001Good. All right. Good evening everyone and welcome to the uh Lichfield budget hearing. Like to call the meeting to order tonight and we'll start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty, justice. I'd like to thank everyone for coming out this evening and for those watching at home. Uh if you've been following along with our budget committee process, this is uh the culmination of many weeks and months of works with our budget hearing. Tonight is an opportunity for uh folks to hear about upcoming warrant articles that you'll have an opportunity to vote on in March, as well as ask any questions about the budget or the associated warrant articles. And our flow for
002this evening is we're going to go through the town budget and the town warrant articles. We'll pause, have an opportunity for people to come up and ask questions, which is down here in the front. Uh and then we'll transition over to the school side. We'll go through the school warrant articles and also have an opportunity for school questions before we conclude this evening. Uh, I do want to remind people that we are going to hold a budget committee meeting immediately concluding the hearing. We'll meet down here in the corner. Um, probably about 2 to 3 minutes once the hearing concludes. And that is uh because we have to revote uh three warrant articles and I'll speak to those when we get to those this evening. All right. First, I want to introduce our budget committee
003members. Uh, my name is John David Sun and I am the chair. Uh unable to join us this evening uh due to a work trip is Scott Taylor who is our vice chair. Sitting down front here is Mr. Doug Lant. Uh sitting in the back right over here is Mr. Eric Olsen. Unable to be here this evening for personal obligation is Miss Carrie Douglas. Walking in the door as we speak right now is Mr. Derek Barka. Uh sitting over here to the right is Mr. Brian Burke. Then our school board representative, Mr. Andrew Cutter and our select board representative standing up in the back is Mr. John Brunell. So the membership of the budget committee shall be comprised of such me number of members and other representation as determined by town meeting adoption of RSA
00432. The town of Lich the town of Lichfield adopted the provisions of the mun municipal budget law by pet petition at the 1969 annual town meeting article 10 and at the same meeting the town voted to elect six budget committee members which was article 11. In 2013 the town voted article 14 to increase the elected membership from six to seven members. Members serve staggered terms of three years and on the previous slide here and I'll go back just so you can see it. Those years that you see there are the end of terms for those people. All right, we're going to begin going through the town budget. I'm going to walk us through the town budget process and then we'll go through the warrant articles. The board of select the town budget process began with
005the board of selectmen and they began their budget process in August. uh they received their proposed budget by department heads and that proposed budget was $8,530,522. This represented a 4.3% increase over the 2025 default budget and and had it and and had that budget $94,899 over the tax cap. As a reminder, the town has a tax cap um that the budget committee is legally obligated to get that budget under, and I'll speak to that a little bit more as we move through these slides. The select board met in August and made adjustments to the budget totaling $9,769. Those reductions came from the following areas. There was a reduction in tax collector, town clerk from full-time to part-time with a reduction of $17,699. There was a reduction in zoning of $750 and there was the addition
006of planning hours in the planning budget for $7,15. Those reductions moved the budget to $85,130 over the tax cap. Later uh in September, the board of selectman made additional reductions to the budget totaling $19,133. Those reductions um included uh recreation for $10,78, legal for $2,500, library for $2,500, and IT for $1,875. Additional reductions were also made by the board of selectmen during the review process, totaling $26,873, and that put the budget over the tax cap by $26,322. Moving into the end of September began the budget review process with the budget committee. And over the course of two meetings, September 25th and October 2nd, the budget committee had an opportunity to hear from various department heads and from the town administrator and administration um to ask questions about various parts of the budget. At that process,
007um the board of selectmen had not officially closed the budget yet. They still had an opportunity to vote on items. And so during that budget committee review process, the board of selectmen took additional actions at their meetings in September and October. These actions included changes to the fire department, zoning, legal, police, and town clerk. On October 30th, tax setting and revenues were adjusted for 2026. The budget committee began our voting process on the town budget on October 16th, 2025. Actions taken by the budget committee that evening included reductions to IT, library, and town meeting totaling $5,300. At that time, with the conclusion of those votes, the budget stood at $84,346.35 under the tax cap. The board of selectmen took additional action at their previous meeting this past J um this past week uh which increased
008the budget by $8,76 to account for a new contract with Avatar Services. So in summary for the town budget, the current town budget sits at 8,428,71. That is a 3.2% 2% um increase over the 2025 approved budget of $8,160,158, which was the default. And the budget currently sits $76,270 under the tax cap. So now I'm going to walk us through the town articles. There are several of these, so just bear with me as I read through these. Once I conclude reading through the town articles, we'll pause and take any questions on the town side. Uh we're starting tonight with article 9. Um article one is election of officers and then articles 2 through 8 are zoning articles. Uh if they do not require any um they don't have any financial impact, the budget committee does
009not vote on those and so we're going to move we're going to skip past those this this evening. So, starting with article 9, the operating budget. Shall the town vote to raise and appropriate as an operating budget, not including appropriations by special warrant articles and other appropriations voted separately the amount set forth in the budget posted with the warrant or as amended by the vote of the first session for the purposes set forth therein totaling $8,428,71. Should this article be defeated, the default budget shall be 8,120,423, which is the same as last year with certain adjustments required by previous action of the town of Lichfield or by law. Or the governing body may hold one special meeting in accordance with RSA 41310 and 16 to take up the issue of a revised operating budget only.
