HAMPTON FALLS — By the end of the public hearing on the town’s 2018 budget last week, selectmen cut $4,000 off the bottom line, now listed as $2,626,515.
The previous total of $2,630,515 was a 2.66 percent increase from 2017, and the reduction by $4,000 will not alter that marginally. But it lowers the dollar increase to $66,070, most of which is due to only two issues: The $31,000 cost of conducting the required town-wide property revaluation that must be done this year, along with the contractual cost of living and step increases for town employees, according to town officials.
"Basically, those were the two items that make up the entire increase,” Selectman Larry Smith said recently. “We had some town departments that went up a little and others that went down and kind of washed each other out.”
Although not a huge increase when compared with other communities, given that Hampton Falls is a small community with only about 800 taxpayers, every thousand can make an impact.
It was Hampton Falls Police Chief Robbie Dirsa who offered selectmen a way to cut their first $2,000 from his department’s budget. Dirsa said when he first proposed his department’s $521,000 2018 budget, gas prices were higher. Now that those prices have gone down a bit, Dirsa told selectmen at their recent public hearing, he felt that total could be reduced by $2,000.
And after discussing the cost of disposing of the town’s solid waste, selectmen estimated the town could drop that total by $2,000, to $58,725.
At the public hearing, selectmen also reviewed the other money questions that will appear on the annual town warrant voters will address at the March 13 Town Meeting. According to the articles selectmen approved already, there are a total of 11 money-related questions, asking voters to raise and appropriate $225,000 in addition to the operating budget.
This year’s warrant questions include two new human service organizations requesting funds from Hampton Falls. Another $22,695 is included in the proposed operating budget for the customary 21 organizations taxpayers support every year for delivering various human services to local residents in need.
On Saturday, Feb. 3, registered voters have their last chance to question, discuss and even amend warrant questions at the first – or deliberative – session of Hampton Falls Town Meeting. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. at the Lincoln Akerman School auditorium.