1st of 4 county budget committee meetings is Thursday afternoon

LACONIA — The Belknap County Delegation’s budget process begins in earnest on Thursday afternoon.

The Budget Review Committee will meet at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 18, at the Belknap County Complex, 34 County Drive. 

The committee comprises Reps. Harry Bean (R-Gilford), Steven Bogert (R-Laconia), Juliet Harvey-Bolia (R-Tilton), Mike Bordes (R-Laconia), Matthew Coker (R-Meredith), Lisa Freeman (R-Tilton) and Charlie St. Clair (D-Laconia). They’ll work with each department head to answer questions and debate the budget, line-item by line-item. The Belknap delegation is made of all its representatives to the Statehouse in Concord.

It’s the first of four meetings of the Budget Review Committee that’s been scheduled and, on Thursday, they’ll review the budget of the administration department, headed by County Administrator Debra Shackett, who will retire at the end of the year.

Their second meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 15, at the Belknap County Complex, and Budget Review Committee members will review proposals for the corrections department, the supervision program, the sheriff’s office and the office of the county attorney.

The budgets for the register of deeds and the county nursing home are next at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22, and then they’ll review the proposed budgets for outside agencies at 2:15 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 29.

Also on Thursday, Jan. 29, the delegation’s Executive Committee will consider the treasurer’s request to borrow up to $16 million in anticipation of taxes to be collected for calendar year 2026.

Each year, the county borrows monies to pay for costs until each town pays their respective tax bills to the county. This year, the town tax bills from 2025 are due to the county on Wednesday, Dec. 17.

These meetings are open to the public and streamed live at youtube.com/@belknapcounty1452.

The Belknap County Delegation’s Executive Committee is filled by Bean, Bordes, Bogert, Harvey-Bolia and St. Clair.

Once representatives serving on the Budget Review Committee are through asking questions to each department head about their respective budgets, they will make recommendations to the broader delegation, which will eventually vote on a county budget. If they do not pass a budget by the April 1 deadline, the budget initially proposed by county commissioners will take effect by default. A meeting of the entire delegation is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 5, for this purpose. 

This year, County Commissioners Peter Spanos (District 1), Glen Waring (District 2) and Stephen Hodges (District 3) proposed a budget much more pared-down than that which they presented a year ago. Their budget proposal calls for an increase in total expenses of 7.8%, with an associated 7.6% increase in the amount raised by taxes.

Their recommendation a year ago included an 11.9% increase in the amount to be raised by taxes, which was eventually whittled down over numerous meetings of the delegation’s Budget Review Committee and, before the April 1 deadline, by the broader delegation. 

When the dust settled, the $38.2 million budget initially proposed, with $23.7 million to be raised by taxes, was reduced to $37.6 million total, and $22.4 million to be raised by taxes. Their proposal this year calls for an increase in the amount to be raised by taxes of about $1.7 million.