiah Bartlett Elementary School
to provide for an emergency
shelter. We have a warrant article asking for an additional
$12,000 to cover electric hook-up and site work. The generator is
large enough to provide power to heat and light the entire school
facility providing shelter, cooking and bathroom facilities in case
of emergency. While we may not think it will happen to us, don’t
forget the ice storm of 1998.
The
F911 system is fully
operational and the Selectmen urge everyone to install your new
house number in a visible and appropriate place on your property.
You may need more than one number posted on your property if your
house sits back from the road or has more than one way to enter your
property. More, or at least as important, please remove any old
numbers or markers from your property to prevent confusion not only
with your number but possibly your neighbor’s. Even if you don’t
want to put up your new number, please remove your old one. It is of
no help to the emergency responders, and in fact is a hindrance in
trying to find your location, as they are working off of the new
mapping system. The Bartlett Firefighters Association has signs
available for a modest fee, so please contact them if you need a
number.
We were fortunate this year to apply
for and receive a Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant so in addition to our
regular highway road
work, we were also able to repair
some storm damaged areas and do some mitigation work to hopefully
prevent future damage. The
highway department crew continues to work on drainage, ditching,
and culvert replacement any time a new road project is undertaken.
The new backhoe purchased last year has proved to be a tremendous
asset in doing this work. We will continue with our annual program
of paving, sealing and shimming this summer and will be determining
where the work will be taking place after a review of the roads once
winter breaks.
Among warrant articles on this year’s
warrant that the Selectmen are requesting approval for are $12,000
to shingle a portion of the
Town Hall roof that has not been done for many years. We are
asking for a new four-wheel
drive highway truck with a plow and wing and will be trading in
a 1996 truck. Additionally, we are asking for a
new plow to replace one
which is quite old. We need two containers at the
Transfer Station to
replace two that have become inoperable and are asking for $10,100
to purchase a street sweeper
attachment for the back-hoe. The sweeper picks up the sand and
then places it in a truck to be reused. In past years, we have had
to rent a sweeper so the purchase of this item will pay for itself
after a couple of years.
We have completed a successful first
year of hauling our trash to
the landfill in Berlin and the
recycling effort at the Transfer Station is picking up thanks to the
efforts of the crew at the facility. We will be adjusting some of
the charges at the Transfer Station in an effort to keep up with the
costs for disposal of some items. The new baler is working well and
is a much more efficient method in dealing with the recyclables. We
crushed some of the glass pile this fall but had some problems with rocks in the pile,
so any future crushing will involve screening first. We will
probably be asking the towns for another baler next year along with
some other improvements at the site. We have added money to the
budget this year to increase the hours of the third worker at the
facility. Please do all you can to recycle as not only do we receive
money for the recyclables, we don’t have to pay to haul or bury
them. Recycling saves you
money!
Our innovative method of the
Town’s health insurance program has worked well this year as costs
and increases have remained fairly reasonable. We encourage the
schools and county governments to try this innovative idea to save
taxpayers money. While there is an amount of extra paperwork
involved, the savings seem worth it.
Legal fees continue to be higher
than we would like but with all the easily buildable land being used
up, developers are trying to push the envelope and not comply with
the town’s ordinances and regulations. The road regulations,
planning and zoning regulations are meant for everyone but there are
some who think these laws and regulations shouldn’t apply to them.
We are hopeful that the procession of needless lawsuits will end
soon and the taxpayers’ money can be better spent.
Various department heads and boards have their own reports elsewhere
in the Town Report and we encourage you to read them to find out
what has happened over the last year and what to look forward to in
their departments.
For the first time in some years,
our tax rate jumped by the significant amount of $0.59. The local
school rate increased by $0.63, the State school rate by $0.05, the
county rate by $0.02 and the town rate went down by $0.11. This
should not and cannot be the start of a trend. If we are to continue
to be a town that provides reasonable services yet keeps a modest
tax rate, especially to allow our elderly and low to moderate income
families to remain in Bartlett, we must curb this trend toward
excessive spending. We are seeing less building permits for new
homes which means less added assessed value and since property
values are stagnant or falling, there wont be any increases in
assessed value to help keep the rate stable.
