Peterborough’s deliberative session resulted in a change to a petition warrant article calling for funds to support the Economic Development Authority, but all other warrant articles, including the proposed $13.7 million operating budget, went unamended.
The petition warrant article initially called for $31,000 to be raised for two years of a contractual service to support the EDA’s efforts to promote business retention and development in town through social media, and was changed with an amendment by Sarah Steinberg Heller to be $15,500 for one year.
“This seems like a good idea to me,” she said. “Let’s see what happens over a year.”
The article initially received little support from the Select Board and Budget Committee, as the petitioners did not present on the topic until deliberative session. Petitioner Jeanne Deitsch said that the EDA was not notified of the meeting where the Select Board and Budget Committee made their recommendations on articles.
The work involved in the article, she said, was funded in prior years at a level of $70,000, spurring a three-year plan to keep businesses in town, attract young families and increase tourism.
“We are volunteers working hard to make this town a good place to be in and to do business,” she said. “It worked. We managed to put our website together and our kindergarten has grown, we’ve had new families coming to town.”
But the work isn’t over, Deitsch said.
“The problem is, at this point in time, there’s a great workforce shortage,” she said. “We need to be able to attract new blood.”
Currently, Deitsch said the EDA has contracted with Drumm Digital Media to target markets in larger cities in the hopes of attracting entrepreneurs and bringing more business to Peterborough. The money in the petitioned article would go toward continuing this work.
Megan Suokko, a business owner in town who sits on the EDA but is not a resident, said Drumm does eight posts a month on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and some of the work involves ads on these sites as well as Google. Many of the posts focus on “faces of Peterborough” and spotlight small business owners, and Suokko said that she could personally account for six entrepreneurs who were drawn to the town through this work.
“I think it would be a shame to not take the little bit of money and invest in this,” she said.
Other residents expressed support of the work as well, with Dewey Clark stating that the town needed the support.
“To me, a town that is not growing is a town that is dying,” he said.
Select Board Chair Tyler Ward said that since the board had not heard this information previously, they had voted 2-1 against recommending it. He added that in such a tight budget year, the board and Budget Committee were wary of extra spending.
“We have been conscious of every dollar,” he said.
Selectman Bill Kennedy said that he was the vote to support the article, and that he still wanted it to go forward.
“I think it’s penny-wise, pound-foolish to not spend this money,” he said.
The Select Board and Budget Committee retook their votes on recommending the article, with the Select Board voting 2-1 in support, and the Budget Committee voting 4-2 in support with two members absent.
The rest of the articles were moved to the official ballot without amendments, including the proposed $13.7 million operating budget. Town Administrator Nicole MacStay said the figure represented a $20,000 decrease over last year, or a 0.001% change – a number MacStay said required a decimal point extension beyond the town’s regular calculations.
“That’s how flat it is,” she said. “I cannot but applaud the department directors.”
Most of the change came in decreased spending within departments, MacStay said, as there are many increases that the town expected and budgeted for. These include a 2.8% increase in health insurance, a combined 4.6% wages and cost-of-living increase and an expected increase of 30% in electricity costs.
The operating budget does not include all of the town’s proposed spending, as another $3 million would be spent from revolving and special revenue funds. These funds are separate from the operating budget, but are part of the town’s total spending for the next fiscal year.
Other warrant articles include approving spending from the pay-as-you-throw special revenue fund that operates and maintains the town’s waste collection system, raising funds to add to town capital reserve funds, including the roadway system upgrades reserve fund for $400,000; and the creation of a new expendable trust fund for the municipal facilities campus project with $350,082. The money for this last article will come from ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds, according to MacStay.
Also on the ballot will be the approval of the town’s community power plan, which was finalized by the Community Power Task Force in February. For information on the plan, visit peterboroughnh.gov.
All of these items will appear on the town’s ballot, to be voted on from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on May 10 in the Peterborough Community Center. Residents will also elect town officials and decide on zoning amendments at that time.
The remainder of the town’s warrant, which will consist of an article asking for approval of a $2 million bond to begin engineering and design work on the fire station project and another seeking approval to raise and add $328,738 to the town’s ambulance revolving fund, will be decided at Town Meeting May 11 at 7 p.m.