Lyndeborough taxes set to rise

Thursday, February 18, 2010

LYNDEBOROUGH – The town’s operating budget is up about $44,000 over last year, but revenues have decreased by about $123,000.

The means the tax rate will go up between 40 cents and 50 cents (per $1,000 valuation), Budget Committee Chairman Burton Reynolds told about 25 residents at the annual budget hearing last Tuesday.

The committee will meet soon to consider comments and finalize the budget that will be presented at Town Meeting on March 13.

Reynolds said the major increases in the budget are about $17,000 for the required revaluation of property, some added costs for the new library addition, changes in how the ambulance service is paid, for plus a change in communication services, and a new police secretary and town forester.

For the past five years, Reynolds said, “about 20 percent of the town had been checked by the town assessor for accuracy of the property cards. This year that data has to be compiled.”

That system spreads the cost of the revaluation over five years.

“There are transition costs” of going into the larger library, Reynolds said, and the Budget Committee had to make some estimates, set at about $15,000. A separate warrant article asks for another $15,000 for the project.

Work on the addition, which triples the size of the 1911 building, began last fall with completion planned for mid-summer.

The ambulance service is now totally owned and operated by the town of Wilton, Reynolds said. “We are now buying the service from them.” The total of $46,782 includes $7,600 as Lyndeborough’s annual share of the cost of ambulance replacement and $5,000 for changes in, and improvements to, dispatch services.

Several residents questioned the purchase of service, but others noted that in taking over the service, Wilton also assumed all of the liabilities and staffing questions.

Budget Committee members and selectmen agreed that the new system was a good deal.

While the position of police secretary is not new, Reynolds said the current person has been mostly volunteering her time and can no longer do so. About $11,000 has been allocated for a part-time person.

Police Administrator Mike French asked that the committee add a “contingency” line to the police budget, $500 to cover expenses that “don’t fit into any regular category.” As an example, he recalled a stolen safe that had to be retrieved from the river using a hired tow truck.

Resident Lee Mayhew agreed, saying, “Police never knew what they will run into.”

The town forester position has been filled for many years by former resident Dave Buxton, who no longer has time. A new person will be hired to mainly check logging operations around town to be sure they meet state laws.

The largest decrease was in costs for the recycling center. A change from the incinerator to truck hauling resulted in savings of more than $20,000.

Road Agent Kent Perry said state block grant money will be spent this year on upgrading Johnson’s Corner Road as well as Purgatory Falls Road to the corner of Salisbury Road.

A separate warrant article for $70,000 would be used to rebuild Wilton Road from Center Road to the Wilton line, including replacing a couple of collapsed culverts near Sugarbush Pond. Doing both road projects at the same time would save “a lot of money,” Perry said, because the equipment would not have to be moved.

Separate warrant articles total $104,850, down from last year’s requests of $262,015, and include $16,850 for repairs to the meeting room at Citizens’ Hall, $50,000 for an addition to Citizens’ Hall for the police department, $3,000 for a storage container for emergency management (cots, blankets and other materials), plus contributions to capital reserve funds for the rescue truck, backhoe/loader replacement, and a 1-ton truck replacement. Payments to other funds have been postponed.

“We’re as frugal as we can be,” Reynolds said, “but we can’t put off too many things.”