Board of Selectmen:
GENE G. CHANDLER
DOUGLAS A. GARLAND
JON TANGUAY
SELECTMEN'S ANNUAL REPORT - MARCH 2010
Click
Here to Read It
SELECTMEN’S REPORT - March 2007 (for 2006)
This report scanned directly from the Annual Report, 2006
Since
we had a break from tradition in last year’s Selectmen’s Report and thanked all
our employees, elected officials, board members and volunteers at the start of
our report, we think we should continue with this tradition. Without the help of
all the aforementioned people, Bartlett could not continue to be a great place
to live, work, and raise a family. Thanks to all of those that contribute their
time and efforts on behalf of the Town and to our employees that do their
work in an exemplary manner.
The
budget being presented by the Selectmen this year represents a roughly 3.6%
increase over last year’s budget. Last year’s budget worked out very well as we
squeaked in under our estimated budget coupled with the fact that revenues were
up by over $60,000. It was a good budget year.
The biggest areas of over expenditures were
police details by $9,000, but revenues to the town offset this overage. The
Fire Department had a $23,000 unexpected
expense to replace a leaking tank on one of the
fire trucks. Short term interest on our tax anticipation notes was $34,000 over
budget but again, the total expense of $54,730 was offset by revenues from
investments totaling $61,786. Despite these large overages in certain lines, the
overall budget as mentioned previously finished up quite well. Last year
warrant articles submitted by the Selectmen totaled $316,000 and this year the
Selectmen’s warrant articles total $233,280 or a reduction of $82,720. Since our
proposed budget is approximately $72,000 over last year, the net effect of the
Selectmen’s spending requirements is some $10,000 less than last year. While we
have an interest payment in this year’s budget for the new fire truck, next
year’s budget will include the first principal payment of $58,000, so we will be
starting off next year’s budget $58,000 higher than this year.
With the increase in the high school tuition, the
Selectmen are mindful in trying to keep the Town’s budget on as even a keel as
possible and still provide a high level of service to our citizens. With the
drop in the number of building permits we have seen so far this year, we will
not pick up as much property valuation as in past years and this will have an
adverse effect on our tax rate and tax bills if we are not judicial in our
spending both at the town and school level.
We instituted the E911 addressing system last
year, the new street signs are up
and many residents are displaying their numbers. It would be helpful to
emergency personnel if residents would prominently display your house numbers
for ease in locating your property should an emergency arise. We suggest driving
by your property as the emergency personnel would do to determine the best
location for your number and it is particularly important to make sure your
number is visible at night as well. You
may also need to display your number in more than one location in order to
facilitate locating your property quickly. Even if you choose for whatever
reason to not put up your number, please be sure to remove any old or inaccurate
numbers from your property as this could potentially have life threatening
consequences should emergency personnel go to the wrong property.
This
past year the Highway Department completed reconstruction projects
on Ludwig Strasse and Washington Avenue in conjunction with water
line work being done in those areas. We would like to thank the Lower Bartlett
Water Precinct and the North Conway Water Precinct for their efforts on these
projects. Additionally, the crew did work on Schwabing Place, Wilhelm Place,
Mittenwald, Glenwood, South Ledge, Ellis Ridge and Thorn Hill. Whenever the
Highway Department is redoing or improving a section of road, they are also
doing extensive ditch, drainage, and culvert work. While the final determination
of this year’s projects will be made after the spring thaw, it is anticipated
that work will be done in Birchview, Rolling Ridge, Linderhof, Little Ledge Rd.
and! or Iron Ledge Rd. We are asking for an increase to $125,000 in the road
construction warrant article item this year, up from $110,000 from last year.
We have a new Recreation Director, Annette Libby, who joined us in November.