010Majority voters required on this article. The operating budget estimated 2026 tax rate impact is 9 cents. The default budget estimated 2026 tax rate impact is a negative 6 cents. This has been recommended by the board of selectman by a vote of 50. Uh this article was previously voted on by the budget committee um and recommended by a vote of 810. However, this is one of the articles that we need to revote this evening. Um on the previous slide where there was the addition of the $8,000 for the avatar contract that has now been added into the town operating budget. Hence, the budget committee will revote um to recommend or not recommend later this evening. Article 10, police cruisers purchase to see if the town will vote to authorize the selectman to enter into a five-year
011lease purchase agreement for the sum of $215,752 for the purpose of lease purchasing three police cruisers for the equipment for the Lichville Police Department and to raise and appropriate the sum of $47,366 for the first year's payment for that purpose. The first year's payment in the amount of $47,366 shall come from the unassigned fund balance and no amount to be raised from taxation. This lease agreement contains an escape clause. The estimated 2026 tax rate impact is $0. The estimated tax impact for 2027 is 2 cents. Majority vote is required. You can see a table there that outlines for those five years the estimated tax impact for each of those years and then the total payment in that final cell there on the right. This article was recommended by the board of selectmen by a vote
012of 500. This article was also recommended by the budget committee by a vote of 810. Article 11, modify the optional total and permanent service connected total disability credit. Shall the town modify the provisions of RSA 7235 for an optional tax credit of $4,000 for a total and permanent service connected total disability on residential property. Majority vote is required. The 2026 2026 tax rate impact for current veterans only is 047. Uh this is some additional information in red here of note that there are 36 individuals presently and they will lose the veterans credit of $750 if passed. They do not lose the $750 if this article fails. Veterans currently receiving the standard credit under RSA 7235, $700 may still receive a credit under either RSA 7228, RSA 7228B, or RSA C. This was recommended by the
013board of selectmen by a vote of 5000. Also recommended by the budget committee by a vote of 8001. Article 12, modify elderly exemption. Shall the town modify the provisions of RSA 7239A for the elderly exemption from property tax in the town of Lichfield based on assessed value for qualified taxpayers to be as follows. For a person 65 years of age up to 75 years, $125,000. For a person 75 years of age up to 80 years, $190,000. For a person 80 years of age or older, $240,000. To qualify, the person must have been a New Hampshire resident for at least three consecutive years. Own the real estate individual individually or jointly. Or if the real estate is owned by such person's spouse, they must have been married to each other for at least five consecutive years.
