2007 Town Warrant Article 12

Shall the Town vote to raise and appropriate as an operating budget, not including appropriations by special warrant articles and other appropriations voted separately, the amounts set forth on the budget posted with the warrant or as amended by vote of the first session, for the purposes set forth herein, totaling $9,916,234?  Should this article be defeated, the default budget shall be $9,567,713 which is the same as last year with certain adjustments required by previous action of the Town or by law; or the governing body may hold one special meeting in accordance with RSA 40:13, X and XVI, to take up the issue of a revised operating budget only.  ($9,992,620 approved by the Selectmen) (Majority Vote Required)

Voter's Guide Explanation

This Warrant provides the Board of Selectmen and Budget Committee recommended town operating budget for 2007. Also included in compliance with state regulations, is the compliant default budget, which would be in effect should the electorate reject the recommended budget. Review of the recommended 2007 budget versus the 2006 operating budget shows a net increase of 5.7%.

Included in this growth are approximately 2.0% of contractual obligations resulting from existing contracts.

Continuing with the budget preparation initiatives implemented last year, the Board of Selectmen required that all departments prepare their 2007 budgets using “Zero Based “budgeting. This approach required a completely new generation of budgets, rather than using the previous year’s budget as a starting point.  Also, this year, unlike previous years, where departments were allowed to establish their budgets based upon perceived needs, the Board of Selectmen challenged each town department to become more efficient by establishing a 5% growth objective. To their credit, each department embraced the concept and provided budgets which, not only resulted in a met objective, but withstood BOS and Budget Committee scrutiny with minimal reductions. Any growth beyond the 5% objective is attributed to inclusion in to the budget of life and safety items and compensated absence contingencies previously addressed through separate warrant articles.

It is now intended to require “Zero Based” budgeting every 3 to 4 years to eliminate the inherent growth that occurs when budgets are developed using the past year’s budget as a baseline.

As review shows, the Board of Selectmen affected $69,247 in reductions from the requested budgets, while the Budget Committee reduced the budget further by $76,387 all of which represents a total of $145,634, or a reduction of 1.5% from departmental requests.

Voter approval of the recommended budget will enable the town to provide services and supplies consistent with voter expectations, as well as, satisfy public safety considerations.

Backup Data

Copyright 2007 Town of Pelham, 6 Village Green, Pelham NH 03076.  Selectmen's Office 603-635-8233
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