Meredith town manager reduces budget request by $100K

MEREDITH — The proposed town manager’s budget is currently a 5.5% increase over last year, and is expected to be voted on by the selectboard at the end of the month, to be included in the warrant presented to voters at Town Meeting early next year.

The proposed budget request is for $23.4 million, $100,000 lower than the 2026 department budget request total. Town leaders have been going through the 2026 budget process since October, and on Monday, Town Manager Judie Milner presented her proposed budget, which will be up for further discussion on Monday, Dec. 22.

The savings in the town manager's proposal include the following items removed from the 2026 budget: $40,000 for the ordinance update project; $27,000 for a carpet project and cruiser computer replacements; $25,000 for a columbarium project for the cemetery; and $8,000 for the Meredith News Digital Conversion at the library.

The main increases over the 2025 budget include $300,000 for roads; $298,000 for capital items; a cost of living adjustment of 3.2%, amounting to $220,617; $101,273 for benefits; and $81,145 for property liability and workers compensation insurance.

Also included is a pay and wage class study for town positions amounting to $25,000; $20,000 designated for knotweed removal; and $15,000 for the country’s 250th anniversary celebration. There are also proposed planning and development changes, and increases include $81,858 for salaries, and $75,000 for a consultant.

“That’s about just over $1.2 million of the difference between the two, from 2025 to 2026,” Milner said.

Milner discussed the net town appropriation of $16.4 million, meaning the total appropriation of expenditures, minus the revenues, other than taxes.

In 2025, the net appropriation prior to the fund balance to reduce is $15.4 million, and the net appropriation after the fund balance use is $13.6 million. The fund balance was used twice, for expendable trust funds, and to reduce the tax rate.

The net appropriation prior to using any of the fund balance, which Milner said is not recommended, is $16.4 million for 2026.

Milner also said the 2026 municipal tax rate with these figures would be $4.17 per $1,000 of assessed value. This is only if the assessed value did not change, something Milner said Meredith residents shouldn’t count on.

“This number is one-in-a-million chance, that this number will be the tax rate for next year,” she said. “People like to see this for some reason, so we’re presenting it, but there’s so much that is going to go on.”

She said last year, the tax rate was expected to go up 19%, and it only went up 2.7%, because there was more than $30 billion in assessed value.

“If you have more assessed value, and collecting the same amount of taxes, your tax rate’s going to go down,” she said. “Please take this number with the biggest grain of salt you can find out there in the roads.”

The amount being funded for the Capital Improvements Program amounts to $1.4 million, so if that were taken out of the proposed budget, the percentage change from 2025 would be a negative number. She said the manager’s proposal is a 5.5% increase, and the department budget would be a 5.9% increase.

The budget discussions all began on Oct. 27, which Milner said was so early all the numbers weren’t in yet. One example was that the mutual fire aid amount was adjusted, because they had a high estimate. The board also asked to include the $15,000 for the 250th celebration next year.

There was also an increase in short-term disability insurance of 5.5% that wasn’t included initially, a couple small adjustments to the cellphone line, and the introduction of an information technology contract for the police department. Milner added when the board first looked at the budget, they did not know about the upcoming retirement of Public Works Director Mike Faller. Faller had reached the maximum pay scale, step 12, and the person filling that position will be reduced to step 6.

Other additions are $6,000 for a new annual report appropriation, and $3,600 for a service contract for the town hall streaming.

Milner said the town recently won an arbitration hearing, which released funding that allowed her to move funds from the proposed budget to the current budget.

“These were the changes in the department proposal, but I reduced it by $100,000, because we moved appropriations into the current budget,” Milner said.

Milner said the selectboard wishes to have the budget finished up by Dec. 31, but January is still open for changes if necessary. A public hearing will take place in February, with a date to be announced. The budget will ultimately be voted on at Town Meeting in March.