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Littleton Quarterly Budget Committee 8/26/26

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[music]
[music]
I'm going to bring the meeting to order.
It is 5:00.
But I do love them.
>> I I want to welcome everybody. Um, I
know that this is a hard day for many of
you to meet tonight. Troy went all the
way down to Conquered and back up here.
And
Troy, I'm sorry. [laughter]
>> And was it the first day of school today
or did the
>> No, was the teachers came Monday.
>> The students come next Monday.
>> Oh, okay. I was worried that it was
>> people.
>> Oh, good. Um but and then the the select
board had a very long meeting on Monday.
So it's Thank you for coming everyone.
[laughter]
So um first of all um we're going to
have some a few introductions. We have a
few new faces around the table. I'll
turn it over to Carrie for if she wants
to um go ahead and introduce those
people.
>> Yeah. So, we just added Dave Harkas over
here to the select board. He's been to
two meetings, one a work session and one
the full meeting on Monday. And uh yeah,
glad to have him. And in the corner over
there is Tom Godfrey. He is um just was
appointed to be on budget committee. Um
and he's a new resident that bought the
Beal House with his wife. Um comes with
a lot of um budgeting and financial
experience. So, welcome to both of them.
>> YEAH. WELL,
>> [applause]
>> I I WANT to say after um I spoke with
Tom and I shared all the the meeting
dates and the process and he still came
to the meeting on Monday to be appointed
[snorts]
a long time. I was like whoa. Travis,
would you like to introduce uh Marian
and Rose to us please?
>> This is Marian and this is Rose
[laughter]
>> and their position.
>> Our new superintendent, excuse me. and
Ros.
>> Yes. Welcome.
>> Thank you.
[applause]
>> Rosa, I just a question. Rosa, are you a
descendant of Dr. Boji who used to have
a office on Pleasant Street?
>> I don't think so. No.
>> Okay.
>> Do you say Boji or Bo?
>> It's Bogey.
>> Bogey. Okay.
>> Well, there's a difference. [laughter]
>> Okay. and the rest of us will quickly
introduce ourselves because
you're new to us and we're new to you.
So, um I'm Diane Cummings. I'm the chair
of the budget committee.
>> I'm Dan Sterns and I'm vice chair.
>> Lauren
>> Lauren Murier, school board,
>> Bill budget committee.
>> Paul Leman, vice chair [clears throat]
board. Steve Kelly, budget committee.
>> Carrie Harrington, chair of the select
board.
>> Troy Brown, town manager.
I'm Travis Howard, school board chair
this year.
>> Maybe Taylor
>> Taylor Caswell select board new guy.
>> John Goodrich, budget committee.
>> And I'm representative Calvin Buller.
I'm one of the representatives for the
Grafton one district, although I also
serve on the Littleton Planning Board.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> And we have um Chief Smith and Lori B.
How do both
>> lots of it
>> lots of it every season I have to learn
how to say it again. [clears throat] So
um finance manager at the um for the
town and deal
>> director of operations and technology
for the school.
>> Right. Thank you. And Vicki um over
there she keeps everything running
smoothly. Thank you.
>> So um again thank you for coming and we
have a a big agenda. There's a lot of
detail in a lot of these things. Um I've
asked um people to
share some of their goals and
collaborative efforts that are being
planned. And then we have some
legislation that was recently passed
that have could have and will have uh
major effects on our upcoming budgets.
Um so I encourage discussion but if you
would direct your um let me know if you
would like to speak and I will um allow
that just so there's some order here and
people aren't talking over each other.
Um so first on the agenda is Marian um
with some of her goals. Thank you. Yes.
And she has a handout, too.
>> And um so I thought I'd write them down
so that you can take a look as well. Um
I want to preface this by this is my
13th day of this school year. So so bear
with me here. Um so uh the projects that
I've been actually charged with by the
board uh the first one's is the it's a
hefty one and that is to um
look into shared services district
collaboration consolidation any kind of
efficiency kind of study. So um
I started that just a little bit. Um
Kelvin I don't know if you're aware of
Senate Bill 574.
That's the commission to examine
efficiency structures of school
districts. So that hasn't that
commission hasn't started yet. They've
formed but they haven't started and I
hope to um work a little bit with them
and not be on the commission. The
superintendent and quorum is on that
commission but um if [clears throat]
they're doing some analysis of cost per
people and uh any kind of efficiencies
I'd like to jump in and see that. But um
[clears throat] so things I'm thinking
about doing is the historical and pro
projected enrollment trends um the
financial profiles the cost per pupil
etc. um academic and extracurricular
program offerings transportation and
facility organization
and looking at existed existing
agreements like the CTE that we have
with White Mountains and region 3. Um,
so those are the kinds of things that I
I'm going to start digging into and I
think it's going to start small and then
get really big. So, um, and I'll have a
lot of people working with me, a lot of
stakeholders in there, but I hope to
start that in about a month. I really
need some I need to get my feet on the
ground here first. Um, and they the
board has all also tked me to to
evaluate the district's approach to
curriculum. So, um, I did look a PD plan
today and it's a little bit updated. So,
we're going to start working on that. We
want to see the structure of our very
cross district teams um, and how they're
structuring that.
Um, and I need to review and refresh the
job descriptions. They're all very, very
old and outdated. I started today with
um, admin assistance. I thought that
would be a lowlying fruit. Start with
that one. and um kind of work my way
through
um
what I need to do and what I have to
take ownership of according to the board
is board policies and boy that is a job
right Lauren Lauren's my partner we're
having fun um and um I have to make sure
that we're in compliance with all our
state and federal laws where things are
changing with the speed of light and uh
we just got to keep on top of that um in
the policies I chair and supervise the
admin team um and our next meeting going
to start talking about teacher
evaluation
and then how we're supporting them.
They're not new principles but they're
both new the principles that we have but
new to their jobs. Um Crystal has moved
up from Lakeway and she's now the
principal of high school and Mel Dave's
wife is the principal of Lakeway and she
was the assistant principal. It's a nice
seamless transition for everybody. Just
kind of give them a little support.
Um, some of my responsibilities are to
to really work with the federal grants.
We get quite a bit of money from the
federal grants and I'm very uh
experienced with writing all the federal
grants, but now we have Michelle who
writes the grants. So, I'm overseeing
that and giving her some uh help with
that. Um,
and I'm going to serve as a member on
the support staff negotiation team.
>> Hi, Greg.
>> And, um, of course, help shape shape
shape the next budget cycle. And the
other kind the other things that I have
on my plate is strategic planning. Um,
Steven did the mission and vision work
last year, which uh, included a lot of
community input and stakeholder uh,
work. So, um, that part's done. So now I
need to do um identify the pillars and
all the action steps that go with that
strategic plan. That's exciting work
that um and then I have to stay on top
of the current current legislation and
the impact the school law has has on how
the legislation has impact on school
law. It's out of control right now a
little bit. Um, Rose and I went to a
three-hour training on House Bill 1300,
which we'll talk about a little bit
later, and we are we know less now than
we did before,
is even the lawyers are saying we have
no idea what we're talking about. So,
it's and it's got a lot huge impact on
our
we'll get to that later. Um, do I have a
discussion on legislation? You can do
that later on agenda if you want. Yes.
Um, so are there any questions for
Marian at this point on the part that
she has shared about? I'm just checking
on Steve.
>> I'll make I'll make a comment. Um,
I'm glad to see Marian in this position.
I've known her from past school
experience over in St. John'sville. And
I know she's very capable, confident,
and I like some of the
uh, how do I say it?
uh synergistic thing she did in the late
meeting earlier and I think we need some
of that here as well.
Thank you. Thank you. Everybody's been
great. Real helpful. Great. Thanks.
>> Um on the job descriptions, um I dug up
the cost of education report and sent it
to you. I'm sorry. It's very ancient.
>> It's ancient, but the it listed some of
the things that you're addressing. and
partly the the job descriptions that for
some of the non-eing positions, it's
been over 10 years at that time that the
job descriptions had been reviewed. And
and one of the problems or issues of not
having current job descriptions is
definitely being able to evaluate
correctly and to also to know how the
organizational chart who reports to
whom. and so to be for more
efficiencies. So I'm really looking
forward to having that done. I mean that
was a long time ago really
>> and I mean that was a finding that Steve
and I had worked we had given up a
summer to work on this report and it's
well it's going to be done even though
it's like 10 years later it's going to
be done. So I'm I'm looking forward to
hearing about that.
Are any other questions from anybody on
that? So,
um,
do you have collaboration efforts being
considered in the north country? Is
there anything on the student or uh
opportunities level at this time coming
up?
>> Well, no, I haven't got you'll get to
that. I haven't gotten to that yet, but
uh our first North Country
Superintendent meeting is is coming up
next month. We we we meet monthly all 10
of us and that's where we start planning
the things together.
>> Okay.
>> Okay. Yeah. So, Greg, do you have any
questions?
>> I do not.
>> Okay.
>> We are doing one thing though. I was
supposed to hear
SA35 and 84 are going to collaborate on
the New Hampshire Fair funding project
presentation that's coming up September
28th. Um I will send you the flyers
though. It's about how New Hampshire
schools funded and and most specifically
will be 84 and 35. They will um address
our opinion. He's a great presentation.
So um make sure you come to that.
>> And and where is that going to be held?
>> At uh the cafeteria at not high school.
>> Okay. All right. So I'll get the
information out.
>> I was supposed to get a flyer at 3:00
today, but I'll make sure you get
>> Okay. All right.
like to continue.
>> You're done.
>> Okay. All right. Um capital planning. We
have Dale here. It's on your um on the
agenda, the capital improvement plans.
>> Yeah. Um,
as we obviously we're at the very um
beginning of a budget season, we're I
think the town is a little bit ahead of
where the school is um just because um
we get started a little bit earlier. Um
and using the capital improvement plan
is probably something that we want to um
keep our eye on. Last year, the capital
improvement plan was revised and and
presented at our October
uh quarterly meeting. Um and we had um
the school has completed some of those
2026 items. If Dale could explain what
those are.
