Hartford
The answer, essentially, was: Yes.
Selectman Simon Dennis, who was chairman of the committee that oversaw the $10,000 survey, told other Selectboard members last week that the numbers contain arguments for both cutting services and raising taxes.
“We can come to two different conclusions, and there’s some tension between them,” he said, according to CATV video of the meeting, at which Zach Azem of the University of New Hampshire presented the survey’s findings.
More than 900 respondents expressed various levels of support for such municipal services as police and fire protection, paving and plowing, libraries, municipal planning and parks and recreation.
Much of the Selectboard’s discussion revolved around a question that asked taxpayers to choose one of three broad budget strategies.
About 23 percent chose the first scenario, which would have the town maintain its current level of services, albeit at the cost of a 7 to 10 percent increase in municipal property taxes.
That was the view taken by Hartford resident Robert Taylor, 64, who said Tuesday that he received the survey but didn’t fill it out, in part because, as a renter, he doesn’t directly pay property taxes.
Still, Taylor said he votes as a matter of civic responsibility, and that he feels spending a small amount of money in the short term can save a larger amount in the long term.
“I don’t want them to wait until there’s a catastrophe,” he said. “And every year, services cost a little more. The price of salt goes up.”
Meanwhile, 28 percent of survey respondents chose a scenario at the other end of the spectrum, saying they would significantly reduce services in order to contain a tax increase to less than 3 percent.
One resident who agrees with that approach is Kipp Miller, who retired recently as owner of the Quechee Gorge Gifts and Sportswear.
“It is a tough question. We all like the services provided,” he said. But retiring has made him appreciate a new reality that many current taxpayers will face in the future.
“I’m now a retired senior living on a fixed income. And for my neighbors in the same situation, taxes are driving a lot of them out of their homes,” he said.
He said he thinks the town generally does an adequate job of being fiscally responsible, but when looking at spending on such items as recreation, he thinks they should shift more of the burden onto user fees.
Among survey respondents, the largest slice, 32 percent, took a middle-of-the-road position favoring a moderate reduction of services that would entail taxes increasing by between 4 and 6 percent.
Stephanie Waterston, 36, and Kendall Smith, 47, who own White River Grow Pro, a gardening supply store with a focus on hydroponics, said that’s the option they favored, though their actual position is more nuanced.
“I would have no issue with paying more in taxes if I thought they were spending it well,” said Smith.
“We’ve had tax increases every year,” said Waterston. “I would favor a little less.”
At the same time, they were sensitive to the potential impact a reduction in services could carry.
“I don’t want them to stop caring for the roads,” said Waterston. “The roads aren’t very good right now, at least in White River Junction.”
Joan Scelza, whose son drives a bus for the Hartford School District, also said she favored the moderate approach.
“I know it costs more to keep up and maintain our lifestyle,” she said. “I don’t want services cut for people who need them, especially children and seniors.”
It was the phrasing of the question, and the lack of a majority opinion among the three options, that led Dennis to say the response could be read in different ways.
On the one hand, a majority of respondents, 55 percent, said they would support a tax increase of at least 4 percent, while on the other hand, an even larger majority, 60 percent, said they would favor some sort of service reduction.
Azem recommended the Selectboard consider the middle option — a moderate service reduction and a 4 to 6 percent tax increase — as having the most support, with 32 percent.
“Certainly, with everyone divided, the thinking might go toward the middle option,” he said. “You have the plurality there and then people on either side.”
As the Selectboard contemplates a budget for fiscal year 2018 to submit to taxpayers in March, members are reviewing a budget proposed by Town Manager Leo Pullar that appears to be based on different assumptions from those underlying the survey, which was initiated under a different town manager during a tight budget season two years ago.
Dennis said the survey assumes maintaining the current level of services might require a tax increase of 10 percent. “Watching as this year’s budget is unfolding, it’s not clear that this is our current narrative,” he said.
Pullar has instead presented a flat budget that includes no significant service reductions, other than slowing the rate at which capital equipment is replaced.
Azem recommended that the town conduct the survey every two or three years, to track trends.
The Selectboard will next consider the budget during a workshop scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at Town Hall.
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.