Town Warrant 101 - the Capital Reserve funds.

There are 11 warrant articles addressing capital fund contributions on the ballot this year. If you don't remember having to vote on these in the past, it's because you didn't - the contributions to the capital funds were always included in the operating budget. This year, per the Department of Revenue, we were told that if Newmarket wanted to keep rolling the capital contributions into the operating budget, we would need to change the Town Charter, which is why the charter amendment is on the ballot this year.

In the meantime, we will need to vote on each of these appropriations. They are articles T-5 - T-15 and include appropriations to the Macallen Dam, police vehicle fund, road maintenance fund, storm water management and public works capital reserves. The Town Administrator released a voter's guide explaining each of these funds, which is available on the town website.

You can take a look at these and all the warrant articles below:

Town Warrant 101 - the Police Contract

We are voting on a 3-year police union contract this year. Article T-4 reads:

It was unanimously recommended by BOTH the Town Council and the Budget Committee with no comments or concerns expressed at the Deliberative Session by any residents.

We vote tomorrow. Polls will be open from 7am-7pm at Town Hall. See you there!

Town Meeting 101 - Lamprey Health

Article T-16 is the Petition warrant article which would reinstate funds to Lamprey Health's Senior Transportation program:

Each year, the Town includes a number of social service grants in the budget. The idea being, that these agencies provide a benefit to the community that is clear and quantifiable.

When the budget was originally presented to the Town Council, it was not clear that the typical grant given to Lamprey was designated to the Senior transportation program. It had always been presented as a general grant to the organization. As it was explained at that time, Lamprey is a large property holder in town and the fact that it doesn't pay property taxes based on it's non-profit status, made the councilors feel justified in heeding the advice of the Town Administrator and eliminating the $10,000 contribution. The Council approved the budget in late October.

It wasn't until January that we were aware of any concerns from Lamprey. At the Town Council meeting on January 21, representatives from Lamprey Senior Rides program presented their petition warrant article and explained the necessity of the funds for this program that serves our community. Their explanation was enough to sway the majority of councilors to vote in favor of the warrant article, myself included. I can't speak for anyone else, but the evidence of the benefit to the community was clear and I feel strongly that we should support this program in Newmarket this year.

We vote on Tuesday, March 10. Polls will be open at Town Hall from 7am-7pm.

Town Warrant 101

We vote in less than a week and there are a few warrant articles I'd like to point out. In total, there are 16 warrant articles on the Town ballot. That can be a little overwhelming to review when you're standing in the voting booth. I'll do my best to provide some explanation.

Article T-2 is a proposed amendment to the Town charter. The town's explanation of this warrant article is: 

Since 1991, Town has included contributions to Capital Reserve Funds as an appropriation in the Annual Budget. The NH Department of Revenue Administration (DRA) stated that contributions must be on ballot as separate warrant articles since our charter did not specify another way. This amendment would go back to previous practice.

This comes down to personal preference. In the past, the Town budget included all the contributions to our capital reserve funds (think of those as our savings accounts) within the operating budget. When we go to the polls to approve the budget, those items are already included. The Town would like to continue to operate this way – hence the proposed warrant article. If it's not approved, each contribution to the capital reserves will be broken out individually - as they are in this year's warrant. That means a longer ballot each year, but also the opportunity for voters to express opinions about the individual contributions. 

We vote on March 10. Polls will be open at Town Hall from 7am-7pm.