Shall the Town of Hampton vote to approve the cost items included in the Collective Bargaining Agreement reached between the Hampton Board of Selectmen and the SEIU Local 1984 (DPW employees), which calls for the following increases in salaries and benefits at current staffing levels, over the amount paid in the prior fiscal year:
Estimated Increase (over previous year level)
2021 (39 weeks) $71,442
2022 (52 weeks) $76,447
2023 (52 weeks) $63,406
2024 (13 weeks) $13,628
And to further raise and appropriate $71,442 for the current fiscal year, such sum representing the additional costs attributable to the increase in salaries and benefits required by the new agreement over those that would be paid at current staffing levels? (Majority vote required)
What it means: A “yes” vote approves the salary increases negotiated via the Collective Bargaining Agreement on behalf of DPW workers. Effective April 1, 2021 wages would increase by 1 .4%; April 1, 2022 by 1.9% and April 1, 2023 by 2.0%
Those in favor say: This was a negotiated contract, with give and take on both sides. It is fair to support Town employees with these modest increases, which are considerably lower than the requested increases from the just-expired contract. The increases will help the Town to retain current employees, who have gone above and beyond throughout the year to accomplish clean-up in a COVID environment. We have lost some employees to other communities because our starting wage of $15.47 is not keeping pace.
Those against say: No one spoke against Article 9 at the Deliberative Session.
Fiscal Impact: A household valued at $400,000 would see a tax increase of $7.60 in 2021, and an increase of $9.11 for the highest cost year in the contract period (2022), if Article 9 is approved. Cost per thousand dollars of valuation is 19 cents in 2021.