Budget review committee's next hurdle: Consensus from Belknap County Delegation

LACONIA — Belknap County’s state representatives serving on the budget review committee came to agreement on Wednesday afternoon, and will refer their suggestions to the broader delegation in March.

At their meeting at the county complex, members of the committee expressed skepticism the budget proposal would succeed in passing through the delegation, made up of representatives serving Belknap County in the Statehouse. If it proves unable to garner enough support to pass before the April 1 deadline, the budget initially proposed by the county Board of Commissioners would go into effect. 

At present, the budget proposed by the committee includes significant reductions in the amount to be raised by taxes compared to the commissioner’s budget. As it stands, their proposal levels out at a 4.1% increase in expenditures overall, and an increase of 6.2% of the budget to be raised by taxes — those figures include roughly an additional $70,000 of suggested reductions made Wednesday.

The county Budget Review Committee is comprised of Reps. Harry Bean (R-Gilford), Steven Bogert (R-Laconia), Mike Bordes (R-Laconia), Lisa Freeman (R-Tilton), Juliet Harvey-Bolia (R-Tilton), Matthew Lunney (R-Meredith) and Charlie St. Clair (D-Laconia). All members except Freeman attended Wednesday's meeting.

The budget originally proposed by Commissioners Peter Spanos, Glen Waring and Stephen Hodges included a 5.3% increase in expenditures, and 11.9% to be raised by taxes.

“I think that we need to find a whole bunch more cuts,” Bean, who chairs the county delegation, said Wednesday. 

During the meeting, the last before the delegation meets to debate the budget, review committee members suggested cutting the amount earmarked for Lakes Region Mental Health Center by about half, to $16,000. 

Representatives opined the salaries paid to the three highest-earning employees equaled about $900,000, which they saw as too much for a nonprofit organization. 

According to the organization’s IRS Form 990 submitted for the fiscal year ending in June 2024, Medical Director Vladimir Jelnov earned $331,870, psychiatrist Mark Wagner earned $273,174 and Executive Director Margaret Pritchard earned $195,859. Including compensation listed as “other”, those salaries combined for $862,161. 

Following a brief caucus in private, representatives returned to the meeting room and made their recommendation to reduce the allocation to LRMHC.

Director of Development and Public Relations Beth Vachon, in a written statement, noted two of those three employees are medical doctors who would earn higher compensation working for organizations funded by private insurance.

“Lakes Region Mental Health is fortunate to have employees, including our two licensed MDs and our CEO that are dedicated to human service and our mission. Community mental health centers are contracted by the state to provide mental health services for people with the highest acuity need which makes them likely to receive services through Medicaid. CMHCs reduce the burden on city and county budgets. Health care salaries focused on human services have higher average median salaries because they need higher levels of education and experience,” Vachon wrote in part. “LRMHC CEO Maggie Pritchard has 42 years of experience and serves as the president of the state Community Behavioral Health Association that represents all 10 CMHCs in our state, and that takes dedication and countless hours. The truth is, our leadership and therapists could go to organizations that are funded primarily through private insurance and make higher salaries than at a nonprofit funded primarily by Medicaid reimbursements. That's the issue at the crux of our state and national community mental health care workforce shortage.” 

Review committee members also suggested eliminating funding for CASA of New Hampshire, an organization which provides advocates for children in the court system. Because the state is required to appoint advocates to juvenile cases when CASA is not able to take them on, county appropriations to that organization were characterized as an example of the state downshifting costs onto local taxpayers. 

CASA received $7,500 of funding for the first time in last year's budget. 

County commissioners have a modicum of recourse, if they don’t agree with cuts made to line items by the delegation, as long as representatives do not restrict their ability to make transfers between allocated accounts. 

The next meeting of the Belknap County Delegation is set for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 12.