Shall the Town of Hampton vote to establish a Sidewalk and Americans with Disabilities Improvement Capital Reserve Fund under the provisions of RSA 35 for the purpose of estimating, designing, building new, replacing and improving sidewalks in either concrete or asphalt depending on location, signage and illuminated crosswalk infrastructure including accessibility pursuant to the Americans Disabilities Act and to raise and appropriate the sum of $100,000 to go into said Capital Reserve Fund and appoint the Board of Selectmen as agents to expend from said Fund. Further to authorize the Board of Selectmen to apply for, accept and expend any Federal, State or local grants and funds for the purposes of estimating, designing, building new, replacing, and improving sidewalks, signage and illuminated crosswalk infrastructure including improving accessibility pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act with said grants and funds to be added to the Capital Reserve Fund created hereunder? (Majority vote required)
What it means: Similar to the Road Improvement Capital Reserve Fund, this will allow the gradual accumulation of funds for large-scale projects so that taxpayers are not asked for funding all at once.
Those in favor say: Having a Sidewalk Capital Reserve Fund greatly improves the Town’s ability to get grants because matching funds are already available, as compared to a town that has to put forward a Warrant Article with an unsure outcome. The fund will also allow the Town to complete projects more cost effectively. An example is when the road has been dug up for sewer work, or culvert work, the sidewalks could be addressed at the same time rather than having to do the sidewalks at a future time and possibly need to dig up newly paved roadways to accomplish the work. Another speaker indicated that a Town can be forced to make all streets ADA-compliant at once if it is determined that they are not making good faith progress towards compliance.
Those against say: Those who questioned this Article wondered how we know how much is enough in the Capital Reserve Fund and questioned how the money would be expended.
Fiscal impact: The $100,000 cost in 2019 will create an additional tax cost for the average Hampton home valued at $405,000 of $12.24. (Take your property value divided by 1000 and multiply by .03 to get your specific tax impact.) This decision affects the current year only.