Hancock’s Select Board held a second public hearing for Fiscal Year 2027’s operating budget and its proposed warrant articles.
Warrant Article 8
Warrant Article 8, which encompasses the Paved Road Project and asks residents to vote on whether to raise $520,000 for road improvements through the issuance of bonds or notes, also asks voters to authorize the Select Board to apply for, accept and spend federal, state or other aid.
Department of Public Works Director Tyler Howe said the money is for paving and maintaining an 8,800-foot segment of King’s Highway.
Resident Ken MacLeod raised concerns about the article, noting that it came about late in the budgeting process. He said he was worried about the cost.
“It’s kind of a lot of money,” MacLeod said. He asked the board why it couldn’t remain a gravel road. “Most of the town roads are gravel, and it’s not a through road. That kind of money could buy us a new ambulance. Is this the most efficient way we can spend our money?”
He said he’d like to see the money spent on new rescue vehicles or the water department rather than a road that serves just a few people.
Select Board member Laurie Bryan said Howe was looking to keep local roads up to date and that the Select Board thought it was important to have the funds available to do so.
David Kidd asked if the town was looking to spend the money now to save the expense in the future.
“King’s Highway was done 10 to 12 years ago, but wasn’t complete. I’d like to rebuild it so there’s some longevity to it,” Howe said. He added that the expected life of the pavement, if done properly, would be 12 to 15 years, but if the road is gravel, it would require maintenance every three years.
Warrant Article 9
Article 9, “Borrow for Improving Compliance with the Federal Lead and Copper Rule,” asks voters to raise and appropriate $380,000 through the issuance of bonds or notes to cover the work needed to identify, engineer and replace water system services to comply with the rule. It would allocate the money for purchasing materials and equipment to do the work. The article seeks permission for the Select Board to issue and negotiate the bonds and notes and to determine the date, terms of payment and interest rate.
Resident Bill Flatley asked about how financing and cash flow will work. “Have we projected the effects on the town’s cash flow by outpayments and the time delay for reimbursement?”
Hancock Water Commission Chair Tom Shevenell said that it runs like a line of credit. “When we use $380,000, we put in a reimbursement request on a monthly basis. Then there’s a two-to-three-week turnaround for 100% repayment of that expense into our account,” he said.
Shevenell said that each year, the town will be charged a 1% annual fee based on how much is used from the line of credit; whatever is spent is then converted into a 66% forgiveness loan that will be paid by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services. The town will be responsible for paying 34% of the balance over a five-to-10 year period once the project is complete.
Shevenell provided an example. “If we spend $260,000, the state takes 66% off and then we pay the remaining amount over a set amount of time.” In this case, the town would be responsible for $88,400.
Warrant Article 13
Warrant Article 13 is to appropriate $60,000 to conduct a full property revaluation. According to the article, the last revaluation was performed in 2021.
“The town almost has enough in the Capital Reserve Fund to cover the full cost of this regular event,” Select Board Chair Betsy Villaume said. “The remaining $5,000 will come from the Unassigned Funds balance.”
According to Villaume, the revaluation is a statistical view of all the properties in town. “At the state level, some things, like how the school district divides up its budget, are based on an equalized valuation, which is a portion of all the nine towns in the district,” she said. “Its purpose is to bring the revaluation up to the value at which the state revaluates at.”
Resident Dave Carney expressed concern about state conservation and current use laws and their connection to property valuations. “We need to be more aggressive. We’re subsidizing someone who has a large piece of property that won’t let anyone on it,” he said. “Why are we subsidizing something not open to the public?”
MacLeod said current use laws don’t require public access; the lands just need to be actively in use. “Conservation is different; it’s an easement sold to a second or third party,” he said. “That land can’t be developed, but it can be used for agriculture.”
Warrant Article 15
With Warrant Article 15, the town is looking to establish a Water Capital Reserve Fund. The article proposes rehabilitating or replacing the Hancock Water Works water distribution and treatment systems. It requests raising and allocating an initial $10,000 to the fund.
“I think it’s a great idea to do this, but I have a question about the funding,” Flatley told the Select Board. “There’s an RSA that allows for the funding of capital reserve funds specifically from water reserves to operate at a surplus from the water commission, which could exceed the $10,000 needed to seed the fund.” He asked whether the town was planning to take the surplus from the water commission or get it through taxation.
Villaume said the town was not pulling from the water commission’s surplus. “Any surplus from the operations of the water system are used for future extraordinary maintenance needs,” she said. “The RSA doesn’t apply because Hancock’s water system is so old.”
According to Villaume, because the system was built in 1907, it was grandfathered in under existing legislation. “The legislation from 1907 is far more flexible for us,” she said.
Warrant Article 20
Article 20 covers the Hancock Fire Station Addition and Renovation Capital Reserve Fund. It asks the voters to raise and appropriate $75,000 to the fund.
When addressing residents about the article, Villaume said the paperwork requirements for the USDA-based grants will take time to complete and that Hancock’s Fire Department scaled back its plans to address its most critical needs first.
“The plan still is to maximize the $600,000 grant,” she said. “Timing isn’t working out with the town meeting coming up, so we want to keep adding funds to cover plans, engineering, etc.” According to Villaume, the Select Board wants to continue with the funding process without immediately committing a large amount of money to the project.
Kidd asked where the money was going to come from outside of the grant. Villaume said it would come from general taxation.
Other Articles
Articles 1 through 5 pertained to amending zoning ordinances and were not covered in the meeting.
Villaume said Warrant Articles 6 and 7 would be discussed at the Feb. 23 Select Board meeting. The articles involve prohibiting Keno and games of chance, respectively.