Spending would increase 3.25 percent under Gilford Town Warrant

GILFORD — A town warrant will be placed before voters that would increase the municipal budget by $478,986, or 3.25 percent, the Board of Selectmen decided Wednesday evening.

Town Administrator Scott Dunn said the two biggest things driving the increase are a boost in the road improvement budget and the addition of two new full-time firefighters.

“Other reasons include increasing costs for personnel and benefits and increased costs for sewer expenses paid to the Winnipesaukee River Basin Project that is paid for by sewer fees and not tax dollars,” he said.

Also, this year, the town has budgeted for five elections, compared to two in 2019.

The Board of Selectmen and a budget committee were unanimous in their support of the budget numbers.

“The town is definitely investing more money in the maintenance of town-owned assets and I would daresay that is pretty important,” Dunn said.

Richard “Rags” Grenier, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said there are 90 miles of road in town.

“The thing is, we’ve kind of been falling behind,” he said. “Costs go up every year and we really want to stick to our plan.”

A complicating, and potentially expensive, issue arises with road work in the area when underground impediments are discovered. That was the case last year with a project on Liberty Hill Road.

“Once they started getting into it, they found old brick walls that nobody knew were there,” he said. “They didn’t show up on any plans and they had to be addressed.”

Under the budget proposal, it is estimated that the municipal portion of the tax rate will increase by 4 cents, which is less than 1 percent.

The total operating budget before voters will be $14.2 million, plus another $967,487 for special warrant articles. Should voters defeat the article containing the operating budget, the default budget would be $13.6 million.

Voters will also choose a selectman, a town clerk-tax collector, a treasurer, a moderator, a supervisor of the checklist, a trustee of trust funds, a library trustee, a cemetery trustee, three budget committee members and a fire engineer.

The filing period is underway for these offices and continues through Jan. 31.

The town warrant also has items for the purchase of air tanks and breathing apparatus for the fire department, the acquisition of a new ambulance and a heavy duty pickup with plow and accessories and the lease of a backhoe for the Public Works Department.

The first session of the annual town meeting will be held in the Gilford High School Auditorium, 88 Alvah Wilson Road, at 7 p.m. Feb. 6 for explanation, discussion and debate of the warrant articles. Voters who are present will have the opportunity to propose, debate and adopt amendments.

Voting will take place at the Gilford Youth Center, 19 Potter Hill Road, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on March 10 in the second session of the town meeting.