Newport
According to a budget presentation made prior to the 8-3 vote in favor of the budget, the tax rate impact of 12 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation translates into an increase of about $19 in county taxes for a home assessed at the county median of $160,000. The actual increases will vary in the 15 county communities depending on grand lists and assessed valuations and will be set by the state Department of Revenue Administration in the fall.
Delegation members had just a few questions on the budget and there were no questions or comments from the small audience, which consisted of mostly county employees.
“I think this is a really prudent budget,” County Commissioner Chairman Jeff Barrette said after the meeting. “We will be finally weaning ourselves off of excessive use of fund balance to reach a zero tax increase.”
State Rep. Sue Gottling, D-Sunapee, said during a slide presentation on the budget that spending is up $129,446 or less than a half of one percent for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Non-tax revenues are increasing nearly $300,000, leaving the increase in the amount to be raised by taxes at $529,000, or 4 percent, to $13.47 million.
For the new fiscal year, the delegation approved applying $1.3 million of its nearly $5.9 million in fund balance to offset some of the tax increase. For the current year, more than $2 million was used for that purpose.
County Manager Derek Ferland had recommended using $1 million but Gottling said the delegation’s Executive Finance Committee decided to increase that figure to reduce the tax increase a bit more.
State Rep. Jim Grenier, R-Lempster, said using smaller amounts of fund balance is a more prudent approach to budgeting.
“To be sensible, we have to stop using $2 million a year,” Grenier said.
Ferland is recommending the county slowly reduce its use of fund balance to offset taxes because using too much to cover operating expenses only “masks the true cost of doing business.”
Increases in health insurance and the county attorney’s office for a fourth prosecutor were the primary reasons for higher spending but some of that was offset by a decrease in the sheriff’s department following this year’s one-time expenditure to replace the department’s vehicles.
A total of $2.2 million was taken from fund balance. In addition to money to offset taxes, another $920,000 went for capital projects for the coming year or the capital reserve fund for future expenses, including building repairs and maintenance.
But Barrette said they expect to replace a portion of that total fund balance deducation with a year-end balance of between $500,000 and $1 million in the current budget.
Barrette said they saved some money with job vacancies at the jail as well as with lower expenses at the nursing home combined with higher revenue due to more private pay residents.
State Reps. Francis Gauthier, R-Claremont, Steve Smith, R-Charlestown, and Skip Rollins, R-Newport, voted against the budget but did not say why.
State Rep. John O’Connor, R-Claremont, was absent. County delegation Chairman John Cloutier, D-Claremont, said Sullivan District 1 state Rep. Andy Schmidt, D-Grantham, had resigned because he bought a house in New London. Sullivan 1, with two state reps., represents Cornish, Grantham, Plainfield, and Springfield. Cloutier said there would probably be a special election in the fall for the seat.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached pogclmt@gmail.com.
