County reps cut down capital improvements, pass budget with 4.4% tax increase

LACONIA — Members of the Belknap County Delegation, those elected to represent Belknap at the Statehouse, approved a budget with a 4.4% increase which impacts taxes during a meeting Wednesday night.

In the roughly $23 million budget, appropriations to outside agencies were generally the same over last year, or reduced, and the amount for capital improvements earmarked for the jail and the nursing home was reduced by about $90,000 from what County Commissioners Peter Spanos (District 1, chair), Glen Waring (District 2, vice chair) and Stephen Hodges (District 3, clerk) recommended.

The vote capped off a months-long process during which the delegation’s Budget Review Committee explored recommendations made by the commissioners over weekday, afternoon hearings at the county complex.

“We were given a 7.6% budget from the county commissioners,” Rep. Steven Bogert (R-Laconia) said Wednesday night.  

“The budget committee worked through to find savings. It was a pretty tight budget,” he said. 

Bogert said increases in staff wages for many departments, and in negotiated contracts, plus rising health care costs, contributed to budget increases. 

Rattling off figures apparently from memory, another representative asked Bogert where he was looking at the numbers.

“When you live and sleep and dream this stuff, it’s there with you,” he said. Bogert also represents Ward 5 in Laconia on the city council.

Belknap County has 17 representatives from various communities within it. It had 18, but former Republican Rep. Matthew Lunney of Meredith resigned his position in December.

On Wednesday night, 13 were present: Glen Aldrich (R-Gilford), Bogert, Mike Bordes (R-Laconia), Matt Coker (R-Meredith), Russell Dumais (R-Gilford), Lisa Freeman (R-Tilton), Juliet Harvey-Bolia (R-Tilton), Sheri Minor (R-Laconia), Reps. David Nagel (D-Gilmanton), Thomas Ploszaj (R-Center Harbor), Charlie St. Clair (D-Laconia), Paul Terry (R-Alton), and Douglas Trottier (R-Belmont).

Not present for the vote on the budget were: Reps. Harry Bean (R-Gilford, chair), who had a medical appointment; Barbara Comtois (R-Barnstead); Travis Toner (R-Belmont); and Peter Varney (R-Alton).  

The eventual vote on the budget was 11-2. In favor were Aldrich, Bogert, Bordes, Coker, Dumais, Harvey-Bolia, Freeman, Minor, Nagel, Terry and Trottier. Against the vote were Ploszaj and St. Clair.

The county delegation has to pass a budget before April 1, otherwise the recommendations made by county commissioners go into effect by default.  

The budget includes $23.4 million in spending, and $16.5 million in revenues, including $2 million from the fund balance. It works out to a 4.4% increase in the amount to be raised in taxes, an estimated $13.63 on a $300,000 home. The official tax rate will be set by the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration. 

Those figures differ from the original recommendations made by county commissioners. They recommended a 7.6% increase in taxes. Spanos and Waring were present for the vote on Wednesday night, which was also attended by around 20 members of the public.

For appropriations to outside agencies providing services to county residents, representatives approved: $82,500 to the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension Service; $25,000 to the Belknap County Conservation District; $56,000 to the Community Action Program of Belknap and Merrimack Counties; and $16,000 to Lakes Region Mental Health Center in Laconia. 

Those figures were significantly lower, in some cases, than those recommended by county commissioners. Commissioners asked for $182,500 for UNH Cooperative Extension; $60,000 for Belknap County Conservation District; and level funding of $16,000 for Lakes Region Mental Health Center.

A capital improvements line item, meant for projects in the nursing home and county jail, was reduced by about $90,000 to $700,000. The nursing home budget is about $15.8 million in expenditures, and about $11 million in revenues. 

The delegation’s approved budget includes no funding for Court Appointed Special Advocates of New Hampshire, which received a small sum in last year’s budget.

Bogert said Wednesday night representatives of CASA never collected their last appropriation.