Hancock is seeking funds for repairs to the Middle Road bridge, improvements to the Highway Department building and to purchase a new truck in the coming year.

The Select Board held the town’s budget hearing on Monday. The proposed budget is approximately $3.51 million for general municipal operations, including the operations of the town’s Water Department, which a $221,246 increase. One of the largest increases is a new line for a prosecutor group, at a cost of $129,077, but Select Board Chair Laurie Bryan explained the majority of that cost will be offset by revenue from the new program.

Bryan explained that Hancock had previously been involved with a collaborative for police prosecutorial services with multiple other towns through Antrim, a collaborative that disbanded earlier this year. Hancock is leading the formation of a new group with some of the towns enrolled in the previous collaborative, who will pay a total of approximately $105,000 into the group.

Revenues are expected to be up by about $122,370.

Bridge, dump truck top warrant items

The board also reviewed the proposed warrant articles, with Bryan noting that at least two are still under consideration, and that the Select Board has time to hold a secondary hearing if changes are made.

To rebuild the Middle Road bridge, $213,577 would come from the town’s Capital Reserve Fund, $26,472 would come from the 2023 State Highway Block Grant and $25,130 from road bond proceeds. The remaining $125,031 would come from the coming year’s taxation.

Bryan said the bridge is “the most invisible bridge on Middle Road,” consisting of a large culvert. It is on the state’s red list of deficient bridges, but Bryan said it crosses one of the most-traveled roads in town, and cannot afford to be shut down.

While the board was confident that the article would be on this year’s warrant, Bryan said members are still discussing how to approach the $125,031 needed to be raised by taxation, with the town not yet ruling out taking a municipal loan rather than putting it in a single year’s tax burden.

The town will also be asking for permission to enter a five-year lease-to-purchase agreement for a new dump truck, equiped with a plow. The total cost of the five-year lease would be $142,000, with the first payment due a year after signing.

The other article that the board may not have finalized is a request to use $14,000 from the town’s Revaluation Capital Reserve Fund and $38,000 from fund balance, for a total of $52,000, for a full statistical revaluation of the town. Bryan said the town’s current valuations are “way out of whack,” only about 70% of what it should be under current market prices.

The state requires a full revaluation ever five years, and this would be two years ahead of schedule, but Bryan said the housing market has thrown things so far out of balance that the town is considering moving forward with the process this year. Bryan explained that while the board expects most property values to rise under the revaluation, because the value of the town as a whole is expected to rise, the board would expect a corresponding drop in the tax rate.

The town’s Budget Committee is not recommending the article, on the basis that it will have a net-neutral effect on taxes, and is not yet required. Bryan said board members will continue to discuss the item.

In other capital projects, the Department of Public Works has articles  that would address both new equipment and a heating upgrade to the department’s administrative building. The heating system is expected to cost $19,950, with $10,000 coming from the Building Capital Reserve, with the remainder coming from the previous year’s fund balance.

The town is seeking to establish three new funds in the coming year. The first is for a capital reserve fund for police vehicles, which would be seeded with $5,000 from the fund balance.

The town is also looking to create a expendable trust fund for the Meetinghouse clock, named in honor of the Fogg family. The trust would be seeded with $20,000, which has already been raised through donations by the Hancock Improvement Society.

The third new fund would be for the Fire Department, for the purpose of purchasing and maintaining equipment, and would start with a $9,045 bequest left to the town.

Requests for additions to capital reserve and expendable trust funds this year include $40,000 for the Bridge Capital Reserve, with funds coming from a combination of state bridge aid and fund balance; $20,000 for the Building Capital Reserve; $50,000 from the fund balance for the Department of Public Works Machinery, Equipment and Vehicle Reserve; and $10,000 from the fund balance for the Meetinghouse Reserve.

Bryan explained that the town has a healthy reserve this year, due to being unable to fill town employee positions, and would like to use some of the unspent funds to further build up the capital reserves.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.