>> Sure. We had four um that were on our
CIP for 26. Um, one was replacement
boilers and hot water uh tank at the old
days of Bronson or Littleton Academy um,
which has been completed. Uh, a new um,
gym floor um, for the high school um,
which uh, has been um, completed. Well,
they still have to put some thresholds
in, but um, lo and behold, most of it is
is already completed. Um we also had um
some safety issues with rooftop access
um which that was that has been
completed. Um so they added new um
uh you know ladders that meet safety
code um the rooftop access um now has
the straps so um anybody that uses them
has the harnesses to put on and so
forth. And then the last project that
was in our CIP um was uh new stage
lighting um that was approved by the
board and is scheduled to start uh the
day after Labor Day.
>> So those are the four items. They will
all be completed before the end of this
calendar year, not school year, but the
end of this calendar year.
So, I um will turn to Rose and Marian on
where the funding came um for those
projects just to explain. I was a little
stunned as you already have heard
[laughter]
about the funding on those because I had
assumed it was um all going to come out
of the 500,000 that was um set up in a
capital reserve fund um on the March
ballot. But a lot of it or some of it
came out of the
funding from the just the regular school
budget because there was some money that
hadn't been didn't need to be assigned
to something at that point. Can you
explain
and share that with us, please?
>> Sure.
>> I'm stumbling all over that. [laughter]
>> You said it very well. Um, so yes, some
of the end of year projects came out of
fiscal year 26 funds because there was a
fund there was money that was unspent
that had been budgeted. Um, so it got
reallocated to address the facilities
issues and to pay for some of those
projects and then some of the money was
taken out of the trust fund um, capital
reserve funds um, to pay for them.
Yeah.
>> John, did you I got a couple of
questions.
>> Yes, please. Yeah.
>> So, Dale, first time on the gym floor.
>> Someone told me that was only 8 years
old. Is that true?
>> No.
>> 1992 was the last time.
>> That makes that makes a lot better
sense. All right. Thank you.
>> That was before my time, but
I think 25 years or so is kind of a
typical thing for those floors. 40 is
good, but we had three unexpected I mean
unexpected
um sanding of the gym floor because of
flooding. [clears throat] We had a
sprinkler back in 2010.
>> Okay.
>> Um and then a um heating coil in 2015
that caused the gym to flood and have to
have
>> um some boards replaced but to be sanded
down, but it should be sanded down every
10 years um and repainted um and you get
three sands basically with a new floor.
>> Okay. Thank you. You're welcome.
>> Next question is about the lighting. How
did that get defined as critical?
>> Um I can share pictures with you. Um we
had a company come in um to give us a uh
overview of what we had. Um there are uh
extension cords up there. First off,
they're they're old H hallogen bulbs, so
they get really hot. Um there's some of
the cords that melted um that are in the
pictures. the rigging
that was done in the 70s we believe um
definitely does not meet code um and
some of the um threaded rods had started
to um warp and bend. Um so we presented
that to the facilities committee and
deemed that as an emergation
on the stage next year if we didn't take
care of it when we could take care of
it. and and then let's see my question.
It was about uh
uh unexpended funds and how we apply
them. And I know I know Troy and the
select board have heard me go through
this rant about it that we
talk about budgets that are 3 to 5%
increase. Yet when we add those in and
they're unbudgeted, we end up having
taxpayer increases of we'll say just in
the last few years 7 to 12%. just in
round numbers. And so I'm on a campaign
to make sure that we don't um
outspend because we we take from these
unexpended fund budgets so much that we
end up paying more than what we actually
budget in the operating costs. And so
that that's that's kind of my shot
across the bow. I just I just think we
are expending at a greater rate than
taxpayers can really expect to afford
over time. So I think it's really
important to concentrate on that.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Well, I had a learning um
lesson [clears throat] this this week on
uh the only thing I I was concerned
about is that some of these projects are
major projects and yet the taxpayer
doesn't have an opportunity to chime in
because there isn't a um a public
hearing so to speak or a public notice.
And that was a little upsetting to me
because um well just because I think the
taxpayer is funding this and they should
have an opportunity to talk about it. So
um so I don't know if this is going to
be I know with some of the the new bills
that have been passed this is going to
really upset the apple carton. Um you'll
probably understand a little bit more
later on as we talk about those things.
I also can um after reading the June
15th me minutes of the school board, I
could hear the the deep concern um
through the the great minutes that
Shaina takes about um
use it or lose it um and how that
affects the the school. So, this is the
first time probably in
ever [clears throat and laughter] that
I've been on the budget committee that
funds are not being returned to offset
taxes in October um because all of the
funding is being um
applied to other things. So, uh Bros,
you had a handout. Is that part of the I
I haven't had a chance to look that. Is
that the same? Did you want to talk to
any of that?
>> Just the use of appropriations emails.
Um I have
>> Yeah. With what you just said about
balance um with the new law, you're not
allowed to contain them.
>> Yeah. And I I know that's why I said
we're going to understand that better,
but I could hear that con deep concern
through the June 15th uh minutes. Um,
and I could see things being switched
around a little bit because
those bills go into effect or have gone
into effect I believe July 1st, right?
>> A little different.
>> A little different on some of those.
>> So, um, when we get to that, I think
people will will basically um be
surprised at some of the changes that
are coming our way. So, John I know I
remember. So year over year, how did we
come out
uh in the fiscal year we just finished
for the school percentage change from
one year to the next?
>> Do you know or are you ready to talk
about that or we can I can wait on this?
But
>> I did not give a percentage and I know
you know. So I
>> I do have the unassigned fund balance
amount this year from what was last
year, but I don't
>> I think I'm interested in how much
that's advanced over the last year. I'm
looking for reasonability in terms of
increases. So
>> that's that's what I'm driving to.
>> Anybody else have any any questions?
Okay. So, that was the capital
improvement plan and I'm looking forward
to discussing um that with the town at
the next meeting of where we are with
the 2026. Um it was a little too late in
asking Troy um for that information. Um
so perhaps at the next um next meeting
that we have.
[clears throat]
>> Yeah, we'll do next meeting those. Yeah.
Yeah.
>> I had a couple I mean as far as the CIP
plan
on the books right now
for you know for implementation in 2026.
This is a plan
by day. Um, as a recap, we have plans
for 2026
replacement of our,
>> you know, that article failed, so that
$1.9 million
uh did not get approved. Um, we had
replacement of the Chevy truck for the
parks and recck department at $80,000,
which was cut by the deferred, I guess,
is a better way of saying.
>> Yeah. Um, so that never even made it to
the warning. And we had um next item
>> was a truck scale for the transfer
station that did not make it uh to the
warrant.
>> And so I think the only other warrant
article was the purchase of our plow
truck. And
>> can you open it?
>> And we have actually secured it. We got
very lucky. We found one that met our
specs. It's our color and it was sitting
on a lot
>> and we found it first and we were able
to secure it.
>> Otherwise, you know, we wouldn't have a
new truck in service for this season.
>> Yeah. So, the reason why I'm asking
about, you know, just reviewing the CIP,
um, we worked really hard on it in the
last couple years. Well, I didn't
personally, but everyone else did. And
um
we've you know from experience we can we
can look at some like lakeway and we can
look at um the wastewater treatment
plant. we can look at a lot of different
the pool um deferred maintenance it just
gets pushed up and if we don't keep it
on the forefront and we go through this
C cip plan um there should be um an
understanding why something's being
deferred or some or they're being
switched around. So I think at a at a
quarterly meeting it's basically a good
thing to go through that plan to see
what we've done or what we haven't done
and when it when it'll happen. It'll
[snorts] also be discussed um when the
budget committee meets with the school
and and with the town. But uh so I that
was the reason why I wanted to just kind
of look at some of the the status of the
2026 items. We want to be on top of
maintenance and not defer maintenance.
Um we want to get in that stride uh
again. And I think the school is doing
it, the town is doing it. Um some some
of the projects are being done the hard
way, you know, like at the swimming
pool. So um anyways, so that was the
reason for that question. So,
I think we're ready for the town on the
policy review and updates. Carrie? Yes.
All right. We're going to talk about
policies. So, we've been tasked this
board um the last year or so. We've been
working through all of our policies and
updating and reviewing them, some edits,
and um we have 10 policies. Um I didn't
bring a copy of every policy. with how
to do a paper, but you will find on the
town of Littleton website if you look
under department town manager policies
there is a link for every PDF. So you
can look at each of them individually
all shows the date when we have edited
and reviewed them. So um yeah so the 10
policies are I'm going to name them and
then I'm just going to talk about three
of them that pertain to the budget
committee. Some of them are not
something but that you know of interest
but we have a property equalization
standard policy disposal of town
property fund balance policy investment
um purchase policy timely renewal of
pilot policy welfare guidelines policy
conflict of interest select board agenda
and meeting procedure and budget
development policy. So we reviewed seven
out of 10 of these. We did a lot of them
in May and June and um we have we did um
Monday we did our purchase policy. So
this fall and winter we just have three
left. Conflict of interest, welfare, and
the pilot removal pilot. Um so the three
policies that I think make most sense to
go into here, I kind of like to give a
overall overview of them is the property
property equalization standard policy.
