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2015-2016 budget (current): $9,499,224
2016-2017 School Board proposed budget: $9,584,498
2016-2017 Budget Committee proposed budget: $9,694,498
2016-2017 budget after Deliberative Session: $9,772,498

At the Dec. 17, 2015 Budget Committee meeting, school partisans decided to add $110,000 to the budget, undoing the hard work of the School Board. At the Jan. 30 Deliberative Session, spendthrift voters decided to add another $78,000.

VOTER'S GUIDE

All the articles passed.

Article 1 – School Budget

Proposed budget: Shall the Allenstown School District vote to raise and appropriate as an operating budget, not including appropriations by special warrant article and other operations voted separately, the amounts set forth on the budget posted with the warrant or as amended by vote of the first session, for the purposes set forth therein, totaling $9,772,498?

Should this article be defeated, the operating budget shall be $9,748,006 which is the same as last year, with certain adjustments required by previous action of the Allenstown School District, or by law, or the governing body may hold one special meeting in accordance with RSA 40:13, X and XVI, to take up the issue of a revised operating budget only.

School Board recommends approval. Budget Committee recommends approval.

[Note: Warrant Article #1 (operating budget article) does not include Warrant Article #2.]

Commentary: First of all, at the Jan. 30 Deliberative Session, a motion was approved after much hand-wringing to add $78,000 for reinstating a school resource officer (which will mean hiring a new officer since the Police Dept. does not have enough staff). This made the proposed budget higher than the default budget. Did these people mistakenly think they were in Bow, NH?

When first presented to the Budget Committee, the school budget was about 0.9% above the previous year's budget. The School Board worked hard to keep the budget as close to level with last year's one.

On Dec. 17 by a vote of 7-5, the Budget Committee added $110,000 to the school budget over the objections of the rest of the committee, including Selectman Gryval. The proposed school budget was then higher than ever before: 2% or $195,274 more than last year. Did they have any concern for the impact on the taxpayers???

To look at it another way, here is the cost per student using numbers from the published 2016-2017 school budget.

$7,621,850 for 360 students at AES & ARD = $21,172/student
$2,072,647 for 165 atudents at PA = $12,561/student

At $21,172/student, we might be suddenly on a par with The Derryfield School. For comparison, the average private school tuition in New Hampshire is $10,286/student for elementary schools [source]. Maybe it's time for parents to demand school vouchers and send their children to a local private school and cut the school budget entirely.

The following people are responsible for the uncharitable increase in your school taxes.

Keith Klawes, 2016
Roger Laflamme, 2016 (Appointed)
Kyle Mallinger, 2016 (Appointed)
Debra Carney, 2017
Melaine Boisvert, 2018
Tiffany Ranfos, 2018
School Board: Kris Raymond, 2018

Perhaps you can return the favor by not voting for any of them.

Bottom Line: A majority of the poorly-attended Deliberative Session voted to inflate the school budget enough so that it is now larger than the default budget.

Recommendation: Vote NO so the lower default budget passes.

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Article 2 – Para Professional Contract

Shall the Allenstown School District vote to approve the cost items set forth in the collective bargaining agreement reached between the Allenstown School Board and the Allenstown Paraprofessional Association for the 2016/17 fiscal year which calls for the following increases in salaries and benefits:

Year 2016/17       $24,982

And further raise and appropriate the sum of $24,982 for the 2016/17 fiscal year, such sum representing the additional costs attributable to the increase in salaries and benefits required by the new agreement over those that would be paid at current staffing levels?

School Board recommends approval. Budget Committee recommends approval with two NO votes.

Commentary: The school budget has already been shown to be excessively high, so this warrant article just adds salt to the wound. So many people in our town and around the state are either long-term unemployed, underemployed, or living on Social Security for which the federal government offered 0% increase for 2016.

School employees (and all government workers) should be satisfied that they have jobs in this poor economy. Many people in private business have not had raises in years, so how is it that government workers seem to think they deserve better? They might try going to work at Walmart – but wait – in January Walmart announced it will be closing 154 U.S stores this year. Where will those people get the money to pay their taxes?

Recommendation: No, taxpayers are being penalized too much. The economy must become strong enough for people to afford any increase in taxes.

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Article 3 – Transfer of Land

Shall the Allenstown School District vote to authorize the school board to convey to Robert St. Germain and Elizabeth St. Germain, without covenants of title, a parcel of surplus land (a portion of Tax Map 112 Lot 224) at Ferry Street, containing approximately 2,392 square feet, pursuant to a Lot Line Adjustment approved by the Allenstown Planning Board, and further to raise and appropriate the sum of zero dollars ($0.00) for the costs associated with this transaction. The St. Germain's have paid for all legal fees and costs associated with this transaction.

School Board recommends approval.

Commentary: This downtown parcel on Ferry St. measures 0.055 acre so it's pretty minor. Since there is no cost to the town, it looks like a reasonable transfer.

Recommendation: Yes

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Article 4 – Transfer of Land

Shall the Allenstown School District vote to authorize the School Board to convey to Benoit Demers and Marielle Demers, without covenants of title, a parcel of surplus land at Houle Avenue, containing approximately 2,541 square feet, being a portion of Tax Map 112, Lot 237, pursuant to a Lot Line Adjustment to be approved by the Allenstown Planning Board, and further to raise and appropriate the sum of zero dollars ($0.00) for the costs associated with this transaction. The Demers' have paid for all legal fees and costs associated with this transaction.

School Board Recommends Approval.

Commentary: This downtown parcel off Ferry St. measures 0.058 acre so it's also pretty minor. Since there is no cost to the town, it looks like a reasonable transfer.

Recommendation: Yes

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Article 5 – Accepting Unanticipated Money

Shall the school district accept the provisions of RSA 198:20-b providing that any school district at an annual meeting may adopt an article authorizing indefinitely, until specific rescission of such authority, the school board to apply for, accept and expend, without further action by the school district, unanticipated money from a state, federal or other governmental unit or a private source which becomes available during the fiscal year?

School Board Recommends Approval.

Commentary: Since this article will allow the school board to accept unanticipated money, it makes you wonder if they really are anticipating some money, doesn't it? If money does come in, the school board better use it to lower the school taxes.

Recommendation: Yes

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Article 6 – Accepting Gifts

Shall the School District authorize the School Board to accept on behalf of the District, without further action by the voters, gifts, legacies and devices of real or personal property which may become available to the District during the fiscal year?

School Board Recommends Approval

Commentary: As with the preceding article, it makes you wonder if they are expecting gifts. If received, they need to be used to reduce the school taxes.

Recommendation: Yes

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Article 7 – Other Business

To transact other business that may legally come before said meeting.

Commentary: There was no other business at the deliberative session. The next step is the March 8 elections.

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