Shall the School District raise and appropriate as on 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 ora s amended by vote of the first session, for the purposes set forth therein, totaling $23,810,213? Should this article be defeated, the default budget shall be $23,552,045, which is the same as last year, with certain adjustments required by previous action of the School District or by law; or the governing body may hold one special meeting, in accordance with RSA 40:13, X and XV!, to take up the issue of a revised operating budget only. (Majority vote required.)
Note: Warrant Article #1 (operating budget) does not include appropriations in any other warrant articles.
What it means: The proposed Operating Budget is $258,168 or 1% more than the Default Budget.
What people are saying: The budget increase is driven by three large items: loss of revenue related to the end of 3-years of revenue from the LGC Healthtrust refund ($190,00 in 2015, nothing in 2016), cessation of 3 years of impact fees ($46,165 in 2015, nothing in 2016), and a decrease in the Adequate Education Grant ($31,000 less than 2015). Those 3 decreases in revenue account for $267,537. There have also been many line items with increases (notably increases in Information Technology and Vehicles), and the District has cut other line items in an attempt to control the overall budget.