Shall the Town of Hampton vote to approve the cost items included in a three-year collective bargaining agreement reached between the Hampton Board of Selectmen and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 633, which calls for the following increases in salaries and benefits at the current staffing level:
2017 $ 54,840 (39 weeks) over 2016 level
2018 $ 52,733 (52 weeks) over 2017 level
2019 $ 35,952 (52 weeks) over 2018 level
2020 $ 7,875 (13 weeks) over 2019 level
And further to raise and appropriate the sum of $54,840 to fund the cost items related to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 633 salaries and benefits for 2017. Such sum represents the additional salaries and benefits (over the 2016 budget level) for the first of the three years that are contained in a collective bargaining agreement between the Town of Hampton by its Board of Selectmen and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 633 (covering various positions at the Town Offices, Department of Public Works, and Police Department), pursuant to N.H. RSA 273-A. The compounded, cumulative cost impact over the three contract years of the agreement is estimated to be $323,732? (Majority vote required)
Recommended by the Board of Selectmen 5-0-0
Recommended by the Budget Committee 8-4-0
What it means: A yes vote approves the salary increases negotiated via the Collective Bargaining Agreement with this Union, which represents employees at Town Hall, the Fire Department and the Police Department. The Agreement establishes a new “step” increase of 3%, followed by 2 years at 2%. Additionally, six identified positions also receive a 5% increase. See paragraph below for more of the history related to increases for this Union.
Those in favor say: The employees who will benefit from the passage of Article 17 are “behind the scenes” folks who help you register your car, license your dog and remove unwanted critters from your property. From 2006 through 2015 the group of employees represented by the Teamsters received wage average increases of less than 1% per year. (Many years with no increase at all.) The employees included in this Union received neither cost of living nor step increases in 2016 as the Warrant Article for the Teamster contract failed by 51 votes.
Those against say: No one spoke against this article at Deliberative Session.
Fiscal Impact: The average Hampton home valued at $404,000 would bear an increased tax cost of $6.87 in 2017; and (if total property valuations remained the same) $6. 60 in 2018; $4.50 in 2019 and $.99 for the first 13 weeks of 2020 at current staffing levels.