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 December 2019 balance is $2,229,968, but that balance includes funds for a Warrant Article approved in 2018 for $1,500,000 for work on Lafayette Road. That money will come out of the fund when the bills are ready to be paid, but is currently part of the balance. Likewise, Article 18 on this Year’s Warrant, if approved will use $435,000 of that fund. This is why it is important to keep up the annual practice of contributing smaller amounts, so that when the large expenditures come up, the taxpayers are not hit with large expenditures all at one time.
Those in favor say: This fund is intended for large projects and significant issues. There is a five- 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 2020 will create an additional tax cost of $32.00 for a Hampton home valued at $400,000. This decision affects the current year only.