014In addition, the taxpayer must have a net income of not more than $45,500 or if married a combined net income of no more than $55,000 and own net assets not in excess of $300,000 excluding the value of the person's residence. Majority vote is required and the 2026 tax rate impact on this article for current exemptions only is 1 cent. This was recommended by the board of selectmen by a vote of 500. Also recommended by the budget committee by a vote of 801. Article 13, supplemental fire coverage. Shall the town vote to supplement the fire department's budget, $218,400, to allow for increased coverage overnight as necessary to protect the safety and welfare of the residents of Lichfield and further vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $168,000 for the period of April 1, 2026 to
015December 31st, 2026. The estimated tax rate impact is 8 cents. Was recommended by the board of selectmen by a vote of 410. Was not recommended by the budget committee by a vote of 441. I'll come back and speak to that here in just a second. There's a table there right hand side that hopefully you're able to see um which estimates the tax impact for each of the uh five for five years there shown there. uh the first year is a partial year which would occur after elections in March and then the remaining four years are for a full year. So you can see the tax rate impacts associated with those. There are some additional notes down in red at the bottom. There are two PDM firefighters in EMT for overnight from 6 PM to 6:00
016a.m. Just 12 hours times 7 days 84 weeks times two people $24 per hour 40 time 4200 a week for 40 weeks gives you the dollar amounts associated with that from April 1st to December 31st. One item I did want to speak to because it connects back to the tax cap that I spoke about earlier. um part of the budget committee's obligation when we vote um not only do we have to have the budget below the tax cap legally we cannot recommend articles that if approved would put the budget over said tax cap. Uh there was good discussion around this one during the um budget committee meeting last week where I I can confidently say that a majority the budget committee felt like this was um something that was um something that was warranted. However,
017we could not recommend it based on the tax cap obligations. Article 14, additional paving. Shall the town vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $200,000 to supplement the highway department's budget and fund additional paving cost within the town of Lichfield? Expenditure of said funds to be the responsibility of the board of selectmen in their discretion if determined to be necessary and in the best interest of the town. Majority vote required estimated 2026 tax rate impact is 10 cents. This was recommended by the board of selectmen by a vote of 500. Was also not recommended by the budget committee by a vote of 441. Same conversation took place. Um budget committee was not able to support uh or or recommend this due to the dollar amounts associated with this that would put us over the
018tax cap. Article 15, ambulance revolving fund. Oop, sorry. shall the town vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $20,000 to be placed in the ambulance revolving fund as previously established. This sum to come from the unassigned fund balance and no amount to be raised from new taxation. Majority vote required. The estimated 2026 tax rate impact is $0.0. This was recommended by the board of selectmen by a vote of 5000. Also recommended by the budget committee by a vote of 900. Uh you can see there the current balance in that fund is $16,949.84. Um and that we've currently paid $20,4831 in or in 2025 the amount paid was $20,4831. Article 16, establish a capital reserve fund to see if the town will vote to establish a town vehicle and equipment capital reserve fund under the
019provisions of RSA 351 for replacing or maintaining townwide vehicles and equipment and to raise and appropriate the sum of $100,000 to be placed in this fund. This sum to come from the unassigned fund balance and no amount to be raised from new taxation. Further to name the board of selectmen as agents to expend from said fund re uh recommendations required majority vote required. The estimated 2026 tax rate impact is $0. This was recommended by the board of selectmen by a vote of 500 also recommended by the budget committee by a vote of 900. Article 17 human services and health agencies. Shall the town vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $21,800 to support human services and health agencies providing services to the town of Lichfield. This sum to come from the unassigned fund balance
020and no amount to be raised from new taxation. Majority vote is required. The estimated 2026 tax rate impact is $0. This was recommended by the board of selectman by a vote of 500. Also recommended by the budget committee by a vote of 900. Hopefully you're able to see that table in the lower right hand corner. Um it gives a list of all of the agencies, their budgets, and their request as they went through this process. Article 18, Recreation Expendable Trust Fund. Shall the town vote to raise and appropriate $50,000 to be placed in the recreation expendable trust fund as previously established. This sum to come from the unassigned fund balance and no amount to be raised from new taxation. Majority vote required. The estimated 2026 tax rate impact $0.0 was recommended by the board of
021selectmen by a vote of 50. Also recommended by the budget committee by a vote of 630. Current balance in this recreation expendable trust fund is 51,416.14. Um and there was 25,000 of that allocated for the floors at Talent Hall. network has not yet been complete. Article 19, library earned time expendable trust fund. Shall the town vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $8,000 be placed in the library earned time acrual expendable trust fund as previously established? Majority vote required. The estimated 2026 tax rate impact is 0.004 cents. Not recommended by the board of selectmen by a vote of 230. not recommended by the budget committee by a vote of 090. The fund balance in this uh trust fund is currently $1,7489. This was from the November two November 2025 reconciliation. Best practices require the