So this was adopted in January 2025. It
came to be after when our equalization
rate rate dropped to like 52%. After CO
and house prices were going up and it
really messed us up to have a
equalization rate drop that low. Um it
was right when Troy kind of was coming
in and I was new on the board and it was
not good and it was you know recommended
we need to keep a better eye on this and
pay attention to this which we all
agreed. So we had made a policy. This
policy is a benchmark policy. would
basically have a low and a high. So if
we get to as low as 87.5%
for an equalization rate or as high as
110% it will kick in the need to
potentially do a rebell off season
because even though we do the
revaluations every 5 years um we can do
them anytime like so
>> a digital rebell
>> yeah we could do we could have done it
we didn't know I mean after co in 2021
everybody dropped so we weren't like the
only town that had 52%. There were some
that went even lower. I looked at all
the all the towns in the state, but very
few towns kept up on it or they happened
to have a reval year [snorts] that fell
in the right, you know, because every,
you know, 5 years, but so basically this
is a policy that we will review every
year. It probably won't change too much,
but it's to a good reminder that we are
going to keep our eyes on the prize and
if it starts slinking down low, we're
going to make a move. Right now, we're
at 98%. I think our our equalization
rate give [clears throat] or take. Yeah.
So, that one's pretty self-explanatory,
but I thought that would be interesting
to you. The next one is fund balance
policy. Um, so we are unassigned fund
balance. So, the DRA, they set a 5% they
suggest a 5% minimum for your unassigned
fund balance, but the New Hampshire
government finance association suggests
an 8% minimum. Um so we um this first
polic this policy was adopted first of
all in 2011. We reviewed it in 2025 with
Troy and then we just reviewed it again
in May in 2026 with the new guides set
for date. But um we are going to as a
policy try to get to 8% that we want
that to be our minimum. We are not
there. Um Troy's explained to us and and
explaining to you that it's going to
take a few years and we're going to put
some due diligence into it, but we'd
like to get to that 8% because it's just
why? Because it's it's great for
stability and it provides protection if
we have emergency events or revenue
shortfalls or economic crises, which
maybe we're about to go in, but and
[laughter] we also we want to preserve
the town's credit rating and for bonds
and all that stuff. So, we want to get
8%. It's going to take a while. What we
did in this policy as well is once we
get to this 8% and then we have surplus
past 8% we put in a um hierarchy of how
we will use those surplus funds if we
want to and they are not buying down the
tax rate. That's the very last one. Um,
in the past we bought down the t my very
first year on the board we bought down
the tax rate and that can be really um
>> immediately it's great but it can have
the repercussions that you do not have
enough money in your your rainy day
savings account when you have an
emergency.
>> It also digs a hole
>> and it digs a hole. So the the way that
we would use a surplus of funds past 8%
one would be for an emer emergency
appropriations. Two would be to fund
capital reserve funds and expendable
trust funds. The third would be
non-recurring expenditures and the very
fourth would be to buy down the tax
rate. So it's to encourage us not to go
there. Um and we'd have quite have quite
a bit surplus and that's not going to be
for a few years. So the expectation is
that we're not going to be buying that
down the tax rate um until we get to
this 8%. Um, so that's policy. And this
next one is probably the most um kind of
detailed and pertains most to the budget
committee. It's the budget development
and procedures policy. It was adopted in
2021 and then we reviewed it in May
2026.
It's a six- page um policy. It starts
with definitions and then kind of goes
into the definitions of what the
advisory budget committee is, what our
role is, and then it kind of moves into
chronological. It's it it makes the most
sense to do it in a chronological um
layout which it is that way and that's
the way I'm going to present it. Um
basically we are starting budget season
right here. We are but we um it starts
really in the summer by June 30th. The
select fork is tasked every year with
reviewing this policy. We've done that.
We're also tasked with um posting it uh
sharing it with budget committee posting
it on the website which it has been. We
established a budget guideline which we
did three to 5%. We have voted um
everyone but Dave was part of that vote
to budget guideline of three to 5%. Um
we also have to come up with a cola by
June 30th too and we went for a non-UN
cola of 3.5%.
Um so these will happen every year
before June 30th. The next benchmark
date is um uh let's see budget forms. So
budget forms are provided to the
department heads um from Lori and Troy
and um they get those in mid July. Um
their for their budgets are due
September 1st which is in a week. So
they're scrambling and the department
head has getting these budgets ready to
bring into Lori and to get to Troy. Um
let's see at this point warrant art
projected warrant articles are also
being discussed and and brought forward
if they're
concrete then the town manager was going
to comes in reviews these budgets then
they're going to move on to the select
board and that is around um 9:25 so end
of September we want them in our hands
so we can see them and we want to have
at minimum two work sessions or public
meetings to be able to discuss them have
a
So, it's a little bit different than
it's been in the past. The dates, the
edits were with the dates and hello,
Senator Roar. Hi.
>> Um, I'm talking about policies. Very
excited. And then
we'll review them and then be off to the
budget advisory committee. Um, the town
manager will get the budget to the
budget um committee by October 15th.
>> Busy day.
>> This is part of the policy. And the
budget committee um there was a lot of
conversation about this. We brought it
last time. The recommendation is that
the budget committee has worked with
everybody and come up with the
recommendations by 11:30. But what we
discussed and we all know is that that's
not completely going to work because our
petition warrant articles come in later
and this that and the other. But the
bulk of the budget we'd like to have the
recommendations. Um
and um then of course then the budget
hearing and all that stuff that'll be
according to state statute and RSAs. But
it's not
incredibly different. There were some
edits for sure in this one with the
dates with some ideas of getting us a
little bit more involved the select
board from the very get-go and making
sure I I love this policy because it
sets that tone by June 30th we're going
to have that budget guideline to him and
be you know tell everybody about it.
We're going to have that cola figured
out and we're going to start the budget
season like strong with some some
benchmarks. So um so that's that. These
are all on the website like I said and
they're all just PDF links which are all
updated with the newest edits and
everything. Um, so yeah, so I commend
Troy because the first couple year or
first year some of these had been looked
at for a while. They were adopted maybe
in 2012 but then hadn't really been like
officially reviewed and voted in. And
you know it's made our meetings maybe a
bit longer. Like we've had two or three
um policies at one at one meeting that
we've gone through. But it's really good
work and we have to do it. So I'm just
personally and I think I can say from
the board that we're really happy that
we're kind of getting into this
organization and doing these things on a
regular basis. It's going to make it
much easier to stay on top of it.
>> Well, I commend the the board and um and
Troy for creating these policies and
updating them. U I think that the budget
development and procedures policy reads
very well. There's been some revisions
on it since even I saw it the last time.
Um the other the other good point to
this is that in 10 years probably anyone
sitting at this table they're going to
be different faces right and this will
help smooth that transition from from
you know from now and uh in the future
years. The other um comment I wanted to
make was on the um the fund balance um
policy that that's really great as well
because and the reason why it's taken us
long to reach the 8% goal is because we
started with very little like 300,000
probably I don't know how many years ago
and we're we're still building it up and
building it up. So it's going to take
some time to reach the 8% goal. Um the
other policy that I think that you
didn't speak to is the property um no
not the equalization the um
for the pilot agreements.
>> We have not and the reason why they
bring that one in is we have not we're
we're doing that at like one of our next
meetings. We have three left. We have
the conflict of interest, the welfare
guideline and time renewal pilot. But I
read the one from last year um and maybe
you did too and it says trying you know
uh the policy is to review 18 months
before the pilot is up to start
reviewing and we are aware that we are
behind in that because it's just
>> catching up but um we do have some um
and he's going to bring it up I think
during his presentation about working
with on some of the pilots that we have
work on.
>> Perfect. But we'll review that I
probably the next meeting or the one
after and then we'll also bring that up
and see if that still makes sense in the
late two months or
>> Yeah, I I thought that it's not even
completed yet and it already sounds a
lot better than the process that we've
had in the past. So I thought that's
great. So any questions?
>> What process was that?
>> Yeah, exactly. What process? I don't
think we have one.
>> So So are there any questions? Um
>> we did the board did establish a pilot
committee.
>> Yes.
>> So we got a couple department heads,
town manager, a couple appointed
selectmen
>> and um yeah, it's a it's a high priority
item right now to uh
>> to to sit down with the primary um
entity right now is to meet with the
hospital because that's your big pilot
right now that's not resolved,
>> right? [clears throat] and and it has a
great impact on our revenues. If we
don't have our ducks in order on these
um it really impacts us. We we've seen a
loss in revenue because we didn't have
our ducks in order um with the with the
dam recently. I think we lost almost
600,000 in revenue because we didn't
have it um in process when we should
have. So, good work. I think this is
great. Um appreciate it. And probably
Diane, it's worth saying that it wasn't
really
>> Troy or many of the current select
members. It was a it was an inheritance
of past problems to to get it to that
point. So
>> yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> And it was equalization rate really
messed up that
>> two things. Those two things really
messed us up. Yeah.
>> It would have been a different scenario
if you
>> had a 90% equalization rate.
>> Yeah.
You had three major curve balls when I
walked through the door. I know.
>> Which still they aren't all resolved,
>> but you used way too much of your fund
balance to just directly reduce your tax
rate.
>> Okay.
>> And um you didn't keep the equalization
ratio up there, right, which hurt you
when with all your utility assessments.
And and what I've learned,
>> uh it's actually used when they file for
abatements. It's not just the utilities,
but um all of your big box stores when
when we go through an abatement process
with them, they use that equalization
ratio
um as in their own defense. And if it's
really low, you're you're standing there
as a town hard, very difficult to defend
your your value.
>> Yeah.
>> Um so that's critical. We got to keep
our eyes on that equalization. And
that's why we we're going to review that
policy every year and check where we're
at. Um and then the third one, of
course, the the hydroelectric dam and
just pilots in general, not staying on
top of that. So, three big things.
>> And Troy, I'm glad you're on those. I I
see a big difference in how they were
handled before. So,
>> yeah.
>> Thank you.
>> He's big on policies
>> and I like him, too. Actually, I was
just joking when I thought said how
these going to be boring. I think
they're kind of interesting.
>> They're kind of fun. They're kind of
fun. Yeah. I like
>> So, um updates on projects and grants.
Troy, do you want to address those?
>> All right. Sure. So, you done?
>> I'm done. Pass around. Um,
did I keep that?
