Emergency budget transfer needed to sustain county operations

LACONIA — County operations could be cut back in the coming days unless the Belknap County Convention's Executive Committee approves the transfer of some budgeted funds, County Commissioner Ed Philpot warned yesterday.

"We start to shut down operations," Philpot said regarding the ramifications if the funding transfers being sought by the County Commission are not approved.

With appropriations for wages of part-time employees expended, the County Commission is seeking to transfer funds appropriated for full-time employees and other purposes to maintain staffing of the nursing home, county jail and sheriff's department. In a letter dated Sept. 18 the commissioners urged state Rep. Frank Tilton, who chairs the Executive Committee, to convene a meeting "early next week, so that we may request transfers to continue operating the County without severe impact to the delivery of service."

Already the commissioners have authorized County Administrator Debra Shackett to re-designate part-time employees as full-time employees temporarily to ensure sufficient personnel at the nursing home. The county jail is in lockdown, with no public visitors and minimal movement of inmates.

The impending fiscal crisis follows the ruling last month by Superior Court Justice James D. O'Neill, III of Belknap which prohibits the commissioners from transferring more than $300 from one line item to another without the approval of the Executive Committee.

In August, prior to the court order, Tilton scheduled a meeting of the Executive Committee on Sept. 15. Soon afterward he was informed that two of the three commissioners as well as the county administrator would be unable to attend and was asked to convene another meeting as soon as possible.

When the commissioners met three days later, on Sept. 18, they approved a list of requested fund transfers, stressing that without them staffing issues, particularly at the nursing home, would arise within a week.

"It wasn't urgent on Monday" (Sept. 15), Tilton said yesterday, and he wondered how it became urgent three days later. "I read that in the newspaper," he remarked. "That's how I get my information from the county." However, he said that in light of the court decision "it was obvious they were going to have requests for transfers. Had there been anything on the table when we met on the 15th," he continued, "we could have discussed it, but there was nothing on the table."

Shackett said that "there has been a crisis coming since the judge issued his order, but did we call in a panic earlier? No."

Tilton has scheduled a meeting of the Executive Committee for Monday, Sept. 29. He stressed that if the committee receives the information it requires "at least a day before the meeting" it will make a decision when it meets.