022balance be equal to the payout of earned time for employees. Just a couple more to go. Article 20, additional town clerk hours. Shall the town vote to increase the weekly hours of the town clerk, one part-time position, from 34 hours per week to a full-time position at 40 hours per week effective April 1st, 2026 for an estimated annual wage benefit and other related cost of 23,20 $23,20.99 and further to vote and further vote to raise and appropriate the sum of 16,16287 for wage, benefit, and other related costs for the period of April 1st, 2026. to December 31st, 2026. The estimated 2026 tax rate impact is 1 cent. Majority vote is required. This was recommended by the board of selectmen by a vote of 410. Not recommended by the budget committee by a vote of 4550
023mainly due to the tax cap obligations. And you can see a table on the right hand side there which shows the breakdown of the 2026 cost uh due to the 9-month period of that and then the fullear cost of that position in 2027. And I don't have to read this one because this one is not impacted by the budget committee questions on the town side. if you could when you come forward. Um, Doug, can you make sure that mic's turned on, please? It is. Okay. If you could just state your name and address, please. >> Uh, Maryanne Gist Center Street. >> Hi. Um, I have a question about warranty. No tax impact. Last year it was 2 warranty with that. Seems like we're just year after year after year throwing more money more money in
024funds and tax, but in it is because we just keep paying for it and paying for it. So, I was wondering if you can explain a little bit more about that. Why do we keep doing that? Um because $250,000 last year was in the slush funds, as I call it. So, I was wondering if you could help me out with that. >> Sure. I I'm happy to start that conversation and certainly if Miss Kleiner um or Mr. Brunell wants to jump in. So I pulled up article 16 here as an example. Um so where it says the estimated tax rate impact or no dollars to be raised from new taxation, it's placed like this on the warrant article. It means that the the town is not raising and appropriating additional dollars. They're not raising and
025appropriating this $100,000. What it means is that in order for this to be funded, it has to come from endofear fund balance or the unassigned fund balance. So it comes from a better way to think of it is the the the savings account that the town has. And so those dollars come from that fund, which means at one point in time, yes, they have been raised and appropriated and and taxes have been collected on that, but it's no new taxation means there's no additional new taxes being raised. this one as an example on this $100,000. >> Right. So again, where we have leftover money, is that correct? >> And speaking to both the town and the school side, yes, generally at the end of their budget season, there are dollars that are left over. That
026can be attributed to positions that were tried to be filled that weren't able to be filled. um it could be attributed to additional revenues came in that were um unanticipated or unexpected either from the state or from interest in the past. So there are different things that can contribute to that but yes there are dollars that are typically left over at the end of a budget for both the town and the school side and different factors can contribute to that. >> Okay. But still the initial budget still keeps going up every year even though we have this leftover money. I guess I'm just I'm just thinking that we're you know every year it's another last year $250,000 left over. This year it looks like approximately close to $200,000 when I when I look at these
027reserve funds. So >> and I'd be happy to invite Miss Kleiner up here. I know if you wanted to speak to dollars that we anticipate might be left over at the end of the 2025 budget. I know we're still closing the books on that. Um because that might help answer part of this question as well, seeing as we're in a default budget or we were in a default budget. >> Sure. Um, so first I' I'd kind of like to begin with the town has a policy that was adopted by the board of selectment and we're required um to keep in the unassigned fund balance um 8 to 12%. Um standard uh practice across the state um by set by the DRA is anywhere from 5% to 17%. So um the selectman's policy is is quite
028um respectable as of um the end of in tax setting in 2025. Uh the fund balance sits at $3.6 million which is 11.45% which is well within that that policy set by the selectman. Um, as of the end of this year, we are still closing out numbers and there are numbers that, um, December bills that have not come in. Um, I did look at it prior to leaving the office tonight. Um, and I estimate that we will be anywhere from about 170 to 180 um, remaining from the budget. Um that is due to us being very careful because we received the default budget and us not funding two positions or hiring two positions that are very needed within the police department. So we withheld from hiring uh those positions in order to make expenses. Um,
029as far as understanding us using that money, we are very careful that if we have the ability to use some money from the fund balance and not raise new taxation, we try to do that. that keeps the municipal budget taxes lower and it helps to put services into the town that that is needed. Um so it some people see it as a savings account. It's not really the um excuse me, the um unassigned fund balance also sits in the general fund for cash flow. So that is money that we need to use for cash flow because the town only collects money twice a year obviously through taxes. Um, but our expenses and our obligations don't only come at twice a year. So, we need that money to help us manage the cash flow. And if
030all the taxes, if all the warrant articles did pass that we have made the uh from unassigned fund balance, we would estimate our fund balance still to be at 10.69% as of next fall. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Any additional questions or follow-up questions to that? >> Good evening. Go ahead and state your name and address, please. >> Hi. Uh, Ron Williams. Um, I actually share concerns or or comments uh regarding the use of unassigned fund balance. I've been here since 1989 and I will freely admit for the longest time. I was not paying attention to what goes on. And when I went into the voting booth, if I saw zero tax impact, I thought it was from grants or some other place that wasn't from taxes. And that is clearly not the case.
