A new police truck, a backhoe loader, and a $2.5 million operating budget will all appear on Hancock’s ballot this year.
Monday’s budget hearing offered an audience of over a dozen the chance to learn about and ask questions about this year’s crop of warrant articles, which will be further discussed and then voted on during town meeting on March 16.
This year’s proposed operating budget sits at $2,473,014, a 6.5 percent increase over last year’s approved figure.
Four contributing factors were cited for the $150,454 increase to the operating budget: $43,096 for a truck lease, $43,879 for increases in health insurance, $25,000 for legal fees, and $38,479 in other “miscellaneous expenses.”
Police Chief Andrew Wood proposed Monday to replace one of the town’s aging police cruisers with a four-door police truck.
“We’re here to benefit all departments, and we want to help everybody we can on any scene – that’s why I’m looking at a truck,” Wood said.
Wood said a truck would be more useful to the town due to its storage ability and higher clearance from the road.
The article on the ballot asks voters to raise $47,000 to purchase and outfit a new police vehicle, with up to $37,000 of the cost being paid for by a loan and $10,000 coming from an insurance payout from the police cruiser that was totaled in a crash in November.
To save the town money, Director of Public Works Mia Lee said she is working to get the town a certified-used backhoe loader to replace the town’s 2003 backhoe. Lee said the cost of the backhoe loader will be between $75,000 and $85,000; the warrant article as of Monday listed an $80,000 price tag.
Lee also advocated to raise $60,000 to make repairs to Duncan Road, one of the roads damaged in last year’s flood.
With Duncan Road was scheduled to be fixed in the town’s next five-year bond cycle for road repairs, Lee said the cost of the next bond will be cheaper.
It was said Monday that the town will try to get one loan for the police truck, the Duncan Road repairs, and the backhoe loader, should all three articles pass, to get a better interest rate.
Lee said $16,700 is also needed for a new plow and wing replacement, which would go on the town’s 2016 truck. Lee said the plow on the truck right now is about 30 years old.
Another article on the ballot seeks to raise $30,000 for municipal fund accounting software.
Town Administrator Jonathan Coyne said during the meeting that the town is currently running on Quickbooks, which isn’t designed for municipalities. The new software would not only create efficiencies but would also save money on town audits in future years, he said.
The following articles will also appear on the ballot:
■to raise $35,000 for designing and implementing downtown public Wi-Fi and to have an engineering design completed to improve internet access to underserved parts of town, $15,000 will come from a Hancock Improvement Association grant
■to raise $20,000 to conduct a topographic survey of the Amidon Annex property for future cemetery design, all funds will come from the Amidon Annex Cemetery Capital Reserve Fund
■to raise $6,675 for repairs to the meeting house, funds will come from the Meetinghouse Capital Reserve Fund
■to raise $8,100 to fund an Independence Day fireworks display, $4,300 will come from the Fireworks Expendable Trust Fund and $3,800 will come from taxation
■to raise $5,000 to add to the Meetinghouse Capital Reserve Fund
■to adopt a 2018 draft of the Town of Hancock Mandatory Recycling and Transfer Station Ordinance
■to modify the veteran’s tax credit from $300 a year to $500 a year
■to raise $5,000 to help fund the Grapevine Community Resource Center
■to raise $1,000 to help fund the Grapevine Avenue A Program
■to raise $500 to support the Community Volunteer Transportation Company
■to raise $675 to support Hundred Nights, Inc. – submitted by petition
Seven warrant articles on the ballot, described by Selectman John Jordan as “bookkeeping,” received little discussion on Monday.
Many of the articles ask voters to approve the use of various special revenue funds for purchases and repairs of $5,000 or less.