County Commissioners to press their budget case to delegation

LACONIA — Saying they are budget items worth fighting for, the County Commission will be pressing members of the Belknap County Delegation to restore $1.25 million in cuts the delegation’s Executive Committee has recommended.

The five-member committee, which functions as the budget panel of the 18-member delegation, cut $2.2 million from the commissioners’ proposed $33.4 million budget for the current fiscal year which began Jan. 1. The full delegation, which has the authority to set the budget, is due to take up the committee’s recommended spending package on Feb. 22.

Of the $1.25 million the commissioners are appealing to be put back into the budget, 95% is for pay and benefits, mostly for employees at the County Nursing Home which has experienced significant attrition, largely because other health care facilities in the area pay considerably more, double in some cases.

At the County Commission’s meeting on Thursday, Commission Chair Peter Spanos directed sending each member of the delegation a detailed memo listing the 15 budget areas the commissioners want augmented together with the reasons the commissioners feel adding the money back is essential.

Some $589,000 of the $1.25 million would cover wages and benefits for nurses and others on the nursing home staff. In addition, the commissioners are asking that more than $582,000 in American Rescue Plan money be added back to the budget to fund bonuses for all county employees, most of whom work in the nursing home.

The Executive Committee has recommended funding the bonus program for the first six months of the year. But the commissioners want the program funded for the entire year in order to retain and recruit employees. Current employees are relying on the bonuses, commissioners say, until the county wage scale is adjusted to reflect the recommendations of a wage study.

That study is expected to be completed in May, but when and to what extent the recommendations will be implemented remains to be seen.

In three areas of the nursing home — laundry, activities, and housekeeping — layoffs might occur, unless the budget totals of those areas are increased or the County Commission gets permission from the delegation or the Executive Committee to supplement those wage and benefit expenses with money drawn from another part of the budget.

Commissioners are also asking $22,500 be restored to the Sheriff’s Department budget to fully fund the requested amount to pay for security at the Belknap County Courthouse, and the Circuit Court.

Almost $20,000 is being sought for what commissioners say is needed to cover various information technology expenses, including software support and replacement of aging computers.

The commissioners are also pressing that a proposed $10,000 to cover legal services for the year be restored. The Executive Committee removed the entire $10,000 because the commissioners have said they will not approve paying the legal fees related to the delegation hiring an attorney to represent it in legal entanglements with the Gunstock Area Commission.

Commissioner Glen Waring said Thursday to eliminate funds for legal services altogether was “irresponsible budgeting.”