Um,
so I know a lot of you have been
following us and this might be
repetitive, but it's just a good
opportunity to refresh um what we're
doing and some of this stuff may be due
to trying to set the tone going into the
budget season. Um the fee schedule is
been something that we've been trying to
address and as you know last year we
tackled the fire department. We did a
massive overhaul created all kinds of
new fees for the fire department and at
the um and all the fees associated with
the transfer station. This was solid
waste. That was in 204
I'm sorry 25. And then this year we just
finished um all of our what I call our
administrative fees which might be you
know the town office simple things like
getting a document notorized what you
pay for photo copies all of our um land
use type fees for applications.
Um so we we finished that. the last
thing that we have um and it's tough
when we start getting in this time of
the year um to to keep the momentum
going and not you know get just trapped
in the budget review process but it it
happens. But the next real big revenue
source that we need to to tackle is our
I call the parking enforcement um law
enforcement. So all these, you know,
fees that we have for people that park
overnight in our parking lots, any
passes, parking on a street, whether
it's 25 cents for an hour or should it
be a dollar and and I anticipate that
that will be probably um one of the, you
know, the transfer station was a pretty
healthy discussion. Mhm.
>> Um I expect that this last um chunk that
we have to do will will be a lot of
community and business engagement. So
we'll just take it slow, make sure we're
communicating with everyone, have plenty
of public opportunity for comment, and
uh the outcome, I'm sure, will be better
than where we're at right now today. So
budget development, no sense going there
other than I just want to stress that
the 3 to 5% is guidance. So it's set the
tone. The [laughter] department heads
department heads know, the town manager
knows. Um [clears throat] but it that's
a very aggressive number. So, and
remember as we're going to be talking
about this and if we miss guidance, um,
we're talking about the guidance was 3
to 5% of the operating budget gross
gross proposed operating budget and all
of the warrant articles with a tax
impact.
>> That's really amazing. adding up all
those special warrant articles, select
board sponsored, not not petition or any
of that, but select board sponsored
articles that the tax impact and the
operating budget.
>> Um, we're trying to come in 3 to 5% over
last year's comparison of the same
factors
pretty I don't know if it's possible,
but we'll see.
Um but then just some things that are
going on. Riverfront Commons project
which everyone's been hearing about a
lot right and um for many years we are
getting very very close to
actually having things finalized so that
we can have construction start.
>> Nice.
>> We've gone out to bid. We've selected
our contractor. All bids came in over
budget,
but the low bidding contractor was uh
we've been able to work with that
contractor and been able to remove some
of the work uh that was proposed and
we've got it down to a point where we
believe uh the project's fundable. And
now we're just working with um some of
the different grant funding sources and
getting extensions and getting approvals
for um the scope reduction cuz these
funders when they said, "Yeah, we're
going to award this. This is a great
project." And way back, you know, six,
seven years ago, the project that was
proposed, the scope of work looks a lot
different today. And so these funding
agencies need to say, "Okay, we're still
on board and we still support this
project and we're still going to commit
the funds that we originally did." And
there's a process for that. It's at the
state level and in some cases at the
federal level.
>> Um so
optimistic, maybe we put a shovel in the
ground this fall. Worst case scenario,
it's in the spring.
>> Um we all know the town pool closure. Um
we had um Riley came to me and she was
struggling with uh filtering the water,
making sure that it was a safe, you
know, safe conditions and there was just
no way consulting with the state and
from what her reports um we just had to
make the decision that we could not open
that pool. It's just it's just too
unsafe. And uh we quickly were able to
work with the rec commission and luckily
we had made some changes to our warrant
articles last year at town meeting and
we're quickly able to access those
funds. Justin Samson's done a
unbelievable um turnaround time. They've
done an assessment of that pool. That
report will be out right now. Stamp
draft is still tweaking it a little bit.
I know that it's been out there with the
reccomission. Um but I will post on the
website for committee and everything
once they remove that stamp draft so
that we know exactly we have but as the
newspapers reported it's the big picture
you know to renovate everything we've
got right now address all the concerns
is $2 million
and the reccomission has appointed a
subcommittee and they'll take that
report and then they'll probably try to
figure out a way on how they can phase
these uh the scheduling of different
implementations.
So hopefully
um
bond sale. So we as you know we've we
had our emergency uh town meeting back
in December and approved the $2.5
million bond for the wastewater
treatment um facility. Um and and so we
were just doing the refinancing that
bond.
Lori did a lot of work uh putting
together an RFP going out to private
sector banks and the results came back
uh just not acceptable. The interest
rates were just too high in my opinion
and we decided that we would um reject
those proposals and and try to jump on
board with the municipal bond bank, the
New Hampshire municipal bond bank. They
had their July sale. So through that
process, we um we were getting good
rates. We learned that we could take
some of our previous bonds that were
issued and wrapped them into this one
bond sale. But anyhow, the outcome was
that we were able to secure a 3.17%
interest rate on a 10-year bond. Um, it
resulted in $40,000 in savings for the
two previous bonds, which was that
Dell's DAM project and the it was a warn
article for miscellaneous colors
replacement. So, that worked out really
good. And I I really need to thank Lori
because I didn't do anything. Lori,
she worked her butt off for the last 4
months. Uh it's an incredible amount of
work to underwrite these bonds. The the
amount of material financial reporting
and and everything they demand
[clears throat] and we went through that
process the first time and then only
rejected everything and then had to go
through it again. [laughter]
Um so but anyway, we secured a really
good bond. So, just so everyone's aware,
in March we also approved another bond
for the wastewater treatment plant, but
we didn't we don't need that money at
this point in time. We're still working
with um the federal uh or state clean
water, you know, funds, other types of
funding. Um we're trying to really tap
into those first before we have to go
and bond the difference. So that's why
if someone asks you whatever happened to
that bond we approved in March that one
we don't need access to that those funds
right yet. We're trying to secure other
ways of getting that money.
Uh construction projects obviously
you've seen the work going on on um
paving our roads and sidewalks. Uh any
any work that's not completed right now
you live on a road or nearby you travel
on. You're kind of wondering what
happened. you came out, tore up the
road, put down one layer of pavement,
you took off. Um, that's intentional.
That's the way we do certain roads.
They'll go in and and uh do all the road
prep, do a, you know, a milling or a
deep reclaim process where we can repack
the road, reshape it, and they'll put a
binder down and, um, you allow that to
settle, and they'll be coming back like
in September to finish everything up. So
pretty excited about getting those
projects.
>> It's looking good.
>> What's done already is looking good. You
can see can see it. Yeah.
>> Yeah, it's good. And on a side note,
it's not on my notes, but we did engage
uh contractually with uh North Country
Council, which is our planning
commission, and they've been out there
all summer um doing assessment of all of
our roads, and we actually ended up
doing a contract separately for an
assessment of our pedestrian
infrastructure. So, they've been out
there walking them, taking photographs
of the conditions, and they have
software that is hopefully going to help
us guide us on the high priority roads
and sidewalks and help us try to figure
out how to tackle the infrastructure
issues and rebuild.
Um,
Cottage Street sidewalks looking great.
We're almost there. Concrete's poured.
You know, they'll be taking the plastic
off, I think, this week. And um you
know, you're going to see things happen
really quick now cuz the granite curvies
in the the uh the the concrete's poured.
So the next step will be just doing the
asphalt driveway aprons. They'll be
loaning in between the sidewalk and the
granite curving and putting in trees and
the lamp post and it's going to come
together real quick.
>> Nice.
>> Dallas Dam. That's kind of quiet unless
you drive by there. You don't I don't
think anyone knows that's going on. Um
but that's another project that's been
delayed and finally um we were able to
do it this year and that's basically a
rebuild of that dam and the whole
purpose of that was to create more
capacity for flooding conditions. So,
um, they had to take, uh, the head walls
of of the dam and they basically pushed
them back, which required a new bridge,
new structural supports. Um, but the
whole purpose is if we get a surge from
a 100redyear flood, now that dam has the
capacity to handle that surge. John
>> Troy just on on that man that the del
the surface area of the water down there
has shrunk considerably over time with
sedimentation filling that pond and it
comes from you know it comes from
upstream. Yeah. And I don't know if
there's, and I know this is a touchy
subject with anybody dealing with water
and environmental conditions, but it
would really help if that could be
dreadsh.
I don't know if that's a
a doable thing or not. I guess you you
know it would be an environmental
permitting process, dredging fill. Um
I I would have to look into it. Y
it's been done. Dodge C contracting did
it I don't know 30 years ago and he went
he cleaned it all out it all away time.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> I I I worry rules are
[laughter]
not that's not in the CIP plan. So talk
to us seven years from now.
>> Fair enough. Fair enough. I got to deal
with the river man sliding into the
river. [laughter]
No, I'm just kidding. Um I don't know.
That's I'll let Eric know that. And
yeah, it's just a good good point.
Um
and the wastewater treatment plant. Boy,
I tell you, we're we are so close to
having the plant in the best working
condition that it's been in many many
years. And as we started down this path,
we we started this with a plan to
replace both the clarifiers.
So all the money that we had,
everything, all the effort was that that
was the weakest point um that we could
address in your treatment plant. And
once we started that project, that's
when we lost the dewatering um
equipment, which is the backbone of the
whole treatment process. that was not
planned and that was unexpected. Um so
we you know we're we're I think sometime
here in midepptember
uh the second clarifier will be will be
both clarifiers will be operational
100%. Now just so you know those were a
rebuild. So their expected life their
life expectancy is about 8 years. So,
it's just a rebuild by us time um until
we go into that new whole plant redesign
rebuild. Those areas where the
clarifiers are now will remain, but the
clarifiers will be moved to a different
location. So, um it's just important for
people to understand that. And what's
going to happen is, you know, like you
said, 8 10 years from now, people are
going to say, "I thought we replace
those cows." But it's a temporary thing.
Um the dewwatering equipment we So,
currently, right now, what's going on,
we have a rented piece of equipment
that's costing us, I think, $15,000
a month, maybe. Um until the new piece
of equipment comes in, that's expected
to come in sometime January 27th.
and um you know the clarifiers working,
the new dewatering equipment installed,
uh we're going to be operating really
good.