031And I admit my ignorance in that regard. The unfortunate thing is I think a lot of the pe other people see it the same way. What I believe should be done is nothing should come out of unassigned. It should be put forth to the voters as a tax and let them see what the tax impact of that really will be. Ironically, uh, on the town side, you could still use unassigned to pay for it. Um, by then voting to move over to pay for it. Um but my position has always been what and I think some of the selectmen are but not all most of them are not is that as you increase to the maximum that you've have of 8% it should continue to increase and once you reach that then amounts of money
032over that should be returned to the taxpayer that's how I think unassigned should be handled. I will jump ahead if I can just to highlight a difference between the town side. >> We'll say we'll save the school questions until we get there. >> Okay. But I I'd like you then to highlight that there there is a difference on the town side and the school side in the use of unassigned or fund balance. >> It's a different mechanism. >> That is correct. Yes. >> Okay. >> Thank you, sir. Any other questions or comments this evening on the town side? >> Good evening, sir. Name and address. >> Evening. >> Mike Parker, 12th Court. I have a question on warrant articles 13 and 14. Not recommended by the budget because they could exceed the budget cap. >>
033Yes. >> Do we still get the vote on those? >> Yes, you do. Good. >> And what happens if we vote on those and they exceed the budget cap? the the the um legislative body, the town has the authority to override the tax cap, whereas the budget committee legally cannot, the voters, >> you all have the ability to to override that. So if it if using this one as an example here, the fire coverage, if this one is passed in March and it puts us over the tax cap because the voters say so, that's perfectly legal. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Mhm. Thank you. Any other questions or comments on the town side this evening? All right, I'm going to move us school budget. Uh similar flow. I'll follow uh the the narrative of our
034budget process. Um and then walk through the school warrant articles and then open it up for any questions on the school side. All right. School budget. Uh the school budget process began um actually began with the the school budget uh the school board and their reviews um back in October. Uh we received the the budget was complete at the end of October and then the budget committee joined the school budget review sessions which were held on November 6th and November 12th. These were joint sessions where they were facilitated by the school board um and they were reviewing the budget and had an opportunity to make motions and vote but the budget committee was invited to join and ask questions during that process as well. The operating budget was then delivered to the budget committee on
035October 29th 2025. The total bud the total delivered budget was 27,497,865. This represented a 1.79% increase from uh the the last year's default budget. The school board voted on their budget at their November 19th meeting and they reduced the overall operating budget by $282,000. $241,000 of those reductions came between special ed transportation, which was $91,000, and personnel, which was $150,000. The budget committee reviewed budget details on November 13th. This was an opportunity for the budget committee to ask additional questions of various department heads and school building administrators. Uh voting on the school operating budget occurred on December 4th as well as December 11th. On December 4th, the budget committee reduced various budget lines by a total of $8,415.90. And then on December 11th, the budget committee further reduced various budget line items by a total
036of $162,282. Those budgets, here's a breakdown of those budget committee reductions, which totaled 170,697.90. 158,000 of those reductions came from salaries and benefits. $4,422 were from CHS, $2,382 from LMS, and $5,893.90 from GMS. This put the revised total school budget at 27,45,2410. And this is the operating budget, which the budget committee um reviewed. This represented a 0.12% increase over the previous year's default. In addition to the operating budget which we reviewed, there are two separate funding sources and mechanisms for the school. The first is food service. That dollar amount is $811,514. And then grants, which the school which the school district receives um from the state or from the federal government, is $545,000. This puts the total amount for the school when you add together the operating, the food service, and the grants at 28
037million $41,53810. And now we're going to walk through the school warrant articles. Article one, the average cost per pupil for the preceding year as calculated in accordance with RSA 189751A is $21,147. ELA proficiency is 58%, math proficiency 41%, science proficiency 32%. Shall the Lichfield School District vote to raise and appropriate as an operating budget, not including appropriations by special warrant articles and other appropriations voted separately the amount set the amount set forth on the budget posted with the warrant or as amended by the vote at the first session for the purpose set forth there herein totaling 28,41,538. Should this article be defeated, the default budget shall be 28,42,731, which is the same as last year with certain adjustments required by previous action of the Lichfield School District or by law or the school board school
