Voting on the Sunapee town and school warrants is Tuesday, March 14, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Sherburne gymnasium.
Sunapee
John Augustine, a Selectboard member, Veronica Hastings, Jesse Tyler and Edward Andersen are the four candidates running for two, three-year seats on the School Board.
Superintendent Russ Holden said the fifth candidate on the ballot, incumbent April Royce, announced at a candidates’ forum last week that she was withdrawing her name from the race because of “family medical issues.” The School Board has operated with just four members since Shaun Carroll, whose seat is up for re-election, resigned.
The proposed school budget of $12 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1, represents a $262,000, or 2.2 percent, increase from this year.
The major drivers of the increase are the second year of a teachers’ contract, health insurance and New Hampshire retirement obligations, Holden said.
Also on the warrant are two articles of $25,000 each to put money into the special education trust fund and school facilities capital reserve fund, with the money to come from a projected surplus at the end of the current fiscal year.
Another $75,000, to be raised from taxes, is for the Sunapee Middle High School roof fund.
Holden estimates an increase of 45 cents per $1,000 of valuation in the local school tax rate – about $113 – if all articles pass. The default budget is $12.1 million.
The town budget of $7.1 million represents a 1.6 percent increase from this year, Town Manager Donna Nashawaty said.
“Sixty percent is for employees’ expenses such as step plan and increases in the rates for New Hampshire retirement. There are no major policy or spending increases,” the town manager said.
There is $485,000 more in eight warrant articles to put money into various reserve funds, which is what the town does every year. Two articles seek approval to withdraw money from reserve funds to buy a dump-plow truck for the highway department and a forestry truck for the fire department. Voters will also be asked to spend $45,000 from the hydroelectric fund for the first of three phases to build a cold storage building at the highway garage. In preparation for the town’s 250th anniversary in 2018, an article would establish a fund for the event and place $15,000 in it from the budget fund balance.
If all town spending requests are approved, the town tax rate is projected to increase no more than 39 cents, assuming no increase in the grand list, Nashawaty said.
The first article on the fire department would disband the board of fire engineers and have the Selectboard, town or town manager appoint the chief, with the chief appointing firefighters. The fire engineers board handles both duties now.
If voters reject the proposed dismantling of the board, a related article would prohibit active firefighters from serving on it, which they do now. They would have to either resign from the board or fire department, the article states.
The ballot includes several zoning articles proposed by the Planning Board and a petitioned zoning change opposed by the board. The petitioned article seeks to allow mixed use, including commercial ones, along Route 11 from Jobs Creek Road in Georges Mills to Browns Hill Road.
If all spending proposals on both the town and school warrants are approved, the combined town and local school tax rate is projected to increase 84 cents to $10.51 per $1,000, adding $210 in property taxes to a home assessed at $250,000.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
