Henniker to mull deep budget cuts

In view of shrinking revenues from both local and state sources, the Henniker selectmen unanimously voted Tuesday to meet for a special budget-only work session next Tuesday to consider what cuts they may make to Capital Improvements Program (CIP) requests. The meeting will be open to the public, but will not be a regular selectmen meeting where public comment may be made.
Currently, the municipal budget stands to cost $8.87 per thousand. This includes everything that has so far been presented, but does not take into account the Fund Balance. Selectman Joe Damour said he would like to see the tax rate kept down to $7 per thousand of real estate property value.
Selectman Ron Taylor pointed out that decreasing the rate even $1 per thousand could mean decreasing the total budget by $400,00.
Last year, the selectmen applied $515,000 out of about $850,000 that was in the Fund Balance to lower the tax rate for the current year. This left about $350,000, or about five percent of the approximately $6 million annual budget, for emergencies during the year. The Department of Revenue Administration (DRA) suggests communities keep about five percent of their budgets for unexpected problems.
However, this year the Fund Balance only has about $450,000 in it.
“We’d be lucky to get $100,000 out of the Fund Balance to put toward the taxes this year,” chairman of the selectmen Tom Watman pointed out. “We’re not getting as much in land use taxes because people aren’t taking land out of current use. Also we’re getting less from the revenues from local departments, such as selling the recyclables [from the Transfer Station].”
Decreasing revenues are the concern. Otherwise the proposed budget appears reasonable to the selectmen, as it is only $150,000 more than last year’s proposed budget.
At next Tuesday’s meeting, big-ticket items in the CIP proposal will be the focus.
“The reality is that we need to slow down most of the Capital Improvement requests,” said Watman.
Those big-ticket items collectively make up nearly $500,000. They include $150,000 for the Fire Department Capital Reserve, $88,000 to put toward a more than $200,000 ambulance replacement, $46,000 for a truck for the Transfer Station and Parks Department, $50,000 for the Highway Department to put toward equipment, and $150,000 for the Bridge Capital Reserve.
Most in question of these five requests is the $150,000 for the Fire Department Capital Reserve, which did not have a representative at Tuesday’s meeting to explain what the money is aimed at funding. Watman pointed out that by 2015, the Fire Department Capital Reserve account is scheduled to accumulate well over $1 million, without explaining what the funding is for, except for saying it is mainly for equipment expenditures.
Although Fire Chief Keith Gilbert was on vacation in California, Watman complained that someone else from the hierarchy in the department should have been present to defend the request. Town administrator Peter Flynn explained that there is no particular equipment scheduled to be bought in the next couple of years, except for a command vehicle in three years. But Flynn added that Chief Gilbert complained that funds were not accumulating in the Reserve, causing the Reserve funding to fall behind.
“What effect has that had?” asked Watman.
Flynn responded that the Fire Department has not experienced any deficiency in its ability to carry out its mission because of under-funding. However he pointed out that the Fire Department still hopes to accumulate $300,000 to $400,000 to put toward a ladder truck if a good deal comes along. A proposal for a ladder truck caused some controversy in town in recent years, and did not pass public approval.
“My advice, if we are going to go for a controversial piece of equipment, we should be above board and state that the funds are for a ladder truck, rather than not name the equipment,” Watman suggested.
Damour concurred, asking, “Why are we considering a warrant article for funds that are not attributed to anything? There is no sense putting it into the warrant.”
“I feel there is some need for a ladder truck, but I want to know where it fits into the big picture,” Watman added.
Rescue Chief Tom French said he was at the CIP meeting, where the case was made by Fire Chief Gilbert that underfunding for the Fire Department Reserve has led to a slowdown in getting equipment. Rescue Chief French did not refer to any specific equipment.
When challenged about what effect putting off the replacement of an ambulance would have on the Rescue service, Rescue Chief French admitted, “We’d get through the year, but we would have to put about $6,000 into maintenance on the current ambulance.”
Bob Pennock, superintendent of the Transfer Station and the Parks Department responded nearly the same, when asked if the department could wait another year for the dual wheel one-ton pick-up truck with a dump body and plow he requested. He said the departments’ smaller truck is wearing down, but is still in “pretty good shape,” and that the department could get along without it for now, if need be.
Although the selectmen will not be allowing any public comment at the Dec. 9 meeting this coming Tuesday, department heads and other members of the public may be heard at the next regular selectmen meeting on Dec. 16. The Dec. 16 meeting is the last shot the selectmen will have at tweaking the budget before it goes to the Budget Advisory Committee for consideration. Although there will be other chances for the selectmen to work with the budget numbers after that in January.