Dunbarton, a town that embraces its old ways, including the quirky custom of electing a newlywed couple to the position of hog reeves to symbolically keep wandering swine off the town’s roads, has decided to hold on to another long-standing practice: the traditional form of meeting.
At Saturday’s annual school district meeting, residents voted down a citizen-petitioned article that would have moved the town to the SB2 form of governance.
Named after the senate bill that allowed the change, SB2 splits the traditional meeting into two parts: a deliberative session in which residents can debate and amend warrant articles, followed by a separate voting day when all matters are decided by ballot.
For Nicholas Kapteyn, a newcomer to town, the decision came as a relief. Working for the town of Hooksett, he has seen firsthand how deliberative sessions under SB2 can play out.
“It was an absolute nightmare there,” Kapteyn said at the meeting as he urged residents to vote against changing the format of the annual school district meetings. “It was decimated in an hour by folks who clearly had no sense of community, did not have kids at their schools, all they wanted to do was not have their taxes raised.”
Voters rejected the shift to the SB2 format by a ballot vote of 152 to 46.
In communities considering a move away from traditional meetings, supporters often argue that SB2 encourages broader participation. They say it allows residents who cannot sit through lengthy meetings to still have their voices heard at the ballot box.
Suzanne Araldi said she sees value in both formats and wondered whether a solution could be found for residents like her with disabilities.
“It has caused me a lot of pain to be here tonight and sitting down where I’m sitting and being able to participate and listen,” she said. “If you want to attend a meeting, I think that’s great. It’s just not optimal for some of us. Is there a way that we could find a balance in a compromise here where it could be accessible for everybody?”
Residents also voted by ballot on the school district’s $11.6 million operating budget, which is a 9.8% increase from last year.
The budget passed with 147 votes in favor and 59 opposed.
All other warrant articles passed. The school district’s estimated total tax rate is $11.50 per $100,000 of assessed property value, an increase of 89 cents from the previous year.
The budget’s biggest drivers of increase are rising health insurance and transportation costs, trends affecting many school districts across the state.
For Dunbarton, higher health insurance premiums alone added $124,372 to this year’s budget.
Clement Madden, the school board chair, said with all the requirements to maintain the quality of education and expand the services offered, the state’s funding of public education remains problematic—particularly when it comes to “underfunding special education.”
He said the state’s insufficient funding for special education over the past ten years has reduced Dunbarton’s revenue by an estimated $80,000.
“The board also recognizes the taxpayer frustrated by what is seen as an unreal increase in the property taxes,” he said. “Over the last six years, adequacy rate by the state has not increased in a manner to keep with inflation, which directly reduces state aid that would offset local tax rate.”