Delegation to commission: Cut county budget by 8%

LACONIA — Members of the Belknap County Delegation are examining the budget proposed by commissioners, taking a hard look — line by line — trying to discern areas they can trim some of the fat.

At a meeting of the budget subcommittee Monday night, delegation Chair Rep. Harry Bean (R-Gilford) said he’s learned by combing through the budget at the state level officials foresee an economic recession, and asked legislators to cut the budget by 8%, somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 billion. 

“I’m on the state budget committee, finance, I’ve been on that committee for the last two terms, and I’ve been appointed to that again. We, at the state level, have been tasked with an 8% reduction in the budget which equates to approximately $1 billion,” Bean said Monday.

“When the state is trying to do a negative 8% and we’re talking about an 11.9% increase, that is going to create some problems. I’m going to be, at least, looking for you and the department heads to help find these cuts,” he continued, addressing county staff members.

The budget proposed by County Commissioners Peter Spanos, Glen Waring and Stephen Hodges includes a 5% increase, with 11.9% to be raised by taxes. Total expenditures for the county, according to the proposal, would go up 5.3% over last year, at $38.17 million. This is an increase of about $1.7 million, more than $1 million of which is used to fund the nursing home. Total revenues in the proposal are down 3.9% at $14.5 million.

A house assessed at $300,000 would realize an increase of roughly $36 in county taxes, according to the proposal.

Through January, the budget subcommittee — which includes Bean, Reps. Steven Bogert (R-Laconia), Juliet Harvey-Bolia (R-Tilton), Mike Bordes (R-Laconia), Lisa Freeman (R-Tilton), Matthew Lunney (R-Meredith) and Charlie St. Clair (D-Laconia) — will review portions of the budget with the respective county department heads. Usually, the broader delegation will review their suggestions, often in a single meeting, and either accept or alter the budget proposal. 

“I don’t know if there’s going to be position deletions, but we cannot go anywhere near 11.9% in my opinion, and that’s based on the information I’m getting on the state level,” Bean said. “Stuff rolls downhill, it’s not going to stop here, the towns. And then when it gets beyond that it goes to the taxpayers. We have got to be very cautious, more so than in the past when we had extra money — they’re expecting a recession and they expect it to be starting very soon.”

“I think as you are determining that there needs to be cuts, it is my preference that the department heads be able to decide where, or the commissioners really, because they need to decide what services are going to be offered and which ones are not,” County Administrator Debra Shackett said Monday. 

Throughout the evening, budget committee members identified various line items from department budgets, such as in administration, information technology, maintenance and finance, which could be reduced, generally ensuring level-funding with the year prior. They looked at creative ways of tightening the belt, potentially switching from Zoom to Microsoft Teams for remote meetings, which is software already used by the county, for example. Members present were Bean, Bogert, Harvey-Bolia, Bordes and Lunney.

This process will continue over the next month until Statehouse representatives, working with commissioners and department heads, agree on and set a new budget. 

Shackett said Tuesday she doesn’t see a direct relationship between budget restraints at the state level and the need to cut expenses at the county level, but noted reduced revenues from the state, resulting from cuts there, could hypothetically — in an extreme case — force tough choices upon the delegation, to either increase county spending or reduce county services.

But this process is typical, she said.

“We don’t expect that there would be no further cuts to the commissioner’s proposal,” she said. “It probably won’t cause reduced services at this point.”

Aside from state politics, Shackett said there’s been pressure to reduce costs in past years, and noted the current delegation makeup has been reasonable thus far, fostering a good relationship with the county administration and its employees. 

The next meeting of the budget subcommittee is set for 2 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 13, at the county complex.