’26 Article 24 – Police Forfeiture Fund – $90,000 (No Tax Impact)

To see if the Town of Hampton will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $90,000 for the purpose of conducting all lawful functions allowed under federal, state, and local criminal justice forfeiture programs and to authorize the withdrawal of said sum of $90,000 from the Police Forfeiture Special Revenue Fund previously established under Article 55 of the 2003 Town Meeting.

What it means: During police operations, items of value may be forfeited by individuals. NH law permits the auctioning of abandoned property, and the proceeds are put into a fund. This Article would allow the funds to be withdrawn to cover departmental costs, as approved via the RSAs. The actual amount is unknown at voting time. The $90,000 is seen as the upper limit of what may be available to withdraw.

No one spoke for or against this Article at Deliberative Session, other than to explain it.

Fiscal impact: There would be no tax impact, since this money is in a set-aside fund. This is a routine measure to allow the withdrawal of the funds for various Police Department needs.