038board may hold one special meeting in accordance with RSA 41310 and 16 to take up the issue of revised operating budget only. This uh is a more majority revote required. The operating budget has an estimated tax impact per 10,000 of 23 cents. The default budget has an estimated estimated tax impact per 1,000 of 7 cents. This was recommended by the school board by a vote of 400. This was also recommended by the budget committee by a vote of 720. Both entities um have to revote uh this u particular warrant article. The budget committee will do it later this evening. School board will do it at your meeting next week, I believe. Next week. Um, and the reason for that is there was actually a $30,000 reduction to this earlier today. That ties back to the
039grants piece that was on the previous page. So, the prior amount was 28,431,538. The new amount is 28,41,538. So, uh, both entities will need to revote to recommend or not recommend because of that change. Article two. Shall the Lichfield School District vote to approve the cost items included in the collective bargaining agreement reached between the Lichfield School District and the Lichfield Education Association, which calls for the following increases in salaries and benefits at the current staffing level over those paid in the prior fiscal year. In the year 2026 and 2027, the estimated increases is $263,711. In the year 20272028, the estimated increase is $483,100. And further to raise and appropriate the sum of $263,711 for fiscal year 2027, such sum representing the additional cost attributable to the increase in salaries and benefits required by the
040new agreement over those that would be paid at current staffing levels. Majority vote required. The estimated tax impact is 13 cents. This was recommended by the school board by a vote of 400. also recommended by the budget committee by a vote of 621. Uh this warrant article does not require any budget committee voting, so we will skip over it this evening. It simply is an opportunity for voters to allow um the school board to call one special meeting should article 2 fail. This article also um does not require budget committee voting because it doesn't have a financial impact. However, I am going to read it because I think it uh is an excellent Warren article. Shout the Lichfield School District authorized the Lichfield School Board to name the baseball field at Campbell High School after
041James Gorman. Coach Gorman was the original baseball coach at Campbell High School. Led the Campbell High School baseball team to six state championships. Majority vote required recommended by the school boat school board by a vote of 400. Article five. Shall the Lichfield School District vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $250,000 to be added to the building maintenance capital reserve fund established in 2005 for the purpose of funding school capital improvements, building maintenance, and repairs in the Lichfield School District. Majority vote required. The estimated tax impact is 12 cents. Was recommended by the school board by a vote of 400. Recommended by the budget committee by a vote of 810. There are notes there in yellow and red. The current balance in this fund will be approximately $626,436 as of January 2026. This is
042after a transfer of $250,000 to fund per approval of warrant article 5 in March of 2025. Article six. Shall the Lichfield School District vote to raise and appropriate up to a sum of $250,000 to be added to the capital improvements expendable trust fund established in March of 2020 for the purpose of funding the study, planning, and cost of new construction or renovation of existing facilities in the Lichfield School District with this sum to come from the June 30 fund bal fund balance available for transfer on July 1 of this year with no additional amount to be raised from taxation. Majority vote required. Estimated tax impact is $0.0. Was recommended by the school board by a vote of 400. Also recommended by the budget committee by a vote of 810. Reading the notes there in yellow
043and red. Current balance in this fund will be approximately $247,993 as of 125. This is after expending $76,586.32 in December and January of of the 225 thou of the $225,000 approved on August 20th, 2025 to be withdrawn for initial pre-construction services rendered by the hired design construction team for the proposed GMS project. The fund balance the fund balance less the total authorized withdrawal amount will be approximately $99,580. Article seven. Shall the Lichfield School District vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $50,000 to be added to the employee benefits non-C capital reserve fund established in March of 2023 for the purpose of funding the payment of negotiated employee benefits including but not limited to health insurance reimbursements, changes in coverage or policies chosen by employees, severance benefits, and such other benefits as are from time
044to time negotiated and become contractual obligations of the district with this sum to come from the June 30 fund balance available for transfer on July 1 of this year with no additional amount to be raised from taxation. Majority vote required. The estimated tax impact is $0. The current balance in this fund is 192,000 and 192,33. Uh currently this article is recommended by the school board by a vote of 400 as well as recommended by the budget committee by a vote of 810. There was some language change earlier today in this article um where the date of March 2023 was changed. I believe it originally said March 2022 and so it now says March 2023 and also the word non-C capital was added there at the uh beginning of the second line because of those changes
