Page 5 - March Newfound Lake Life

March 2021 NEWFOUNDLAKELIFE.COM Page 5
SAU 4 Warrant and Elections
Community
Newfound School District seeks voter input on elections and six warrant articles this month
By donna rhodes
NEWFOUND REGION – Following their Jan. 30th First Deliberative Session, voters form the seven towns in the Newfound Area School District will now head to the polls to decide on school board and budget com- mittee openings as well as cast their final decision on the other six articles on SAU4 warrant for 2021.
The top item on that warrant
July unassigned fund balance from the amount of 2.5-percent to 5-percent of the current year’s net assessment (under RSA 198:5). That money would then be placed in a contingency fund to could be utilized as necessary in future fiscal years.
The final two articles were submitted by petition and call for changes in the district’s cur- rent tax cap. Article 5 requests that the tax cap be modified from two-percent to three-per-
current committee chair Jeff Levesque; and Hebron resident Thomas M. Edwards is seeking the school board seat that has been held by Jason Robert. On the Budget Committee mid-term incumbent Erick Piper is seeking
a one-year seat for Bridgewa- ter; Virginia Parker is another running for representative from Groton and Jennifer Larochelle is asking for votes to represent the Town of Hebron.
Elections and SB2 voting re- sults on the NASD warrant will take place at each of the seven towns on Tues., Mar. 9. Please check your local town hall for polling times and locations.
50 years of award winning sign
design and craftsmanship
Full service sign shop; from concept to installation
Service and Refurbish old signs
Commercial - Residential - Carved - LED - Vehicles Wraps - Interior - Exterior - Camp/House
- Mention this ad for a special discount -
603-279-6767 paquettesigns.com
this year will be the $25,585,245 operating budget, which the leg- islative body had increased by $999,181 during their delibera- tive session. The lower number of $24,585,245 proposed by the Budget committee would have brought deep cuts in athletics, music, field trips, para- and pro- fessional positions, facilities, tech- nology and more. That change in the warrant came after voters approved an amendment pro- posed by Bristol resident Rick Alpers, which was supported by more than 20 students, adults and athletic coaches who rose to speak in favor of his amendment that day. Should district voters not approve that $25,585,245 budget at the polls, the default budget will be last year’s budget of $25,226,038.
In other articles, voters will be asked to raise and appropriate $350,000 for inclusion in the Ex- pendable Trust Fund for building maintenance, authorizing that the amount be transferred from the 2021 undesignated fund bal- ance on July 21st of this year and not come from any raise in tax- ation.
Under RSA 198:4-b II, Arti- cle 4 asks for permission for the district to change its retention of unused portions of the annual
cent, giving the district a more realistic tax cap since, after grant adjustments and other revenues, the current cap actually provides the district with a lower number. Budget Committee Chair Ruby Hill of Danbury explained that the three-percent cap would ac- tually bring the district to the more realistic two-percent cap numbers after revenues are sub- tracted from the budget total.
In the meantime, Article 6, also by petition, asks voters if they would rather just rescind the RSA 32:5-b tax cap that was adopted by the district in 2012 altogether. Doing so would mean there would no longer be a limit on the recommended budget presented to voters each March.
A three-fifths majority on each of those articles is required. Should they both meet that requirement, Article 5 would supersede Article 6, due to its placement on the warrant.
Elections for school board and budget committee members that all district voters are asked to de- cide upon this year are as follows: School Board incumbent Melissa Suckling will be running in the only contested race against fellow Danbury resident Molly White; In Groton Britta Matthews looks to fill the seat being vacated by