After six years on Bow’s budget committee, including the last four years as chairman, John Heise is ready to move on and spend more time with his two kids.
Before he steps away, Heise will watch one more set of budgets that he and his co-committee members have examined for months go before voters in March.
The town budget’s impact on the tax rate is projected to be $7.82 per $1,000 of assessed property value, a drop of about 27 cents (or 3.3 percent) from last year’s rate. For a $300,000 home, this estimated drop off the tax bill would be about $81.
On the school’s budget, the estimated tax impact is $17.52, an increase of 79 cents from last year and about $237 for a $300,000 home.
At this point, the town and school budgets are mostly aligned with the budget committee’s recommendations. Wednesday’s public hearings on both budgets totaled 18 minutes, with only a couple of questions coming from the 10 or so residents who attended. This year’s process has been pretty smooth, Heise said.
As the town continues to set aside money anticipating a future abatement on the Merrimack Station power plant, Heise said this has forced the town and schools to “keep our wallets tight.” The town budget has $1.9 million earmarked under legal services for the Merrimack Station case, a bit more than the $1.892 million budgeted for the same reason last year.
He said department leaders and the school and select boards “did their due diligence” and turned in lean proposals.
“This year, there wasn’t a lot of wiggle room in different areas because they already did their job,” Heise said. “You’re going to need things like salt and fuel. There weren’t a lot of asks by department heads for expenditures we didn’t think were necessary.”
Changes can still be made by voters at the annual town and school district meetings on March 13 and 15, respectively.
The main drivers behind the school district budget are new contracts for teachers and support staff, as well as depositing $400,000 into a fund for renovations at Bow Elementary School.
Article 3 on the school district’s warrant asks voters if they want to close the Special Education Expendable Trust Fund. Bow Assistant Superintendent for Business Duane Ford said only three deposits have been made since the fund was created in 2002, and that money has never been used.
“The way it was set up in ’02 was pretty restrictive in terms of the language, so even if we wanted to use it there are only really narrow situations where we can actually access those funds,” he said.
If voters decide to close that account, the balance of $370,253 would lapse into the general fund and counts as revenue.
(Nick Stoico will be reached at 369-3321, nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)