045since the budget committee voted on it last. Anytime there's changes to a warn article we we take the opportunity to revote that. So, we will revote this one this evening as well, even though it doesn't state it up here on the slide. Article eight, last school warrant article this evening. Shall the Lichfield School District vote to raise and appropriate up to a sum of $50,000 to be added to the tech technology capital reserve fund established in March 2016 for the purpose of funding the acquisition and replacement of hardware, software, and other technology equipment with this sum to come from the June 30 fund balance available for transfer on July 1 of this year with no additional amount to be raised from taxation. Majority vote required. The estimated tax impact is $0. This was recommended by
046the school board by a vote of 400. Not recommended by the budget committee by a vote of 36. Current balance in this fund is $83,318. Before we move to questions this evening, there is actually a new piece of legislation um that uh took effect in July of 2025 um titled the mandatory report to voters on school expenses. Um, these slides were put together by the business administr business administrator, Miss Darling. I'm going to walk us through these slides as well as show that mandatory report um with the slides that were put together uh for that. So, once we walk through these, there's any questions on this particular section, the mandatory report uh to voters, I'll invite Miss Darling up to speak to those. There's any additional if there's any other questions on the warrant articles,
047the operating budget, um we'll take those. I'll answer those and I'll certainly invite the superintendent or the schoolboard chair up to answer if necessary. All right. The students first act, House Bill 1265 was passed in 2024 with the section of the act pertaining to the mandatory posting of school district expenses not taking effect until July 1, 2025. The act requires districts to post data to includes a to include average cost per pupil as well as teacher and administrator salaries with the aim of informing the public of critical information prior to the adoption of a school budget. Reports must be posted in three or more public places at least seven days excluding Sundays and legal holidays prior to any meeting at which a school district adopts a budget. Two of the three public places must be
048places of business or other public locations and one shall be the local newspaper or if not available the district's website. Legal advice interprets deliberative and voting sessions of an SB2 meeting to be the only time the school district is convened to act on an operating budget. The report must include three line graphs. The first is the average cost per pupil and show previous 10 years of data adjusted for inflation. The second is the average teacher salary also the previous year also previous 10 years of data adjusted for inflation. Then third administrator salaries with previous 10 years of data adjusted for inflation. This must also include one table which shows the top administrator salaries, titles and current salaries of the four highest paid administrators employed or contracted by the district. The report must be printed on
049two 18 by 24 pages when posted in public. must be prominently titled mandatory report to voters on school expenses and shall display the name of the district lo and shall display the name of the district. The logo may also be displayed. Line graphs must be clearly labeled per the specifications of the law. No extra commentary or data can be included. Additional information may be posted on separate pages together with or alongside the report. Civil remedies are provided in the law to allow for taxpayers to petition the court for violations. Mandatory report to voters will be publicly posted in Lichfield pursuant to the students first act requirements and oop, sorry will be available on the school district website. I'm going to switch here out of my presentation real quick, show you these slides. So this is
050the uh first graph that the law referenced which shows the average cost per pupil. Starting in the lower right hand corner is 2016 going all the way across to 2025 showing that average cost per pupil over that period of time. The second is the average teacher salary again starting in the lower lefthand corner with the year 2016 going to the year 2025. The third is administrator salaries. Again, starting on the lefthand side in 2016 going to the right 2025. This is not an average. This is combined. And then the fourth is the top administrator salaries for 2025 and 2026. Moving forward in uh future budget hearings, we likely will not go through all of the slides in the amount of detail since this is the first year that we did this. Um we felt it
051was important to be as transparent as possible and share all of the information in addition to showing the legally obligated slides as well. So with that, I'm going to start by opening it up on for any questions as it pertains to the mandatory reporting piece. There any questions about the slides or the information that was shown there. if you could just state your name and address please. >> Uh Chris Laflur, 35 Burgess Drive on the charts that are the three of them there. Is there some sort of regulation about how they're supposed to be scaled on the Y ais? >> Sorry, I'm waiting to switch that back. >> There is. >> Okay, because it I mean I didn't know what the ranges. It's hard to see the numbers from where I was sitting, but I
