Shall the Town of Hampton vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $42,000 for the purchase of a new New Holland Tractor/Loader for the Cemetery Department and to authorize funding for said appropriation through the withdrawal of $42,000 from the principal in the Cemetery Maintenance Trust Fund, which has a principal balance of more than $500,000 generated from the sale of cemetery burial lots? (Majority vote required)
What it means: The Tractor/Loader will be used for work at all the cemeteries in town, and the purchase price will be taken from the principal of the Cemetery Trust Fund. The Tractor/Loader will be purchased using principal from a fund that was set up as a funding source from which annual interest was to be disbursed annually. This use of the principal was allowed via Article 33 in 2016, which passed.
Those in favor say: These are Town-owned cemeteries, and the Town is responsible for their upkeep. The work needs to be done, and the funding available to the Cemetery Trustees is limited. The annual interest from the fund was $16,000 last year and about $20,000 this year. This is not enough to fund the larger expenses, as well as pay for general annual maintenance. Articles 31, 32 and 33 outline work/equipment costs of $103,000.
Those against say: If the principal is reduced by the amounts requested in these 3 articles, it will reduce the fund by about 20%. This in turn will substantially reduce the interest in future years that is available to support needed annual care of the cemeteries.
Fiscal impact: There is no direct tax impact because the money will be taken from a dedicated cemetery fund. However, removing principal will reduce the available funding in future years.