North Haverhill
The County Commission is proposing a $44.1 million budget for the 2019 fiscal year, which would amount to a 2.7 percent increase over the current spending plan.
“It was a very tight year, a very difficult budget,” Commissioner Wendy Piper, D-Enfield, said in a phone interview last week. “I think that the health insurance increase colored everything else.”
The county’s health insurance rates were projected to increase 41 percent in the coming year, leading officials to seek proposals from other companies, she said.
Ultimately, the three county commissioners decided to switch carriers from Harvard Pilgrim to Anthem. The switch will result in a $524,000, or 13.7 percent, increase in premiums, according to the proposed budget.
“This budget was a very difficult one,” said Linda Lauer, D-Bath, chairwoman of the Grafton County Commission. “I don’t think anyone of us got everything we wanted. We all had to make concessions.”
If the commission’s budget is approved by Grafton County’s delegation next month, the amount to be raised by taxes would also increase by roughly $1.1 million to $26.2 million. However, county taxes traditionally are the smallest portion of New Hampshire property taxes.
For instance, Lebanon residents in 2017 paid $1.94 per $1,000 of a property’s assessed value to fund county operations. That’s $485 on a $250,000 home.
By comparison, the school portion of the same home’s property tax bill is roughly $3,500.
In its proposed budget, the Commission opted to continue funding an ongoing sewer project at the county complex, which will require $145,000 in additional funding in 2019.
But other infrastructure projects will have to wait, Piper said. Although the majority of county parking lots need to be repaved, the commissioners each drove through the lots and determined the $348,000 project could be pushed back, she said.
Officials also chose to maintain current staffing levels and are level funding social service organizations, according to the proposed budget.
Employees will see a 1.5 percent cost of living increase as part of an effort to maintain experienced workers and compete with businesses in the Haverhill area, Piper said.
“I believe that we’ve maintained strong benefits and we’ve kept our wages competitive considering the market that we’ve in,” she said.
Changes also are expected at the county’s drug court in the coming year.
Grafton County taxpayers were on the hook for drug court’s expenses until last year, when the state began reimbursing up to $300,000, according to Lauer, who said the arrangement paid nearly all of the county’s costs.
However, the drug court’s coordinator recently resigned, as did the director of the county alternative sentencing program. With those positions unfilled, Lauer said, the commissioners decided to allow the state to take over operation of the drug court.
New Hampshire’s judicial system will soon be issuing a request for proposals for outside companies to provide supervision and counseling for the drug court, she said, adding the County Attorney’s Office and judges participating in the program will continue their efforts.
Grafton County’s alternative sentencing programs, adult diversion program, mental health court and juvenile diversion program will also continue to be operated by the county and will be untouched by the change, Lauer said.
“In closing, it is a constant struggle to find balance between meeting the county’s obligations and the impact that it has on taxpayers,” the commission wrote in its budget proposal. “The commissioners want to assure you that we are very mindful of the implications for the taxpayers.”
A public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday in the County Administration Building at 3855 Dartmouth College Highway, North Haverhill.
The county delegation’s executive committee will then meet throughout June to determine a final 2019 budget.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@ vnews.com or 603-727-3223.