Things seem to be going very well with the Recreation Department and the
cooperation between the Recreation Department and the Board of Selectmen
couldn’t be better. Despite some challenging weather, there is skating on the
rink, a trip to the Boston Flower Show, and many other events are in the works.
Annette will not only be providing activities for young people but for adults as
well and we encourage all to get involved and volunteer when you can find
Contact information for the Recreation Dept. elsewhere in the Town Report.
The Selectmen are asking for $60,000 this year to clean up and repair the
indoor floor drain and replace the outdoor tank at the Highway Garage. Over the
years, some waste oil had drained out through the drain and we have contracted
with a company that will install monitoring wells, clean up the outside tank
area, and install a new drain and enclosed tank which will be able to be pumped.
We also plan to purchase overflow holding tanks for our waste oil tanks that are
stored at the garage. All of these projects will be done to State specifications
and we will be seeking grant money to help with the costs.
The big news at the Transfer Station is the new lower price we are paying for
our waste due to our change to the Berlin/Mt. Carberry Landfill. This coupled
with the increased effort into recycling has and will continue to save the town
money — your tax dollars. Please continue to recycle and increase your efforts
if possible. This year the two towns plan to grind the glass pile and either
sell it or make use of it on our road projects.
The Town has entered into an agreement with Thorne Surveys to update our tax
maps and that project is underway.
The largest increases being proposed this year are in the Fire Department,
mostly in the equipment and wages line items. Since we had unexpected emergency
expenditures of approximately $23,000 to replace a tank that was leaking, only
$9,200 of the $16,800 appropriated for other new equipment was spent. This year
we are proposing to appropriate $23,000 for new equipment to help catch up with
what wasn’t purchased last year.
Health insurance and Workers Compensation costs are up and to try to contain
these costs, we have implemented a unique program which we used successfully a
few years ago. We have tried to become innovative when it comes to employee
health insurance costs and last year we made a change in our program
which has saved the town money. We were on an HMO plan through the NH Health
Insurance Trust which basically had a $5.00 co-pay per visit and no deductible;
however, it was restricted as to which doctors could be used. In July when our
renewal was due, we switched to an HMO with a $15.00 co-pay per visit and a
$500.00 deductible on some procedures and services. We then agreed to reimburse
the employee for the difference for any out-of-pocket expense in the co-pay or
deductible that differed from the original plan. While the amount of savings
depends on the use of the plan by the employees, we estimated that even if all
employees used the reimbursement to the maximum, the town would still save money
due to the increase in premiums of the old plan. While it involves a little more
paperwork on the part of the employee and the town, the savings of approximately
$100-iso (depending on whether it is single, two per-son or family plan) per
employee per month has proved beneficial for all. Since 2003, any new hires with
the town pay 10% of the health care plan that they choose.
The legal expense line is higher and is our best
estimate for the coming year. -We
have an ongoing lawsuit where a developer is suing the Town over the Selectmen’s
right to enforce and administer the Town road specifications. The Selectmen have
been in charge of, held hearings, and adopted road specifications in Bartlett
for years, so we will vigorously defend this case. Most of our other legal
expenses deal with zoning or tax issues and while we try to spend tax-payers’
money very carefully, in these cases we need to uphold our regulations in
fairness to everyone.
The Selectmen are proposing to give wage
increases of 4.5% this year to the town employees. The Selectmen feel this is a
fair figure for both the employees and the taxpayer and are very appreciative of
the dedication of our employees.
At the risk of being repetitive, we once again
urge caution at Town and School Meetings. We will not have the large increases
in valuation that we have enjoyed over the past few years. The Selectmen have
tried to factor this into our spending proposals and hope the taxpayers
remember this at the Town and School Meetings and we will continue to maintain a
moderate tax rate.
Please contact the Selectmen’s office if you
wish to volunteer for any boards or committees in town and best wishes for a
happy and prosperous 2007.
Board of Selectmen:
GENE
G. CHANDLER
DOUGLAS A. GARLAND
JON
TANGUAY
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