Much of the discussion at the Whitefield Annual Town Meeting on March 17 was devoted to expenditures in the fire department budget. Ultimately, every article on the warrant passed as written.
The town’s budget will be $845,144, an increase of $86,096 (11.3 percent) from last year’s budget.
Throughout the budget creation process, the selectmen said the increases in the budget are the result of significant cuts in previous years. Several hikes in this year’s proposed budget were described as efforts to restore those areas of the budget, rather than increase them.
The biggest increases in the proposed budget are to the roads and fire department budgets. The fire department operating budget is up about $9000 for a total budget of $82,850. Voters also approved an additional $9000 for firefighting equipment purchases. The roads budget is up about $36,000 and the snowplow budget is up about $20,000, for total budgets of $150,000 and $246,200, respectively.
The $9000 equipment purchase, which was briefly debated at the meeting, will cover air packs and supply hose. Fire Chief Tim Pellerin said these are purchases that will need to be made, and budgeting $9000 this year is an effort to spread the cost over several years.
The increase to the fire department operating budget is in part due to a reorganization of where items are located in the budget. The officers’ salaries ($5200 in this year’s budget), previously located in the town’s administrative budget, are now shown in the fire department budget.
The increases in the operating budget are a $1200 increase to officers’ salaries, a $750 increase to mowing, and a $3000 increase to the firefighters’ stipends.
Some residents expressed concerns about spending additional money on firefighter stipends. Fire Chief Tim Pellerin told residents the stipends help cover gas for volunteers, who use their own vehicles to get to emergency scenes.
An amendment was proposed to reduce the fire department budget by about $10,000 by cutting officers’ salaries, stipends and mowing. Several residents and fire department members argued in favor of the officers’ salaries, saying that state and federal regulations require an enormous about of administrative work outside of actually fighting fires and training.
The amendment failed, and was replaced by an amendment to reduce to the fire department operating budget by $4,800. This would cut the increase to firefighters’ stipends from $3000 to $1000, and cut the increase to officers’ salaries from $1200 to $400.
The stipends are given to members of the department based on how often they respond to emergency scenes and attend trainings.
Those in favor of the amendment said most people are not receiving raises. With the overall budget going up this, residents felt any savings to taxes should be made.
Residents opposed to the amendment said the stipends are a relatively small amount compared to the overall budget, but send a message of town support to members of the department.
The second amendment also failed, and the operating budget passed as originally presented.
The roads budget is up nearly $8000 for maintenance and $55,000 for paving. With reductions to other areas of the roads budget, the overall roads budget is up $36,000 for a total of $150,000.
There is also a $20,000 increase to the plowing budget, to cover what town officials believe will be an increase in price of the new contract this year.
At the town meeting, selectmen said the increase returns the road maintenance budget to where it was three years ago. “We’ve been robbing the roads budget to pay for other things,” said Steve McCormick, chairman of the Whitefield Board of Selectmen.
Residents expressed concerns the $20,000 increase to the plowing budget would encourage bidders to raise the price when the town seeks a new contract this year. Selectmen said they do not expect this to be a problem and warned that if the town doesn’t budget enough, a special town meeting will likely need to be held once the contract is approved.
An amendment to reduce the plowing budget by $20,000 failed, and residents approved the budget as recommended by the selectmen.
Residents also debated an article to provide money to the Whitefield Cemetery Corporation. Last year, the town provided $5000 to the cemetery to help pay for mowing and other maintenance. This year, the selectmen recommended reducing that amount to $3000, and the budget committee recommended $1000. At town meeting, residents voted to provide $5000.
Voters approved an ordinance governing notices to build. The ordinance codifies the process for applications to build for many structures.
The ordinance does not fundamentally change the process of applying to build but formalizes the current system.
The ordinance requires that individuals proposing to build a new structure or planning any substantial modifications of an existing structure must submit a complete Notice to Build application to the town.
Before construction on the project can begin, the Notice to Build must be approved by the code enforcement officer or planning board depending on the specific project.
The intent of the ordinance is to help ensure that all new construction in Whitefield is brought to the town’s attention, so that projects violating state law or local ordinance will be found prior to the violations being committed, the selectmen said.
At the polls in the morning before town meeting, voters elected Lester Sheaffer to the Whitefield Board of Selectmen and David Boynton to road commissioner. Although no one submitted papers for two seats on the planning board, by write-in vote Jim Torbert and David Spicer were re-elected. Also by write-in vote, Malinda Caron was elected to serve on the RSU 12 school board.
