Town Administrator Andre Guaranton told the Hooksett Budget Committee on Tuesday that the town council's recommended operating budget is $22,324,411, excluding the wastewater district, representing an increase of $493,153, or about 2.3% over the current year.

Guaranton said the recommendation maintains current staffing levels, anticipates an increase for end-of-life computer replacements and includes a $10,000 increase for legal services. "The budget that's before you ... is the council's budget of $22,324,411 excluding wastewater," Guaranton said. "It is an increase of $493,153 or 2.3%."

Why it matters: the committee will meet with department heads over the next four weeks to review line items and possible warrant articles that will go before voters during the town's deliberative session Jan. 31 and the business session March 10. Committee members pressed staff for details on several high-impact items, including potential double-digit increases in health insurance, the use and update of impact fees for schools and traffic, and plans to restore certain community-event and nonprofit supports cut after last year's default budgets.

Key budget details

- Revenues and overall size: Guaranton said estimated revenues rise roughly $140,227, or 1.8%, driven in part by higher investment income. The recommended operating budget is 1.6% higher than the default budget, which the administrator said will not include newly proposed items.

- Staffing: the recommended budget maintains current staffing (reported as 26 full-time and 35 part-time positions). Several departments still have vacancies; Guaranton said the police, fire and public works departments each carry one frozen position in the proposed budget and that hiring will be considered midyear if operating conditions allow.

- Benefits and insurance: Guaranton said final figures for health and dental will be known later. He cited a projected range for health-insurance increases of roughly 3.7% to 25.8% and said dental looks to be near 4.4%. He and the committee noted PrimeX, the town's risk pool, remains the principal carrier and that a pending legislative effort last session (Senate Bill 297 as discussed at a public hearing) raised questions about the risk pool's solvency and potential second assessments to municipalities.

- Legal services: the town has carried a roughly $110,000 legal line for several years. Guaranton said the budget includes a $10,000 increase to respond to more complex legal work townwide. He discussed Drummond Woodson, a firm the town has used historically, and said Hooksett plans to put the contract out to bid at some future point as it did with its IT provider.

- IT and security: the town's current IT vendor, Block 5, remains under contract; Guaranton said Block 5 performed well and the IT-support line holds steady. The budget shows a near-term increase in software and programs primarily tied to security and surveillance maintenance and to VMware upgrades at key facilities. Guaranton said one security contract line item is $4,992.

- Public safety equipment and staffing: the police budget includes funds to replace two cruisers that were deferred in earlier default budgets and money for six ballistic vests and additional training. Guaranton said the department remains short of full staffing and is carrying two vacancies, one of which is frozen. The fire budget includes funds for PFAS-free personal protective equipment pursuant to New Hampshire House Bill 1352 and higher hydrant charges tied to district rates.

- Roads and public works: Guaranton said the paving line will receive an additional $50,000 to begin rebuilding a reserve after cuts in prior default years. Hooksett commissioned a road study in 2020 that rated roads about 78 out of 100 and recommended maintenance funding levels ranging from roughly $500,000 to $1.3 million annually; the town had previously funded $900,000 in a "middle" approach. The administrator said the current budget restores funding incrementally to maintain road condition.

- Impact fees and schools: the community-development budget includes carryover funds for a planned update to impact-fee rates for traffic and schools. Guaranton said the last full impact-fee study for Hooksett was done in 2005 and that the town must coordinate with the school district and legal counsel to ensure fee use is compliant with statute and the capital-improvements program. He said some other New Hampshire communities have broadened allowable uses to cover certain equipment and systems tied to growth, but that any use must be legally attributable to new growth.

- Nonprofit and event support: the recommended budget does not include direct contributions to groups such as the Heritage Commission or Old Home Day at the same levels as prior years; Guaranton said those supports were cut after the town reduced its budget by about $988,000 under a second default budget, and that officials are looking for measured, phased restoration.

- Wastewater and library budgets: Guaranton reiterated that the wastewater district and the library present their budgets separately to the council. He said the wastewater request was $2,771,716 and that the library's trustees traditionally present directly to the council.

Other fiscal items and one-time revenues

- Property auctions: Guaranton reported the town has been auctioning tax-deeded properties annually and received a $66,000 distribution this year after a multi-year process to locate heirs. He said prior court decisions limit what towns may retain from such sales, typically entitling the town only to unpaid taxes, fees and costs until heirs cannot be located.

- Transfer-station (recycling) changes: an advisory-board and council decision to stop reimbursing condo tipping fees will reduce the transfer division budget by roughly $75,000 annually, Guaranton said. He said tipping fees per ton rose from $98 to $103.

Warrant articles and schedule

Guaranton said council and staff are discussing whether to group some capital-reserve warrant articles into fewer, consolidated articles to reduce voter fatigue. He said other towns employ different approaches; one example was cited of a nearby town grouping 56 capital items into a single warrant article.

Process and next steps

The committee scheduled department-by-department reviews in coming weeks. Guaranton asked the committee how it wished to see materials presented and committee members generally asked staff to highlight the limited set of changed line items for each department rather than reviewing unchanged lines in full detail.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to approve minutes of Sept. 25: moved and seconded; one named abstention (Budget Committee member Mary Anne Susie); other members voted in favor.

- Motion to adjourn: moved, seconded and approved without recorded opposition.

Ending

Guaranton will return with department heads for detailed line-item reviews over the next four Thursdays. The committee will vet final warrant-article language before the statutory deadline in mid-January for the deliberative session on Jan. 31 and the business session March 10.