We the undersigned residents and registered voters of the Town of Hampton, New Hampshire petition the Board of Selectmen to place on the Warrant for the March 2017 Annual Town Meeting the following article:
Shall the Town of Hampton vote in accordance with the provisions of RSA 32:14 to abolish the Budget Committee, (a/k/a) the Municipal Budget Committee, and to rescind the Town’s prior acceptance of RSA 32 to that extent? (Majority vote required).
What it means: The town would no longer have a Municipal Budget Committee. All financial details would come from the Finance Director and the Board of Selectmen.
Those in favor say: A tremendous amount of time is invested by Town Employees and by members of our Boards and Committees going through the process of establishing the budgets and having them reviewed and double-checked within the hierarchy of Town Hall, and then separately going through the same process via the Budget Committee. All of the numbers and comparisons are publicly available, and anyone can ask questions as part of the budgeting process. According to the proponents of this Article, the Municipal Budget Committee is redundant.
Those against say: The Town needs the review and counter-balance provided by the Municipal Budget Committee. As the process of weaning down the number committee members continues, the Committee should become more efficient.
Fiscal Impact: No tax impact.