JAFFREY — Voters approved $7,989,550 in spending, including $7,848,550 in total operating expenses and $141,000 to replace a bridge on Gilmore Pond Road, at a Special Town Meeting on Thursday night.

Voters rejected an effort led by Cliff Pelissier to amend the $7,848,550 proposed budget to $7,811,679, a $36,871 reduction. Voters also defeated a warrant article calling for $27,000 to buy a new police cruiser.

Pelissier said reducing the proposed budget by $36,871 would bring it to $300,000 below the $8,111,679 budget proposed at the March Town Meeting, which failed.

Former selectman Rick Lambert said voters should support the Budget Committee’s latest budget proposal.

“If they have to cut another $37,000 out, something’s going to suffer,” said Lambert. “I think we have to put our faith in the Budget Committee. ... It’s not right to take it out on our local administrators because we’re upset with Washington big government.”

The statements drew applause from the 304 voters who attended the meeting. There are 4,075 registered voters in the town, according to Supervisor of the Checklist Caroline Hollister.

After some other brief discussion, resident Bill Driscoll called the question.
“I think we all know what we’re here for,” he said.

A voice vote on Pelissier’s amendment failed and discussion of the Budget Committee’s proposed budget ensued.

Bob Easton said he was in favor of supporting a budget equal to that of 2010, but the $168,000 in warrant articles — the $141,000 for the bridge replacement and $27,000 for a new cruiser that were both included in the March proposed budget — are a problem.

Since the March Town Meeting, the Select Board voted to remove the two items from the proposed 2011 budget and place them in separate warrant articles. The Budget Committee also reduced the budget by $50,000, with $33,134 coming from the Water Fund Budget and the remainder coming from the General Fund Budget. Town Manager Mike Hartman has said that the $33,134 cut from the Water Fund Budget would have no effect on the tax rate and Select Board Chair Kathy Batchelder has said the long-term impact on water rate users is unknown.

Police and Department of Public Works union workers agreed to defer the second scheduled raise of the year to the end of the fiscal year, and Hartman has said the same would be applied to the rest of the town’s employees for a total savings of $24,400 in 2011. At a budget hearing in April, Police Chief Bill Oswalt announced that 10 non-union salaried employees, including Hartman, agreed to give up their second annual raise for a savings of $6,049. Hartman also found that the town could cut an additional $2,110, due to an overestimation of property and liability insurance premium costs for the year.

At Thursday’s Special Town Meeting, Hartman said the budget doesn’t include special articles, which the town proposes every year.

Town Moderator Marc Tieger announced that a handful of voters had asked for a secret ballot vote on the proposed budget. The article passed with 235 votes in favor and 68 opposed.

Bridge replacement on Gilmore Pond Road:

Article two, which called for $141,000 to replace a bridge on Gilmore Pond Road, passed in a secret ballot vote, 243 to 39.

Batchelder said the state has ordered the road closed, if the town doesn’t replace the bridge that carries the road over Mountain Brook. She said closing the road would result in a detour.

Fire Chief David Chamberlain said he had done a comparison of normal response time and the detour and found that the 4-minute, 20-second response time would double.

“I consider that a safety hazard,” he said.

DPW Director Randy Heglin said there are ongoing discussions with the state about possible state bridge aid for the project. Doing the work, he said, will require the road to be closed for about a week.

Ted Shea of Gilmore Pond Road said, “I think it’s an obligation of the town to maintain town roads.”

New police cruiser:

Article three did not fare as well in the secret ballot vote, as a request for a new police cruiser failed 138 to 130.

Selectman Jeanne LaBrie presented the article, saying the town owns four marked cruisers and one Chevrolet Tahoe. She said it’s been the town’s practice to retire the oldest vehicle each year and replace it, however, two or three years ago this didn’t happen and now there are two cruisers each with more than 100,000 miles on them.

“Yesterday, one of the cruisers was in the garage having some work done on it,” she said. “It’s necessary to pass this article.”

John D. Field said the $1 million police budget should absorb the cost. (The police budget approved Thursday, as part of the total 2011 operating budget, is $1,375,460.)

Bob Chamberlain said buying two cruisers next year would be more expensive.
“I think we should continue the process and buy the vehicles once a year,” he said.

Frank Sterling said, “My Jeep has over 200,000 miles on it...”

One man, who did not identify himself, said, “If we pass this article, we’re right back where we were in March and I don’t like that.”

Angela Beecham said that it isn’t that voters do not want another cruiser. “We believe it can come out of that budget,” she said.

The meeting, which began shortly after 7 p.m., was adjourned at 9:26 p.m.