Office of the Select Board

Town of Orange, New Hampshire

Minutes of January 31, 2017


Joint meeting with the Select Board and Budget Committee
Select Board Present: Dorothy Heinrichs Chair; Robert Ells, Lyell ‘Skip’ Smith, and Sandi

Pierson (clerical).
Budget Committee present: David Stacy, Chair; Bob Proulx, secretary; and Sophie Seace Others present: Tamara Fairbank and Sharon Proulx.

Meeting opened at 6:00 PM.

The Select Board and Budget Committee met to continue to draft the 2017 budget. A preliminary outline of the 2017 warrant was reviewed.

Warrant recommendations:

  •   ARTICLE 1: Election of officers; no recommendation needed.

  •   ARTICLE 2: Zoning article pertaining to Accessory Dwelling Units. Bob Proulx will

    submit the text to the Select Board office. Bob noted that the article was unanimously

    recommended by the Planning Board. Recommendation by the Select Board is not needed.

  •   ARTICLE 3: To see if the Town will authorize the Tax Collector to accept the prepayment

    of taxes pursuant to RSA 80:52-a. Taxpayers shall be allowed to prepay taxes no more than two years in advance of the due date of the taxes. No interest shall accrue to the taxpayer on any prepayment, nor shall any interest be paid to the taxpayer on any prepayment which is later subject to rebate or refund. Select Board voted unanimously to recommend this article.

  •   ARTICLE 4: To see if the town will vote to eliminate the position of an elected cemetery agent in accordance with RSA 669:17-b and allow the Cemetery Trustees to annually appoint an agent or custodian in accordance with the authority vested in the Trustees under RSA 289:7 (II). Select Board voted unanimously to recommend this article.

  •   ARTICLE 5: To see if the town will vote to eliminate the position of an elected welfare agent effective at the time of this vote in accordance with RSA 669:17-b and allow the Board of Selectmen to annually appoint a welfare agent in accordance with RSA 41:56. (Presently there is not an elected Overseer of Public Welfare in office. These duties are being administered by the Board of Selectmen.) Select Board voted unanimously to recommend this article.

  •   ARTICLE 6: To see if the Town will vote to accept the increases in hourly wages and stipends recommended in the Report of the Salary Study Committee. Select Board voted unanimously to recommend this article. The Budget Committee voted unanimously to recommend this article.

  •   ARTICLE 7: To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) to be paid into the Town Highway Equipment Capital Reserve Fund #NH-01- 0700-0012 (opened 05/08/2007) for the purpose of purchasing highway-related equipment. Select Board voted unanimously to recommend this article. The Budget Committee voted unanimously to recommend this article.

  •   ARTICLE 8: To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate four thousand dollars ($4,000.00) to be paid into the Revaluation Capital Reserve Fund #NH-01-0700-0014 opened 05/08/2007 for the purpose of a revaluation of property. Select Board voted unanimously to recommend this article. The Budget Committee voted unanimously to recommend this article.

  •   ARTICLE 9: To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate six thousand dollars ($6,000.00) to be paid into the Town Road Improvement Capital Reserve Fund #NH-01- 0700-0013 opened 06/26/2007 for the purpose of maintaining Town roads. Select Board voted unanimously to recommend this article. The Budget Committee voted unanimously to recommend this article.

  •   ARTICLE 10: This is the vote to raise and appropriate the municipal operating budget. The figure will not be finalized until after the Public Hearing on the budget recommendation.

  •   ARTICLE 12: To hear the reports of agents, auditors, committees and officers and to transact any other business that may legally come before this meeting. No recommendation needed.

    When the warrant is deemed complete, it will be sent to the town’s attorney for review.

    Municipal operating budget:

    The Select Board and Budget Committee revisited the following 2017 budget items:

    •   Legal Expense: Dorothy shared correspondence from the town’s attorney regarding the projected costs for 2017. Retainer is $2000 and the approximation of Orange’s share of Fairpoint litigation is $2000. The Select Board and Budget Committee set the legal item at $4000.

    •   FICA: $2,500. Decreased from the earlier meeting after reviewing the actual 2016 expenditures.

    •   Cemeteries: This category was set at $3000, an increase of $1000 over last year because the town needs to purchase a riding mower.

    •   Officer Expenses: This was earlier set at $7,500. Sophie Seace, speaking as town clerk, expressed her frustration with the DOT’s vehicle registration software not working correctly on her computer, especially when quarterly updates are received. She stated that because the DOT does not offer tech assistance and the town does not have on-call tech support, resolving these software issues has cost her numerous hours from her employment throughout the year. She requested that the Budget Committee and Select Board add $5,250 to the Officer Expenses line item so she can purchase outside vendor software that will do the task, which other towns are using. The annual subscription cost for the software would be $950, which, for 2017, is included in the initial purchase. After discussion, the Committee and Select Board felt that an outside vendor software is necessary for the town clerk’s tasks and unanimously approved the request. This set Officer Expenses at $11,750. The Committee and the Board agreed that DOT software issues should be remedied by the State and not force towns to pay for outside vendor software. The Board will relay these feelings to our government representatives.

  •   General Government Buildings was revisited and set at $6000.

  •   The road agent request of $102,250 was revisited. In his report, Road Agent Scott

    Sanborn stated that if necessary he could still get by with the budget being level funded. Because of the unexpected expense of the town clerk’s software, it was agreed to level fund the Highway budget at $98,000.

  •   Solid waste: Casella notified the town that they did not anticipate any increase in their rates. After reviewing the 2016 expenditures, the 2017 appropriation was set at $34,000.

  •   Culture and Recreation: This was earlier level funded at $350. Since this line item has been historically underspent, it was revised to $200.

  •   Buildings Capital Outlay: This was earlier level funded at $2,000. After reviewing the projected tasks for 2017, it was revised to $1000.

    Anticipated revenue (offsets municipal budget):

Interest and Penalties on Delinquent Taxes: This was set at $5,500 on the recommendation of Tax Collector Sharon Proulx.

Meeting adjourned 7:10 PM. Respectfully submitted, Sandi Pierson

Dorothy Behlen Heinrichs

Robert Ells

Lyell Smith