So, we're in a point now where the
engineers have been troubleshooting all
this. They can re get back on board with
their design. We'll be going out to bid
um pretty soon on, you know, like the
first phase of rebuilding that treatment
plant. So,
And I, you know, at some point in time,
I know the budget committee wants to get
down there. You see stuff. Um, I know
the select board wants to get down there
and Eric wants to get everyone down
there. He just wants to get it to a
certain point. Um, so it's safe and
peaceful.
>> We usually, [clears throat and cough]
just for everyone's um, information, we
usually visit all of our different like
the fire stations, police, well, we
haven't gone into the police station,
but the parks and wreck and and we've
been to some schools and over the years
we have not been there. That's one
place. Yeah.
>> Yeah. We've done a lot of work just
basic maintenance that we've sort of got
a new crew. Um H2O um we've had a change
in the whole staff. Uh the two people
that are assigned to that facility right
now are doing a tremendous job. So
Eric's on. The big thing is [sighs]
I think for the first time we have new
personnel and Eric is constantly um you
know at least three times a week down
there with the personnel monitoring
stuff addressing issues. The
communications excellent. So
>> John
>> Troy are we getting them are we getting
them proper licenses because that's a
treatment plant for the water going back
to the roof.
>> Yeah. So the the two the two new
personnel which these are contracted
through the company 20 uh they have I
understand they have higher
certifications
than we previously had.
>> Eric I've asked Eric and he's on board
with it and he is now
>> he's trying to get his license.
>> Great. Great.
>> Does Eric get to sleep this summer
because there's so many projects going
on [laughter]
>> and he has a new baby.
>> He works very hard.
Um, and just the last thing on on the
second page, I don't want to forget it
because this will be one of those things
that will come up, but all all that's
been going on silently with grant
funding, uh, we've been doing a full
assessment of our storm water collection
system. So, all these storm water drains
in your street and analyzing, you know,
when once we collect the water, um,
where does it go to the final outfall?
does it is a crosscontamination getting
into our sewer treatment plant because
we don't want that water in the
treatment plant. And um so that that
assessment has been completed. There'll
be a report out pretty soon that will
identify the high um the areas that we
need to address to try to um improve the
collection system and um you know stop
any um infiltration into our sewer
treatment plant. Right.
and grants. I the staff just uh continue
to work hard on on grants. It's it's
really I've never worked in the
community that received so much grant
funding and it all starts with the
department heads initiative. Um we have
been awarded $68,000 to replace a
culprit on Cell Street. This was
something that was planned. It was going
to be paid for 100% with taxpayer money.
The same story for Bronson Street
culprit replacement, $150,000.
We just we just we were denied um the
Manshill culprit replacement. I know you
probably saw our warrant article 3 years
ago for this and eventually uh we were
going through the process. We were
notified, we were denied.
uh we pushed back and asked for some
recalculation and you know try to argue
that the the guidelines that the
position was that the guidelines changed
and that we no longer were eligible but
by pushing back asking for
reconsideration restating our case it
was overturned and so we just recently
got we're at $1.4 4 million. I mean, how
would you like to pay for that in taxes?
>> So, you don't have to pay for it.
>> It's the final. Yeah.
>> It's good to complain sometimes.
[clears throat]
>> Um,
and as of right now, the the assessment
of the Middle Street slope is,
I guess, about 9% done. I haven't seen
the final report. Um, but I understand
that whatever work has been done in the
assessment part of it, we've been able
to increase FEMA's commitment from a
very low amount of, I don't know, it's
like $25,000, something very low, and
they're up to like $450 now. So, um,
that's just an unfortunate situation. By
the time the report comes out, I know
we're going to be looking at $2 million
of cost, guaranteed.
Uh the the fire department did receive
$150,000
for their integrated health um program,
mobile health program.
>> And I think the board just away just
accepted that grant
>> week ago. [clears throat]
And right now we have pending uh a
$400,000 application for the police
department with a social worker and to
bring on a a par a full-time paramedic
to help support this mobile integrated
health um program.
This building right here, as we all
know, received $500,000 for CDBG
funding. That funding had to be applied
for by the town. Um, and we're just
finalizing the contract for that. And
the police department has a a request in
this is the same same uh thing above,
but um a different source of money for
social worker. Again, we're trying to
we we have, as we all know, we just have
so many issues. And if we could have
someone who's dedicated to trying to
provide assistance and work with people
for accessing all the different services
that might be available. Um I think it
would go a long ways in the community.
You see a big benefit. Um commercial
activity we have VI as you see VIP tires
and the service center being built brand
new.
>> Uh Maple Fields gas station. boy, that
building that old building came down
fast and and it's going to go up fast
because they claim they're going to be
open in operation before the end of the
year. I'm aware of uh another um project
that we're not able to disclose that
right now, but there is another project
that's going to be coming and uh the
casino work will be starting up as well.
Just really important the last thing
I'll let you go.
>> You have a question over there.
>> Question on casino. We have two people
from conquered here as well. So my
question is
Littleton whether you support it or not
and I'm personally not a supporter of it
but nonetheless we have it. Um what
um I know a certain portion of the of
the profits go back to who is my
question since Littleton host this and
it's charitable organizations
but how is that defined and is there any
chance for Littleton to
>> at least get some of the benefit of
hosting the thing
>> I yeah I talked to them actually so they
held a um
um a forum I guess um for nonprofits at
the Rox State and then I wrote to the
head one of the heads of the Grant State
Gaming to ask if the municipality could
apply and he said no need to apply you
guys are you'll get money every year
like they will just be giving a the
10day chunk that a nonprofit to the
municipality so I don't know what that
amount's going to be but it's
>> yeah those are general words we have to
see what it means I guess
>> well it means money. I just don't know
the amount of money, but we will. We
don't have to apply either. He says
every town they do that the municipality
gets I they're claiming they were saying
in the first year might be like at this
forum they said like 15 to who else was
there? Was it like 15 to 25? But then
they have some that people get 30 or 40
and beyond. So it just depends how busy
it is. And a bunch of nonprofits are
already putting their applications.
>> Oh, I'm sure.
>> And they want to pick Littleton um
nonprofits first. So
>> Okay. Thanks.
>> Yeah. Did you have anything? Either one
of you.
>> Okay.
>> I No, she's she's got it.
>> Good. She said it well.
>> I think I understand that 10 days are
also staggered throughout the year. So,
it's not like, you know, one one entity
loses out because, you know, maybe that
time in the calendar is not a good time.
I understand that they kind of spread it
around.
>> All I know is they definitely keep the
municipality in mind and make sure that
we get some chunk of the profits since
we're housing.
Who does any accounting or
>> I think charitable gaming at the state
at the state level the department
>> it's a very robust process to even get
accepted as a as a nonprofit cuz they
want to make sure there's no money going
back to you know making sure that where
it's going but to add on that the 30 or
$40,000 there are entities in the state
nonprofits that are getting six figure
checks.
>> Yeah. It's sometimes big. I mean it is
uh it it can result in a significant
windfall for some of these nonprofits
that are that are out there.
>> Okay. Thanks.
>> And the last thing is important um to
understand is our personnel because
you're
the things that are happening right now
with personnel in these these situations
uh a lot of times will prompt budget
committee questions as to why is this
over? Why didn't you spend all this
salary? Are we over budget? Um and it
all depends on the department. But um
the first and foremost the fire
department union uh which is an ask me
unit. They are in the process right now
of separating from that bargaining unit
and going off and establishing their own
or joining with another association. So
that will happen and they've been
focused on that um pretty much since
since March. So the election I think is
scheduled for September 1st and then
whatever legal process after that
they'll be if approved if it's approved
they will then be able to sit down with
us
negotiations.
But for vacancies, our full-time
wastewater technician, that's a
full-time position that is vacant
currently right now has been for the
last uh maybe two months.
[clears throat] So, when that's vacant,
Eric
Eric has to uh pick up some of the work.
Some of our engineering firm picks up
that workload as well. Um we have one
full-time police officer vacant right
now. We have a full-time firefighter on
medical leave that looks like that um
that maybe this may go on for a while
and the highway department has had an
employee on medical leave
probably right around April and it was
one of the um one of our management type
employees. So that that had a big impact
on on our um ability to um knock off a
lot of the um projects this summer. So,
but the staff has done a great job um
picking up the work, but that always
hurts when you when you're down a person
and there's, you know,
kind of like me when I don't have, you
know, this time of the year, we're just
working on budgets. Well, when they're
just working on plowing snow this summer
or they want to go on vacation and it's
their only opportunity to do road work
and you know that kind of stuff. I mean
down man it hurts. So, and just recently
it looks like our welfare director which
is a part-time position
[clears throat] uh is out of medical
leave and I'm not sure how long that is
going to be. And so between Vicki and
myself, we're um trying to fill that
void right now. And we're quickly
learning that
um we we probably ought to get pretty
serious about how, you know, a person
that we have in this town um that
administers that program. The workload
is incredible. And I think that if we
don't have a qualified person working
enough hours, we're just wasting our
money and giving it away to hotels and
and giving out assistance. This just,
you know, when people are in a in a
situation where they need assistance,
there's no warning. It just happens. to
show up at the town office and you know
someone needs to be able to be able to
stop what they're doing and work with
that person, deal with the temporary
situation, but then you need to manage
it, you know. Um, and that's a tough
thing to do in this environment because
there are no apartments. So once once
they're in temporary housing and there's
no shelters available, um it's it's a
lot of work. And um that's where that
whole social worker piece comes into the
hearing from the police department and
you're probably going to hear a lot
about the welfare director position.
And uh so the last thing is admin. So we
had two union contracts this year, the
fire department and our administration
support staff that we have not started
to sit down and talk with yet, but I'm
sure we'll be doing that soon.
Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Any
questions? Thanks for that. Excellent.
