Article 48: Reduce the size of the Budget Committee

Here’s a link to the Article as it will appear on the Ballot:

Article 48.pdf

What it means: The Hampton Municipal Budget Committee currently consists of 12 at-large members, and 3 representatives from other boards for a total of 15. This Article seeks to reduce the size of the committee to 6 at-large members, plus the 3 from other boards for a total of 9. The reduction in the size of the committee would be accomplished via attrition: Starting in 2016, as existing terms expire, no new candidates would be sought, until the number of filled seats falls below 6. At that point, candidates would be sought to maintain the size of the board at 9 members (6 at-large and 3 appointed from other Boards as they are now.)

Those in favor say: The sheer size of the Budget Committee makes it unwieldy. It takes more time to get things done both for the Budget Committee itself and for the Department Heads who must present their budgets and rationales. No other board in town has as many members as the Budget Committee does. The NH statutes allow for Budget Committee members ranging from 3 – 12 at-large members.

Those against say: Those who were against the Article were concerned not so much about reducing the size of the Committee, which was generally thought to be a good idea, but about losing experienced members and not being able to choose who would stay on the board in the short term.

Fiscal Impact: No tax impact.