Article 12 – Collective Bargaining Agreement State Employees Association

Shall the Town of Hampton vote to approve the cost items included in the collective bargaining agreement reached between the Hampton Board of Selectmen and the State Employees Association of New Hampshire, Inc., SEIU Local 1984, AFL-CIO, CLC, which calls for the following increases in salaries and benefits at the current staffing level, over the amount paid in the prior fiscal year:

Estimated Increase

Fiscal Year (over previous year level)

2018  (39 weeks) $  60,679

2019  (52 weeks) $121,796

2020  (52 weeks) $  97,501

2021  (13 weeks) $  18,910

And to further raise and appropriate $60,679 for the current 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?

What it means: A “yes” vote approves the salary increases negotiated via the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The Agreement provides a 3% salary increase for each of the 3 years, starting in 2018.

Those in favor say: This agreement is for many of the Dept. of Public Works non-supervisory employees who start at $14/hour.  These Town employees have gone without an increase in 9 of the last 12 years, with an average increase of less than one-half of one percent.  New hires are difficult to hire and keep because they find better paying jobs. Social Security increases during that same period of time (for reference) averaged 2.5%.

Those against say:  No one spoke against this Article at Deliberative Session.

Fiscal Impact: The average Hampton home valued at $408,000 would bear an increased tax cost of $14.68 for a 52-week period at current staffing levels if this Article is approved.  (Take your property value divided by 1000 and multiply by .036 to get your specific tax impact.)