'Absolutely No Way Around' Tax, Budget Hike, Says Selectman

Hampton residents could see one of the highest town tax rates in recent memory next year due to a variety of debt and insurance increases that are expected to up the municipal operating budget by roughly $1.5 million.

Selectmen voted 4-1 this week to approve a $26,109,500 proposed operating budget and $25,686,799 default budget. The budgets, which include an estimated $6,419,825 in anticipated revenue, will now go to the Hampton Budget Committee for review before heading to town meeting next year.
 
Dick Nichols, the chairman of the Hampton Board of Selectmen, said the proposed $26.11 million budget is approximately $1.5 million higher than the current year due in part to the creation of a new full-time fire inspector position to improve the inspection and permitting process. The position will cost the town about $100,000 a year due to salary and health insurance costs.

A $35,000 truck purchase for that position is also included in the budget, as is a $25,000 increase in the Hampton Fire and Rescue Department overtime budget.

The largest factors for the increase, though, include the start of a $500,000 bond for the fire stations projects as well as a roughly 25 percent rate increase in the town's share of employees' state retirement system costs, according to Nichols.
 
Nichols said the bond and retirement increases are unavoidable next year and are also included in the default budget, which is $1.09 million more than the current year.

The projected town portion of the 2014 tax rate is around $7.80 per every $1,000 of assessed value due to these and other budget increases. That tax rate is $.66 higher than the state-set 2012 rate of $7.14 and is likely at least $.80 higher than the projected rate for 2013, which should be set "in a few weeks," according to Nichols.

Nichols said he doesn't "think [the projected increase over 2013] is as bad as 80 cents," though, because 2013 has a "real aberration" on the revenue side because of the Local Government Center funds recently returned to Hampton. That returned money could drop the town portion of the 2013 tax rate below $7 per every $1,000 of assessed value.

The projected $7.80 tax rate, which doesn't include the county and school portions of the tax rate or warrant articles, means a $300,000 home in Hampton could expect to pay $2,340 in taxes, or $198 more than the $2,142 that home paid in 2012.

The proposed operating budget increase doesn't factor in any possible warrant articles, though, which is part of the reason why Nichols said he voted against approving the $26.11 million budget on Monday.

"I think that 2014 is a tipping point," said Nichols, who said the town tax rate has stayed "essentially flat" since 2006. "[Next year's] taxes are going to go up. There's absolutely no way around it. The question is: How much are they going to go up?"

Nichols said he worries that the more Hampton proposes in terms of budget and warrant articles, the "less" the public will approve. Nichols said he wanted to see the fire inspector position included as a part-time position to save money, especially since selectmen have only allocated $26,000 to the paving budget despite the fact that there's at least one outstanding project that will cost $86,000.

"We basically turned in a budget with substantial increases in fire and we haven't addressed paving," said Nichols, who also made a point of praising Fire Chief Chris Silver as "an exceptional manager" of his budget and overtime.

Nichols said the board and town will have to wait and "see where we go with the budget committee," as he said the "amount of increase in the operating budget has got to be factored into how much" he and other selectmen are "willing to ask the voters in the way of warrant articles" next spring.