Back to you, Marian. So, okay. The
legislation. So, I think the one that
interests this week the most are Bill
1300 and House 564.
David and Calvin, if you can help me at
all through this, it would be much
appreciated. That's on page five.
So, um,
effective September 1st, House Bill
1300 mandates a valid question for the
November 26, 2026, and the November 2028
general elections. And the question is
going to ask voters to adopt a local
property tax cap and a 6% cap on SAU
central office administrative spending.
And the SAU cap is a different bill,
House Bill 564. We'll be talking about
those interchangeably.
Um
so
the tax cap formula is is written there.
It's a little bit um tricky. The DRRA
can give us guidance when they have the
information, but right now they're
thinking about a 4.65%
cap, right?
Um for the tax cap. Um
and that's all through the consumer
price index, all that formula. Um so the
adoption threshold is going to require
35ths, which is a majority vote, 60% of
all the ballots cast. And what's that
different? How that is different from
normal voting is that it's not yes, no.
It's the yes, the nos, and all the
blanks or ruined ballots. A lot of
people when they don't know how to vote,
they don't vote on that. They don't
check that thing. So, it's going to be
yes, no, and all of the other ballots.
So, it's a little bit different.
um to override the protocol. Um again,
they have to have 35 majority vote on
each appropriation.
So, that's a more actual stat. It's very
complicated.
Um so, then House Bill 564 is going to
require that all SAU
um budgets
adopt a separate budget by January 1st.
And this is going to be presented to the
board. And then it's also going to be
presented as a separate warrant article.
So it's going to have the the SA
district budget and SAP budget, two
different ones.
And so if that budget fails, it's going
to kind of be like a default budget.
It's what's called adjusted budget. Um
so and that will be the priority you're
adjusted for continuing contracts. So
that will take effect kind of like think
it's like a default budget. Yeah. Um but
this is that's going to exclude any pay
increases on positions even if
contractually bargains. So that's going
to be some work we need to do at the
board level to u make sure we have
language in our contracts that address
this.
Um
had a great time with that yesterday. Um
so then we're going to have a dedicated
public hearing just on the SAU budget at
the end of December.
Um, and then the fund balance, any
unsigned SAU general fund balances must
be returned to the to the school to the
town the end of the year.
So that's the SAU general fund balance,
not the district fund balance. Do they
differentiate that?
>> I don't think they differentiated that.
I think it was fun, notific. [cough]
So there is no difference between SAU
and
SAU office and SAU
>> district
>> district
>> for this the fund balance. That's what I
just had a question. Rose thought that
>> we have a 100page uh thing here.
>> Um Rose thought that it didn't
differentiate but I have it written down
when it did but
>> 16.
>> There's a lot to learn in other words on
this.
that she didn't.
>> Well, good question. We'll find that
out. Keep on looking.
>> Um,
so what's going to be tricky and we have
to educate everybody that all for all
the voters here is that it's going to be
misleading ballot language. you know,
it's going to affect um the uh education
of our kids. It's um it says that the
cap will not affect classroom
instruction and schoolbased services.
Well, if we have um an overage at the
SAU office that is an absolute
necessity, we'll be taking it from the
other the other budget for sure. Um
that's the reality of it. Um [cough]
but
it's just it's just misleading. Um
then the define central office. This is
a uh it's a little bit tricky about
which positions fall under the 6% cap. I
think that we have a really good
understanding of what falls under this
this um central office cap. Uh like for
example Dale's position, half of it
falls in and half is out. So um the IT
stuff is
out and the facility stuff is in. Just
the opposite. I think the opposite is um
so we have several positions that we're
going to have to um take a look at.
Special ed is out. That's a huge
expense. That's not going to be in the
central office. Um,
so we do have collective bargaining
coming up in this fall. So we need to do
some [cough] work about [clears throat]
uh delaying the wage proposals until
after they don't know if this November
vote is going to pass or not in this in
this.
>> So they'll have a a late negotiation on
on this. We can do we can do um quite a
bit of the work up front and um
we'll see we'll have some automatic
automatic reopening language. So this is
the support staff so it's not going to
be as as um impactful if it was the
professional staff.
>> John, [clears throat] did you have a
question?
>> Yeah, just a quick one there. Thanks.
You're um so these new ground rules,
let's call them for budgeting.
Uh what is your aside from uh aside from
collective bargaining agreements, what
is your biggest risk factor in budgeting
do you think? Have you got a sense of
that yet?
>> Staffing I mean
>> when you have to depending on what that
4.6% cap looks like for the whole for
the district budget. Um
those are cost drivers, right?
>> Yeah. So,
>> so I I was wondering where
additional projects come into this. For
instance, maintenance maintenance issues
or if you have a bond for school, how
does that factor into this budget cap?
>> So, with 1300 capital projects,
construction projects [clears throat]
are are excluded from that question. So
if we, you know, if the town wanted to
go forward and build a new school um up
on the hill, that would not be under the
question of 1300.
That was specifically uh that was
specifically carved out. Um it does
require a supermajority. I'm going back
to 1300. Um you know, it it does and and
it would be a super majority to put it
in and it would be a super majority to
to take it out. Um so it would you know
you know the superintendent is
absolutely right. So the uh there would
be a cap and there would be a built-in
um enhancer if you will tied to uh um
consumer price index. But what what was
done in the legislature is they did
specifically set out um pull out capital
improvement projects uh construction. I
think there was one other thing that was
pulled out as well um that would not be
subject to the uh the tax the budget the
budget cap.
>> So So last year we set up a capital
reserve fund for maintenance and that's
probably that's 500,000. So it's not a
huge project but 500,000 when you tack
it on to a operating budget is a lot of
money. So, um, and that was I mean that
can be handled in so many different ways
going forward, but last year we actually
had a warrant article that established
that. So, I'm kind of wondering where
that falls into. Would it be
>> if you want to override it, you can
override it. The town can override it,
>> but you need the majority of,
>> right?
>> And that's hard to do.
>> That's difficult to do. If I may, it's
hard to get it's hard to get there. I
mean I mean getting there is a
three-fifth supermajority and I think
that's you know these are not things
that are taken lightly. Um so the three
supermajority is put in there to make
sure you know there's a wide majority of
the voters on board with this. Um um but
uh you know so again going back to 1300
it's just the question you know we're
that's the question whether we get to
that point or not about answering the
question we'll know in November uh where
where we're going with that with the
community
>> the the
maintenance fund that we established
last year um I thought it was a
brilliant move on the schools um part to
establish that because um we have seen
so many buildings slowly
decay because everyone wants a larger
project and can't get the larger
project. So establishing the 500,000
that I'm assuming will be um replenished
every year at whatever is taken out
somehow it will be recapped whether it's
through you know a warn article saying
if there's so much money left at the end
of the year we can place it in there or
if it's just a warrant article saying x
amount of dollars just because I think
it's really important to have a
maintenance plan and not fall behind.
And we've fallen behind because we've
tried we've looked at the bigger
projects so many times over the years
and haven't been able to do that. So, I
just don't want it to be part of that.
>> Yeah.
>> That cap. [clears throat]
>> I can get some more information on that.
Yeah.
>> Do you understand?
>> Yeah. I know exactly what you're saying.
Yes. Yep.
>> The lawyers are also a little bit
worried that it's not worried that
they're anticipating it could be
adjourned and and put to bed to before
I'm sorry. a joint and put to bed before
November because it's all over the
place.
>> Yeah,
>> that might happen. It might be moved at
this point.
>> John, did you have a question?
>> Comment. We don't need my comment.
[laughter]
>> So, the other thing too is the retention
um for emergency funds, which was
usually 3% of um the school board could
retain. It used to be 5%. So is that now
3%. Am I understanding that correctly?
>> You know that of the total but amount of
the budget you could at the end of the
year if all funds weren't expended you
could retain 5%. Is it now 3%. Did I
read that bill?
>> Yeah.
>> Not with this bill but Okay.
>> Yeah. That doesn't address that.
>> Okay.
Any other questions on that? So,
yeah, there's a lot of work here.
Like, yeah. So, and not to throw the not
to throw the town under the school bus
here, but you know, why is there not a
cat on this on the town side is why I'm
basically not saying that we should. I'm
saying why on the school side.
>> Is that a question?
>> Yes.
You want to hit this one, Calvin?
>> Sure. Yeah. I mean, just I was just kind
of waiting to to jump in here. So, I
just kind of want to start, you know,
maybe with the very beginning and just
sort of frame things because I mean, you
know, this is this is a collaborative
community project. The reason that
Senator Roer has the title, he does, and
I have the title, I do, is because what
the voters decided they wanted to
represent them in conquered voting on
this legislation. And the reason is is
it's no surprise New Hampshire has
really, really, really high property
taxes. Really high. And you look at what
is the biggest single driver of property
taxes, 2/3 of it is the school budget.
So why is there so much focus on the
school? Because schools are the majority
of the spending. And I really feel like
I mean this is my first time meeting you
and I kind of feel like we've really
gotten off on the wrong foot here
because [laughter] literally as soon as
I said you know it was this
legislation's out of control. Well, what
I really want to say is it's not the
legislation that's out of control. It's
the spending that's been out of control.
And it hasn't been a recent phenomenon.
It's been a continually escalating
problems that voters still have a
problem with. But we're not going to
decide. Senator Roer is not going to
decide. I'm not going to decide whether
or not Littleton has a tax cap on how
much is raised. By the way, it's a tax
on how much is raised from taxation, not
how it's spent. So if you can find
funding, if you can find money under the
couch or whatever, go ahead and spend
it. It's how much is raised from the
taxpayer. The question is put forward to
the voters. And what we repeatedly saw
in New Hampshire, especially with school
spending, is when you have these March
meetings, you usually have a singledigit
turnout of voters, single digit that are
voting on these things. And usually
where do you see the highest turnout?
