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 $28,910,391. Should this article be defeated, the default budget shall be $29,239,314, 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? (Majority vote required)
What it means: The voters are presented with two possible budgets.
The Default Budget is regulated by RSA 40:13, and starts with the prior year’s budget as increased by obligations mandated by law (such as county taxes), debt service, and contracts lawfully entered into, and is reduced by one-time expenditures contained within the operating budget, salaries and benefits of positions that have been eliminated in the proposed budget. Multi-year contracts previously approved by legislative body or separate warrant article are included. The Default Budget will be the Operating Budget for the Town in the event the Proposed Operating Budget does not pass.
The Proposed Budget as presented by the Budget Committee includes items not allowed by the RSA to be included in the Default Budget, such as not-yet-voted contractual costs and anticipated needs determined by the various Town Departments. For 2021, the Proposed Budget is an increase over the 2020 approved budget of $802,858, but it is less than the Default Budget by a difference of $114,120.
To calculate the effect on your property tax (for your specific property):
Divide the Tax Assessor’s Valuation of your home by 1,000. (Example: for an assessment of $400,000, the number to use would be 400.) Use your latest tax bill or go to:
http://gis.vgsi.com/HamptonNH/Search.aspx and enter your street address to get your valuation.
Multiply the result by .212 for the tax impact of the Proposed Budget and by .242 for the Default Budget.
Those in favor say: Through the efforts of the heads of the Town Departments and the Budget Committee, the Proposed Operating Budget is lower than the Default Budget. Understanding the financial impact that the pandemic has had on many taxpayers, efforts were made to keep the budget manageable while still maintaining services for the residents.
Those opposed say: The Budget Committee had proposed an even lower budget and were opposed to changes by the voters at Deliberative Session (that added $214,803). However, approving the revised Proposed Operating Budget (a “yes” vote) will still produce a lower tax bill versus a “no” vote, which would implement the higher cost Default Budget.