Shall the Town of Hampton vote to raise and appropriate as an operating budget, not including appropriations by special warrant articles and other appropriations voted separately, the amounts set forth on the budget posted with the warrant as amended by vote of the first session, for the purposes set forth therein, totaling $27,225,312.
Should this article be defeated, the default budget shall be $26,842,312, which is the same as last year, with certain adjustments required by previous action of the Town of Hampton or by law; or the governing body may hold one special meeting, in accordance with RSA 40:13, X and XVI, to take up the issue of a revised operating budget only.
Fiscal Impact Note (Finance Dept.) The proposed operating budget figure of $27,225,312 is an increase of $388,335 more than the budget amount adopted in 2017 of $26,836,977. The default budget figure of $26,842,312 is an increase of $5,335 more than the budget amount adopted in 2017.
What it means: This is the proposed operating budget for the Town of Hampton for 2018, created with input from department heads, committees and commissions, and vetted by the Board of Selectmen and the Municipal Budget Committee. If voters do not approve the operating budget, the default budget will automatically become the operating budget for the Town for the year 2018. “Default budget’’ is defined as the appropriations contained in the operating budget authorized for last year, reduced or increased, as the case may be, for debt service, contracts, and other obligations previously incurred or mandated by law; and reduced by one-time expenditures contained in last year’s operating budget.
Those in favor say: The proposed budget is 1.4% higher than last year and would provide funding for the Town employees and elected officials to complete the jobs that are expected of them by the residents of Hampton.
Those against say: The proposed operating budget will add to the average home’s tax bill $46.92 more for 2018 (as opposed to the default budget). There is a concern that some people may find continuing increases in property taxes untenable.
Fiscal Impact: The average Hampton home valued at $408,000 would bear an increased tax cost of $47.74 if Article 8 passes versus an increase of .82 if it does not pass. (Take your property value divided by 1000 and multiply by .117 to get your specific tax impact.)