You see it in the November election. And
a lot of people were thinking, you know,
if we're really going to have voters
weigh in on this, let's make it let's
make it something to reach for. It's not
a simple majority. It can't happen by
accident. Let's make it a super
majority. If a super majority of the
largest turnout of voters thinks that
spending is too high and we want them to
operate within this cap, let's do it.
So, if you have situations where if the
budget gets capped and you don't have
enough money, you got to make your case
to the voters. You got to get them to
understand, look, I understand we're
under this cap, but we need the money
for this. So, make the case to the
voters if you don't have enough money
for something. But that is the
rationale. That is the reason.
>> So, let me tell you, um, we didn't get
off on the wrong foot. What what I said
is what's out of control is
understanding this these bills, not the
content, what it means. I'm so didn't
want you to think that.
>> Thought I missed something. Yeah.
>> Well, I think the other reason why I'm
asking about that the 500,000 and where
it plays into all of this is because
there was a moratorum so so many years.
How long was it for um no building aid
from from the state
>> and years,
>> pardon?
>> 10 years. 10 years.
>> 10 years. And and so we're kind of
playing catchup because again we were
trying to go for the bigger project and
now we have to chip away at it. And I
think even on the town side, we're
looking at how we can maintain our our
buildings or not end up like the
wastewater treatment plant or the or the
um pool and or even the courthouse in in
uh the Glen County courthouse
>> or even the parking garage at the state
house.
>> Yeah, the parking garage at the state
house. We don't want to get there. So
that's the reason why that is such an
important question to
>> I can answer that. I'll get that answer
to see how that would work into this
this process.
>> Yeah.
>> I mean, I'm I'm glad you brought up
things like building it because it just
kind of shows you what a moving target
we have because let's say we were to
build a school. How do we know we're
going to build the right size school for
what our community needs? We've had
declining enrollment, you know, pretty
much for the last 20 years. So, we're
down probably about half over the last
20 years, but we can go back 3 years.
So, we go back to 2023. We had about I
want to say like around 650 or so and
we're at 566. So we're like over 100
drop in enrollment in 3 years. And you
look at what's been happening with the
spending, what's been happening with the
money coming from conquered, it went up.
So in 2023 it was about
about 8,000. Now we're just shy of
10,000. It's 9 9750.79.
So it's it's this moving target. So
let's say we were to build the school.
How do we even know that it's right
sized for what the community is? This is
one of the reasons why [clears throat] I
think it's really important that a
majority of voters weigh in on these
questions.
>> So just for enrollments, um I heard that
we had um an enrollment increase in
kindergarten of 15 this year. So,
>> you don't know exactly how much, but
they had to add another kindergarten.
>> So, so you know, you never know. You
never know what's what's going to
happen. There were 15 new students in
kindergarten, which you would think
might be spread out over several grade
levels, but no, this was kindergarten,
so we had to have the uh extra teacher
hired, which was not accounted for in
the budget process last year. Correct?
Am I correct? and that so we're actually
starting out this year behind
approximately 100,000. I don't know what
that teacher was hired for and what the
um benefit package was, but just round
figures 100,000. So um so we're we're
looking at that. Um and yes, uh Calvin,
so I've been around the block so many
years here. Um, so when I first started
on the school board way back in 1997,
we had 1,200 students total throughout.
We had 600 at the U Lakeway Elementary.
We have over the years, and you're right
about the size of the school, but I
think that the town is very smart and
they take all of that into consideration
and they have come up with three
different plans over the years um to
accommodate um those schools. I can I
could quickly tell you, but I won't. Um
what those plans were and why they
changed and where the locations were and
why it changed. Um and it's the student
drop um is something that we have to be
um concerned about, but I think we're
discerning enough to to figure all that
out. But um but I do want to not fall
behind on maintenance. This has been a
hot topic from the um budget committee
the last couple years. We keep saying
how John Pette, he's not here tonight,
but that is the question he asks every
year. What are we doing on maintenance?
How are we addressing it? We we're good
at different things, but we're not good
at maintaining our buildings. And um so
the last year and and uh I think um Bill
Gandro did an excellent job last year of
of working with the school board and the
facilities committee in coming up with
that 1% rule of what the total property
value. Am I stating that correctly?
Because I usually don't state things
correctly, but So anyways, and I thought
that was great. So that that came out to
the 500,000 and it has to be basically
um you know you can do so much but it
has to be replenished. So how do we
replenish that? So that's going to be a
topic this year.
>> I do want to say for the 6%
administrative cap it is in the actual
text of the bill that operate or um
facilities operation and and maintenance
is exempted from that 6.8 SAU cap. And
the other thing I'll say is this talk of
a tax cap. Every single one of these
joint quarterly meetings I've been at,
we've talked about, hey, there could be
a tax cap coming. Hey, there's a tax cap
bill. Hey, did you hear about the
latest, you know, thing going on with
the tax cap? And some of the ideas that
were banted around were limiting it to
the rate of inflation. And I distinctly
remember a conversation that was had
which was, well, if that was the
situation, Littleton would be okay.
Littleton would be okay if the spending
was capped at or I'm sorry if the tax
rate was capped at the rate of inflation
that would have been okay for Littleton
within the recent past.
However,
I'm not going to argue with you and I
don't intend to argue with you, but um
again, some of our um increases over the
last couple years is because we've had
maintenance issues. We're we're looking
at the wastewater treatment plant. We're
looking at different things. Um it's
it's just you know we're we're playing
catchup and um John had figured out I'm
going to bring up your Excel spreadsheet
if you want to talk about it. I think
[laughter]
>> thank you. Um the total increase um
between the school, the town, they was
the county and also the statewide
property tax was 11%. So we as
collectively we had 11% increase on our
tax tax rate. Did I okay so um yes
>> which is unsustainable.
>> It's unsustainable but there are in that
11% and I'm not making excuses. I don't
like 11. I'm I should say I'm retired
and I can't afford all these things, you
know, but um in that are are these
projects that we are just starting to do
again. So, and I think uh Taylor at one
of the the the meetings, he said we need
to uh raise revenues and you're saying
if you can find it in wherever uh so I'm
hoping that the the board um of
selectmen are looking at
that topic. How do we increase revenues?
Um, so I'm hearing that other
communities around us are investing in
the stock market or whatever, bonds,
whatever. I don't know if they can do
that, but I think we do need to find
various ways to increase our revenues.
So, any other questions? I'm done.
[laughter]
None. Okay.
Um, did you want to go over any of the
other?
>> No, none of none of the other ones are
really that significant as far as the
the budget's concerned, but we it talks
a little bit about changes, especially
with um reimbursement from the state,
which is it's pretty benign. Um,
and then they talk about there's a new
federal voucher
uh program that's going to take effect
in January along with our EFAs. So some
families are going to be able to um get
a voucher and that's a donor a donor
type program federally. So it's the
donor gets dollars the dollar tax uh you
rebate um and you are familiar with the
bas
y so um families can get that the base
pay it's $4,351
and that can go towards private school
tuition tutoring um technology anything
for home but um there's If if a child is
um free and reduced uh eligible, they
get an extra $2,500 that it can go up to
$9,000. Um and they can get a federal
scholarship. So that mean they can and
all that the EFA money is coming out of
this the adequacy aid the state
education fund. It's coming away from
the public school money. Um but not the
federal scholarships that comes from
private donors.
What do you hear about adequacy aid? I I
guess that's the term and it's um been
used for what comes from the state. Is
when do we usually find that number out?
And we it's $4,200 and something
dollars. I forget what the base is. And
then there's a differentiated aid which
is significant for a lot of people. It
doubles it. Um we we have that we have
that already. We have the preliminary.
We don't have the final that happened,
but that's usually
>> with declining enrollments that really
affects that, too. So,
>> absolutely. And that, as the
superintendent said, the base adequacy
is $4,300 and then we get an enhancement
or differentiate for free lunch, special
ed, ESL. So we actually in Littleton I
think it's like 9,500 that we're getting
per student is what it comes out to be
because we have a lot of free and
reduced. We have ESL we have special ed.
Um so it it it comes out to be that the
each student is getting from from that
fund 9500 uh for our kids in the in the
school. Um,
>> that's why [clears throat] we encourage
everybody to fill out a free application
because that's the advocacy,
>> right?
>> Now with the different SNAP regulations,
not everybody that um before if you were
eligible for SNAP, you didn't have to
apply. You automatically were eligible
for the free and reduced and it went
into the formula. Now they've reduced
that. quite a few people are not going
to be eligible for SNEP and they're
predicting that we're going to have less
kids filling up those applications, less
families.
>> Calvin,
>> I do have some interesting statistics on
EFA as it relates to Littleton
specifically. Um, so it is a grant
program. It is administered by uh
scholarship fund. So currently there are
63 EFA um students in Littleton. Uh, of
those 52 are priority, which means they
income qualified. Um, 11 are the non-
priority. So that's the I guess the
additional that were allowed to enroll
over the last 2 years and there are
currently nine students on the EFA
weight list. Um, of all of those, uh,
three of those students are special
needs students. So thought that was kind
of interesting. And then the other thing
I would just add is if you look at the
total amount of EFA spending as it
relates to the amount that the state
spends on education, it's currently 1.3%
of the total. So 98.7% is not going to
EFA.
>> John,
>> um, okay, I was going to frame. I'm
going to do this. Um, so Bill and I are
in the same class. We graduated with 112
year. And so that's a far cry from where
we are now. We've had a tremendous drop
in student student age population and
everybody's alluding to it. The schools
got bulcanized
30 years ago, let's say. So when profile
got built,
regional got built, it it reduced
especially Littleton's population cells
more than the others, I think. [snorts]
But nonetheless,
the statistics on births in New
Hampshire
in 1925 there were 14,000 births.
In 2025,
there were only 8,000.
