Jeanie Forrester: Proposed 2026 Meredith town budget 5.5% higher, with noteworthy increases

The Dec. 8 Meredith Selectboard meeting included a presentation on the Main Street project, discussion of the 2026 budget and a recommendation for the reorganization of the community development department.

The engineering firm tasked with creating a conceptual plan for Main Street presented their findings relative to parking on Main Street. Their study identified and evaluated parking utilization patterns including parking occupancy and turnover to determine whether parking deficiencies exist. Data collection occurred in mid-August between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and included on-street parking, municipal parking lots, and parking adjacent to Main Street. This study concluded that adequate parking exists along and immediately adjacent to Main Street and in the central business district. For more detailed information, including recommendations for improvements, visit meredithnh.gov/335/Studies.

The gross budget proposal for 2026 is $23.4 million, which is 5.5% higher than 2025. Increases over the 2025 budget for a few highlighted items are

A 3.2% Cost of Living Adjustment for employees at $220,617;

A benefits increase of $101,273;

An increase in property liability/workers compensation insurance of $81,000;

$300,000 increase in spending on roads;

$20,000 for knotweed removal;

$25,000 for a pay and wage class study;

$15,000 for the 250th anniversary celebration of Independence Day;

$75,000 for an economic development consultant;

$82,000 reflecting staffing changes in Community Development and the Town Manager’s Office;

And capital improvement items in the amount of $298,000.

The town manager advised that $100,000 in excess funds from the 2025 budget were used to fund four projects in 2026: $8,000 for the Meredith News Digital Conversion, $27,000 for the Police Department’s second floor carpet project and cruiser computer replacements, $40,000 for the town ordinance update project, and $25,000 for the cemetery columbarium project (a structure for cremated remains).

Also discussed during the budget presentation was information about the fire department including the cost of the recently ordered Pierce Enforcer pumper at $1.2 million and statistics about major incident types in 2024 and 2025. Comparing 2024 activity with 2025, through Dec. 3, there were 576 calls for service in 2024, and 580 service calls in 2025. Most calls were false alarms with 33% in 2024, and 31% in 2025. Rescue and medical services were 16% in 2024, and 19% in 2025. Actual fire calls were 8.3% in 2024, and 9.7% in 2025.

The town manager presented four alternatives for the reorganization of the Community Development Department, recommending the last alternative. That alternative would reclass the currently vacant full-time office clerk position (grade 4) to a planner 1 (grade 12), rename the town planner to senior planner and reclassify the human resources position (grade 16) in the manager’s office to deputy town manager — HR & special projects (grade 19). It will eliminate the current part-time office clerk position in community development and add a full-time administrative assistant in the manager’s office that would be shared with community development. The fiscal impact in the 2026 budget wage line is $81,858. Finally, the department name would change to the Planning & Development Department to better reflect the purpose of the department. The selectboard agreed to the manager’s proposal except for the title change of the HR director.

The next meeting is Monday, Dec. 22.

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Jeanie Forrester serves on the Meredith Selectboard.