It’s that time of year — budget tussles abound

LACONIA — In what has become a traditional exercise, Belknap County commissioners are recommending a budget they call conservative, while critics call it bloated and in need of cuts.

Commissioners recommend a budget, but it is up to the Legislative Delegation, which meets tonight, to approve the spending plan.

In a letter to the editor, former Rep. Marc Abear, R-Meredith, labeled as “venture socialism” commission recommendations for $132,000 in expenditures to three outside agencies — Belknap Economic Development Council, the county Conservation District and Lakes Region Mental Health Center.

“The commissioners are wrong to try to be picking winners and losers in the business community using our tax dollars,” he wrote. “These non-profit groups should be raising money from the community. If their product has value, people will support them with their dollars directly.”

The commission’s latest recommendation is for a $30.4 million budget for 2019, with the amount to be raised by taxes growing 2 percent. Meanwhile, a delegation executive committee has come up with a $29.1 million budget, with the amount to be raised by taxes declining 9.1 percent.

Commissioner Hunter Taylor said that for the past four years the delegation has made substantial cuts in the commission-recommended budget.

“Put in simple terms, the gist of their position is that the county population has not grown, therefore no meaningful new money is needed for the operation of the county,” he said in a letter. “This argument would make some sense if the amount of prior funding had, in fact, been adequate.”

Belknap County is one of six counties in New Hampshire with a population of less than 100,000. Last year, on average, the other five counties spent $10 million more than Belknap County.

“Budgetary incompetence was identified when Moody’s Investor Services downgraded the county bond rating by two full notches in 2018,” Taylor said.

“Moody’s report told the world of investors that the county is unwilling to invest in itself, why should you invest in it?”

Rep. Mike Sylvia, R-Belmont, the delegation chairman, said the commission recommends more than necessary to run the county.

"If you project out the previous spending for the last few years and add on 2.5 percent to account for inflation, it comes out to just over $28 million, and they are looking for $30 million," he said. "They are way high." 

The largest spending disparity between the commission’s recommendation and that of the delegation’s executive committee involves money that would go to a program for mental health care, substance use treatment and social services.

The commission recommends an expenditure of $800,000, which is to be doubled with federal money, and spent with a community organization composed of nonprofit behavioral health providers. The delegation committee is against this expenditure, which would be funded with a windfall of federal money provided to the nursing home.

Sylvia said he strongly disagrees with the program, which he calls "corporate welfare."

He also said average spending in other counties does not provide an apt comparison for the Belknap County budget.

"If the county were underfunded, we would not be providing services that are needed, but we have a five-star rated nursing home, a new correctional facility, the sheriff's department runs well," he said. "To say that the county is not providing services required doesn't seem realistic. As far as comparison to other counties, other counties spend and do things beyond the proper functions of county government." 

Payroll expenses create another area of difference.

Commission Chairman Dave DeVoy said staff vacancies may present a false picture that payroll expenses have declined, when, in reality, these expenses will grow when the positions are filled.

“We don’t pad the budget,” he said. “We fund the county at the level it’s supposed to be funded.”

Another area of difference involves the so-called fund balance, or the county’s unspent reserves.

The delegation committee proposed spending $1 million from this fund, while the commission is recommending a $650,000 expenditure, which would leave more than $3 million in reserves.

Adequate money in reserves is one of the things bond-rating agencies look for in assessing the county’s financial picture.

Sylvia said he disagrees with Moody's analysis, and said that if a large expense arose that was greater than county reserves, taxes could be increased quickly.