Goffstown selectmen cut $1.3m

[Dave Ridley]

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Goffstown+selectmen+cut+%241.3m&articleId=4cf641de-b216-40fc-9d55-d10d8a89f3dc

By STEPHEN BEALE
Union Leader Correspondent
9 hours, 36 minutes ago

Goffstown ? The board of selectmen has decided to cut $1.3 million from the proposed 2007 budget, recommending $19.2 million for next year with an estimated tax rate of $9 per $1,000 in property value, Town Administrator Sue Desruisseaux said yesterday.

The new rate would generate $1,800 in taxes from a property valued at $200,000. The current, 2006 rate is $8.22.

The budget now has to be examined by the budget committee, which may make further adjustments to spending levels. In December, the selectmen will review the changes, choosing to assent to them or make a separate recommendation to voters.

Selectmen had originally hoped to eliminate $2.5 million. In an interview yesterday, selectman Phil D'Avanza said the board had cut as much as it could without cutting services.

D'Avanza suggested that fiscal restraints were just as important as maintaining those services. "There is another part to the budget,"he said.

"It's providing a budget that is consistent with what the residents want -- what they are accustomed to."

At least one selectman, however, thinks the board could have done more. Nick Campasano yesterday said he wishes the rest of the board had agreed to his proposal of removing $600,000 from the road plan, which he said would have been offset by $600,000 that will be left over from this year.

The money was intended for the lower portion of Mountain Road but was not spent, according to Public Words Director Carl Quiram, because his department was consumed with repairing flood damage.

Without the $600,000 next year, Quiram said the town would have to forgo either reclamation work on Mountain Road or Snook Road. The latter is expected to cost $1.2 million, including several side roads, because an outside contractor will do the work. In house, the project would cost only $400,000.
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[error]

Translation:
"Sure, we cut the budget a bit, but it started out much higher than last year! That's why we're raising your property taxes."

[lildog]

The board of selectmen has decided to cut $1.3 million from the proposed 2007 budget

There's a slight little trick going on here that I think most people miss.  I happened to learn this one from being on the Merrimack Budget Committee.

They talk about how much they cut from the "proposed budget", this means NOTHING.  For instance, in Merrimack we often heard our selectmen telling us they cut anywhere from 1 to sometimes even as much as 3 million from the proposed budget but amazingly the budget still went up a couple million from last years number.

Look at it this way, last year's budget is 25 million.. this year they propose 30 million.  Cutting 1 million from the proposed is still allowing 4 million in increases.  The real numbers to watch have NOTHING to do with proposed numbers, it's last years bottom line and this years bottom line and that's about it.

[Dreepa]

EXACTLY....
Our budget committee cut $300K from the school's proposed budget.. and people kept talking about cutting the school budget.  So instead of a $1.3M increase they proposed $1M increase.... oh and the town voted to put the money back in the budget at town meeting..... it was for the children.

[Rosie the Riveter]

The board of selectmen has decided to cut $1.3 million from the proposed 2007 budget

There's a slight little trick going on here that I think most people miss.  I happened to learn this one from being on the Merrimack Budget Committee.

They talk about how much they cut from the "proposed budget", this means NOTHING.  For instance, in Merrimack we often heard our selectmen telling us they cut anywhere from 1 to sometimes even as much as 3 million from the proposed budget but amazingly the budget still went up a couple million from last years number.

Look at it this way, last year's budget is 25 million.. this year they propose 30 million.  Cutting 1 million from the proposed is still allowing 4 million in increases.  The real numbers to watch have NOTHING to do with proposed numbers, it's last years bottom line and this years bottom line and that's about it.

So true -- this happens everywhere.

I want less spending and that means less than last year and the year before, and the year before.....

[Atlas]

Gofftowns, Nice town to be a libertarian. I'll move to the gtown or Salem and have my libertarian label reign.