Voters to Meet at Town Deliberative Session Tonight

Tonight's the night that Merrimack residents are asked to come together to discuss this year's warrant, which includes the proposal for the 2013-14 budget, as well as several union contracts and a proposed charter amendment that would allow the Town Manager to act as a cemetery trustee.

The $28.7 million budget proposal equates to a tax rate of $5.25 per thousand of assessed value, which is the same tax rate voters approved at last year's deliberative session.

It is not, however, what residents paid after the town earned unexpected revenue from the Merrimack Premium Outlets and land purchased by PSNH. The outlets were further along than anticipated when the value was assessed last year, and with the extra revenue, that tax rate was reduced to $5.14 when bills were mailed.

This year's budget was thrown a huge monkey wrench very early on when the town learned it needed to make up for $800,000 in shortfalls, thanks to changes in the retirement system and health care, among other things, if it was going to keep a level-funded tax rate.

The default budget, should the proposed budget fail at town meeting, is $27.9 million.

the Town Council voted to to give the town's a $1,500 one-time pay raise to full-time non-union employees and a 73 cents an hour raise for part-time employees – to the tune of an $84,050 increase to the budget.

This was in response to giving full-time union employees a one-time $1,500 raise in the negotiated collective bargaining agreements to compensate for significant concessions they made with their health care plans.

The five collective bargaining agreements represent articles three through seven on the warrant and are broken down by year below. One collective bargaining agreement will not make this year's warrant, however, and that is the Department of Public Works.

The Town Council and the DPW Union have not been able to come to an agreement on their contract and Town Manager Eileen Cabanel told the Nashua Telegraph on Tuesday that a mediator will likely be brought in to help negotiate a contract after the April 9 election.

The final article on the warrant is a non-monetary article, asking for an amendment to the charter that would allow the town manager to perform the duties and responsibilities required of a cemetery trustee.

At the October 25 meeting of the Town Council, an unusual problem came to light in that a man approached the town requesting to be buried in one of the town's older cemeteries in town.

In brought up the question of who makes the decision about whether his request could be honored, or if the plots of land still available in that cemetery, which are few, had to be offered to the public despite the man having done the legwork to find out if there was space available in the cemetery.

Council Chairman Tom Mahon said the Cemetery Trustees were disbanded in 1971, however, in digging into this issue, it was discovered that by law, the town is supposed to have cemetery trustees and no one knew how that slipped through the cracks for so many years. The Charter Amendment would make up the shortfall, appointing whomever is serving in the Town Manager capacity to make the decision necessary of a cemetery trustee.

Tonight's deliberative session begins at 7 p.m. in the all-purpose room at James Mastricola Upper Elementary School. Articles will be discussed and residents make changes to the articles at this session before they hit the ballot in April. Town Meeting Day is April 9 and the polls will be open in the JMUES APR from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Merrimack contract negotiations are represented below:

NEPBA Local 112 (Police dispatchers, office staff)

Get the information you need for the upcoming Town Meeting via our Town Meeting 2013 Voters Guide.

Read more from last week's school district deliberative session here.