So the demographics is definitely
working against us. Now is one year of
kindergarten growth
>> right
>> better or not? Sure, it's better. We
need to grow and we need we need to also
attract younger families. And I think
the way to do that is to I I almost
think we have to rebuild a competitive
school
>> in terms of outcomes and what's good for
the students. And I'm not I'm not trying
to take shots at anybody. I think
everybody's doing their best. But I
think culturally and competitively
the top end of our student population
ends up going elsewhere in some cases
and that drags down our total scores and
our total performance and all of that.
So I think we have I think we have a
cultural problem and I think we need to
work on that as a underlying foundation
to improve in the schools. So, it's very
critical, I think, and I think Littleton
can be a better town because of it if we
can do that.
>> I don't know how to do that, though.
We've we've actually talked about that
year after year after year, but it's
like, how do you get started on that,
Dave?
>> So, I'm going to ask the new guy
question here. I was probably stick my
foot right in my mouth, but um
>> I love [clears throat] it.
>> Yeah.
>> Go ahead, Dave. So, you know, so through
this whole meeting is that
Troy just went over uh the fact that the
town has gotten $2.6 million in grants.
Are there grants out there for education
that we're not going for? You know,
you're saying, you know, find the
revenue somewhere else. Well, that's my
that's my question right off the top.
Are there grants out there that can help
the school budget and still retain, you
know, what we want to do without raising
the taxes?
>> I think Rochelle Cox is the grant writer
at
>> school.
Michelle's great at it. Marian was great
at it. The White Mountains were doing a
really good job with that.
>> I think the declining enrollment, it's
an oversimplification to say it's a
school performance issue. It's a housing
issue. You could have a 100 kids want to
come to Littleton. Where are they going
to live?
the the housing market's really really
gotten expensive in Littleton. A lot of
the new home sales are not to end age.
Um kids with, you know, school age
parents with school age children that
are second homes from Massachusetts.
That's the reality of of the market
currently. So I think that clearly
there's been declining enrollment. I
don't think it's all school
performance driving that
>> and I hope I'm not putting my foot in my
mouth. I'm the new person, too. So, but
one of the things, you know, I went to
grade school quite a few years ago and
uh there's a huge difference in the in
the type of student now in terms of the
demands and the needs of the students.
So, we can't really I mean, I came into
this position really looking at that
number. You know why is there such a
decrease in the number of students and
an increase in the budget but the needs
of the students has increased
exponentially
um in real number. So educating people
like me about the needs of the students
I think is very critical.
I agree. So we're rounding to the end
here. Are there any other questions? um
for anybody. So, looks good. Thank you
both for coming and joining us. Do you
have
>> Can I add one couple more things?
>> One of the areas that we talk about in
where our revenue is coming from. One of
the areas that Littleton gets money from
in all towns through the rooms and meals
tax. Um 2026, Littleton uh started in
2020, we got $31,000 in the rooms and
meals tax. 2026 that bumped up to 6
600,000
from the rooms and meals tax because
there was a change in the formula which
sent more money back to localities. Um
pleased to report rooms and meals tax is
actually one of the better performing
revenue segments in the state right now.
We're actually exceeding plan what we
planned on in the budget last year. So
I'm I'm cautiously optimistic that you
know we'll we'll have some benefit for
that. Speaking about housing, the other
the other area of the state revenue that
is outperforming plan is the real estate
transfer tax. So things are selling and
they're selling for a lot of money.
Doesn't necessarily help our young
families, but it does bring more revenue
in for that uh that real estate transfer
tax. Um you know that those are some
things that we'll probably be watching
as we prepare for our next budget cycle.
Uh some things that are underperforming,
believe it or not, liquor, you know, New
Hampshire. So, we've got a national
reputation as being liquor uh um on
liquor stores on our on our interstates.
We own all the liquor in the state. Um
we're not selling as much. And I think
that goes back to a generational thing.
You know, the younger generations are
not drinking um that that the way they
they used to. Um you know, the uh the
areas that
>> Yeah. [laughter]
income.
>> You probably will see an in you you'll
see some improvement. Again, whether you
like gambling or not, it's part of our
state revenue. Um
>> um program um we are underperforming in
the the the gambling section, but I
well, let me go back a little bit.
Underforming. the [laughter] the there
was a number that was budgeted in for um
gambling revenue and that was taking
into account that we had the video uh
slot machines coming and it's taken a
while for the operators to actually buy
the machines, put them in their their
facilities and get them up and going. Um
but I think you're going to see an
increase in that going as as the year
goes on and we're looking for the next
budget that will increase. Uh, and we
also have, you know, a couple new
casinos, one being in Littleton, another
one being a major facility in NSHA. Um,
that will add to the overall revenue of
of the state with that. Um, so those are
some things that we are looking at in
conquered keeping an eye on um with uh
with that. Uh, I know there was a
business and bet tax reduction. There's
a trigger in there quite frankly that
will never hit. um you know it's uh if
the rainy day fund is fully funded which
it's never been fully funded then the
business enterprise taxes goes down. I
don't think that will ever happen. That
that was uh there was a lot of politics
that went in uh behind that. Um so the
other thing with the lottery revenue
that's very good for the state is when
we have these billion dollar jackpots
cuz everybody's buying Powerball and
Megaillions and you'll see a bump in
that. So, we're going to be watching
those things. Um, you know, again,
cautiously optimistic with our rooms and
meals tax. Um, and uh, we'll see what
happens with that. But those are the
kinds of things we're watching as we get
ready. I mean, we're doing it in the
state as well. We're getting ready for
our budget uh, process as well, which
will start right the day after the
election. So, um, those are some of the
things that we're we're we're keeping an
eye on. I did want to talk about the
superintendent. Uh we you did kind of
talk about this special ed aid, House
Bill 1563, which was kind of a unique
bill. Uh one of the things that we hear
about all the time is we need more help
for special ed. We need more help for
special ed. Um that's a mixed bag as is
in is is as is a lot of legislation is,
but what it did is it lowered one of the
thresholds to get special ed aid for
some of the um uh some of the the the
kids that need special ed. So it lowered
the threshold and it will increase
access to that aid for our districts u
from the state. One of the other things
that you know the tradeoff is is some of
the higher cost placements there's going
to be a little more involvement from the
town or the school districts to do that.
So, you know what the net net is? Um,
the districts will pay probably a
million net out a million dollars more
for the higher cost students, but
they're actually bringing in getting an
extra $2.8 million for some of the lower
impact students, which will result in an
overall net increase of revenue uh of of
of um uh special ed funds um for $1.8
million. not a huge amount of money when
you're talking about the whole state,
but it was an interesting take on things
and it was one of those political things
where you you get something and have to
give something, but in the end, um you
know, all the number crunchers in in in
conquered are saying it's going to be a
net benefit for for our districts with
that. Um so I did want to mention that
cuz that was uh that was an interesting
bill that that came out and and in fact
the impetus for that bill came just down
the road. The prime sponsor was
Representative Lad in his district in
Permont. They had one one placement that
they had to do with the special ed uh
services that increased their school
budget by 13%. So uh you know it
resulted in like a $750 for a $350
house. It was in a $750 increase in
taxes. So he wanted to come up with
something that would smooth that out a
little bit. And again, the higher ones
are going to, you know, there's going to
be a little more cost on that, but we'll
the relief will come with the lower
costing uh students with that. Um,
just had a couple notes here. We talked
about that.
Talked about that. I think we hit them
all here. The big ones that were were uh
Yeah. But yeah, I just wanted to add
those things and uh cuz I think that
there were I think you undersold
yourself on that. I think it was an
important uh bill that we wanted to talk
about. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
>> Well, for people to understand the cap
like it's $21,000.
So, we're all we're responsible for
that. And then the percentage over cap.
That's what we
>> And I don't know what our demographic
looks like. You know that better than I
do. I just look at the, you know, our
our position. We aren't privy to the
individual.
>> Yeah.
>> There are some placements that cost up
to $500,000.
>> Yeah.
>> Right. Right. One of the things that we
do here, I think very well in Littleton
is try to do everything inhouse that we
can to prevent
out of district placement and I think
that has driven some of our cost up ex
as well. Maybe it it it's not going to
be as much as an out of district
placement, but it's certainly um being
in the north country, you have to wing
it. And
>> the elementary school has two separate
programs.
>> Yeah.
>> And the high school's got the academy
there. I mean, it's perfect if they're
in the house. Otherwise, I send them out
to uh there's a there's a place in um
Berlin that cost $16,000 a year.
>> Plus transportation. So, it's for the
same type of program that we have. And
and from that cost of education study
that we did years ago, one of the things
um that we compared ourselves of two
other schools approximately the same
size, the same demographics, whatever.
But the further south, they had access
to programs that it was a 15minute bus
ride. It wasn't a 50minute bus ride one
way. So that has really driven up our
cost trying to replicate those things
and um so I mean kudos to what we're
doing but we still need to work on
everything with the funding. Calvin, did
you have something else?
>> I was just going to just really briefly
um you know the legislaturator's
adjourned so I mean the legislation is
what it is. Maybe exhale I really the
legislaturator's adjourned. Um as you
all know it's an election year. Um
immediately after the election, the bill
filing period opens up really really
quickly. Um so if you do have uh ideas,
questions, um something where there
might be a good legislative fix, um I
mean the bill final period opens up
pretty quickly after the election. So go
ahead and you know maybe think about
those things and have those uh
conversations. The other thing is I'm
glad you mentioned housing. So I also
serve on the planning board in
Littleton. We've been doing some
incremental changes. We've been putting
in front of voters to make our, you
know, zoning ordinance a little more
friendly to additional housing coming on
the market. So, I'm very happy that, you
know, that's continued to be a process.
But then also at the state level,
there's been a state level baseline to
make sure communities are consistently
kind of sharing in the housing burden
that exists statewide. So, if anybody
has any questions about that stuff, um,
reach out to me. Um, you know, I'm my
contact information is really easy to
find online or get with me and I'd be
more than happy to leave it with you.
>> Well, that's it. I think I think it's a
wrap. So, thank you everybody. I
appreciate you joining us.