While Hancock voters spent much of their lengthy Town Meeting on Saturday talking about immigration issues (see article on page 1), they did find time to unanimously approve a $2.26-million operating budget with little discussion.
Voters also backed a lease-purchase agreement for a new six-wheel dump truck, agreed to spend $19,000 for a new raft and docks at the town beach, bought a radar sign for the Police Department to use to deter speeders and set up a capital reserve fund for future development of a cremation cemetery on land adjacent to Hillside Cemetery.
Select Board Chair John Jordan said the operating budget was up by just $70,000 over last year, with about half of the increase due to principal and interest on previously approved bonds. He said the town had completed a wage scale revision and that wages were only about $7,000 higher than they would have been under the old system.
Select Board member Tom Shevenell said the town’s 2001 dump truck needs to be replaced and it made more sense to lease a new truck than to buy it, because recent new trucks have had mechanical issues that could be quickly resolved by returning a leased vehicle. He said the town expects to keep the truck after the lease ended. “After five years, we would own it,” Shevenell said. The lease is for $156,900 over five years, with $34,505 as the first-year payment.
Recreation Commitee Chair Emily Daniels said the raft and docks at the Norway Pond beach had been removed last summer because they were unsafe. “[The raft] is very unsteady; it’s easy to slip off,” Daniels said. As for the dock, “If more than three people stand at the end, it collapses.”
Police Chief Andy Wood held up the portable radar sign that he was asking the town to purchase for $5,000. He said that, unlike a radar trailer, the sign was small enough to use easily on the town’s back roads. It not only displays speed for drivers, but can also be used to gather speed data to determine where and when officers should monitor speeding. It also has a camera; “It will take your photo if you try to steal it,” Wood said.
John Hayes followed Wood, saying “I’m here to speak about the polar opposite of speeding.” Hayes displayed a map of the proposed expansion of the Hillside Cemetery, which would create 708 cremation plots on land donated by the late Richard and Eleanor Amidon. The warrant article was for $10,000 to start a cemetery capital reserve fund; Hayes said the ultimate goal is to raise $50,000. “We think it will take about five years to raise the funds,” he said.
Other warrant articles approved included $20,000 for the Bridge Capital Reserve Fund, $5,000 for the Meetinghouse Capital Reserve Fund, $5,000 to support the Grapevine Family and Community Resource Center, $1,000 for the Grapevine’s Avenue A program, $2,500 for the town’s Independence Day fireworks display, $500 for the Contoocook Valley Transportation Company
Jordan said the town had an unassigned fund balance of about $600,000 at the end of 2016, well above the state’s recommended level of surplus funds, which is about $400,000 for a town of Hancock’s size. Therefore, the Select Board chose to recommend using about $102,000 to pay the costs of the warrant articles, so they would have no impact on the tax rate.
Dave Anderson can be reached at 924-7172, ext. 233, or danderson@ledgertranscript.com