Shall the Town of Hampton vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $300,000 to be added to the Road Improvement Capital Reserve Fund created under Article 16 of the 1998 Annual Town Meeting in accordance with the provisions of RSA 35 for the purpose of maintenance and/or reconstruction of streets? (Majority vote required)
What it means: $300,000 would be appropriated and added to the Road Improvement Capital Reserve Fund. This fund will be used for large projects to repair our roads in the future. The current balance is $1,912,800, which includes the appropriations approved by voters in prior years. There was a Warrant Article in 2018 that approved a withdrawal for the Lafayette Road work. That money will come out of the fund when the bills are ready to be paid, likely starting this summer, but is currently part of the balance.
Those in favor say: This fund is intended for large projects and significant issues. There is a 5-member team that controls this line item. They accept recommendations from the Department of Public Works, but an outside committee makes the decisions.
Those against say: No one spoke in opposition at the Deliberative Session.
Fiscal impact: The $300,000 cost in 2019 will create an additional tax cost for the average Hampton home valued at $405,000 of $36.31. (Take your property value divided by 1000 and multiply by .089 to get your specific tax impact.) This decision affects the current year only.