052didn't know where the where those were supposed to be because it looked like the first like there's a lot of extra range on the first and third chart and the other two were >> like right there. Okay. >> And Julie, just while you look that up, right, the the other thing to note is um this is the first year for these reports. I'm Andrew Carter, the chair of the school board. Um, the business administrator has worked with 90 other districts across the state, right, to really make sure that this format is consistent with all the other districts and how we're reporting this information, right? So, the y-axis is now consistent with all the other districts in the state. Um, very specific to uh the ranges and the years specifically to um to the period we're
053reporting. >> So, so that way if they overlay them that it's easier to see. >> Correct. Yeah. Yeah. If you're doing a comparison across municipalities or towns, this is very consistent. >> Okay, that makes sense. >> Cool. Thank >> you. >> If it's in the RSA, I can I'll I'll look it up. I just It's It just jumps out at me when I'm looking at data. That's all. So, >> and that RSA is 18976. >> 18976. >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions pertaining to the mandatory report to voters? Right. And with that, I will move us to questions on the school warrant articles. >> Name and address, please. Andrew Cutter, six moves hollow. Uh, Mr. Chair, if you could go back to article five. I think it's not a question but more
054of a just a a highlight if I may. >> Which article? I'm sorry. >> Uh article five please. >> Right. So given the question earlier about um you know no money raised from taxation. I want to call out that article 5 is an article that we are uh in fact raising and appropriating taxes for uh and that this is for a very specific purpose. We went to the voters last year for the first year uh with a plan and the plan was very specific for uh information in what we refer to as the on-site insight reports. Uh the district had uh a study done across each of the buildings and the on-site insight reports lay out very specific details about capital needs and funding behind needs that allows us to plan strategically for um high
055priority ticket items that we need to start thinking about and being prepared for. What this does in this particular building and maintenance capital reserve fund is allowing us to start saving for replacement of the Campbell High School roof, which we're uh starting to put money away for in preparation for a 2030 2031 replacement. So, this money will allow us to save for things like the roof replacement, HVAC replacement, etc. And by taxing this now, uh it will allow us to have the reserves necessary to be able to tackle that project at that time. Unlike article six, article six you will say as estimated tax impact is zero. Um based upon the previous conversations from earlier this evening, this is assuming that at the end of the school year, the school district is obligated to zero
056out our budget. Right? So the town does have a three plus million dollar surplus if you will or reserve that they have to fund uh other obligations. The school uh zeros out their budget and assuming that there is endofear funds uh these articles are funded in sequence. So article six then article 7 then article 8. If there if there's only funds for article six and not article 7 article six is the only one that gets funded. So it works in sequence and order. Uh this particular article, capital improvement expendable trust fund is allowing us to continue to put money aside specifically for the Griffin Memorial Project. Right. This year, uh, for those that follow along, uh, the board was fully intending to put together an article, uh, for the voters for, um, uh, for essentially
057a u a repair and renovation to Griffin Memorial School. Uh what we felt was given the tax impact to the taxpayers this year with the assessments plus the the desire to get additional information from um the contractors we're working with. We decided to hold off this year and wait one additional year for that project. But we want to make sure that we're continuing to fund this particular account because the reality is is behind be before anything that can happen at Memorial, it's going to be two years before that project can kick off and we need additional funds set aside in this account so we can continue to tackle any additional issues that might arise at Griffin. And further having the funds in this account will allow us also just to put money towards a bond,
058a future bond, should that be the desire of the town. >> Thank you. >> Any additional questions on school warrant articles this evening? Go ahead and state your name and address again, please. >> Sure. Uh, Ron has 15 Ria Circle and um, a couple of things. I I'll start with the the operating budget. One of the things that uh I brought up at the last budget meeting, I've been thinking a fair amount about and it's difficult to try to summarize this in uh a succinct and quick way, but the default budget that is currently in place uh I believe has a surplus built into it that is a carryover from the FY20 25 budget. I brought that up and asked if I could have some details of where the 1.4 million was uh under spent
059and uh there had been apparently a report promised by the business administrator. Um Mr. Cutter referred me instead to the operating budget that's now being considered. >> And I and I do know, Mr. that this has been asked and answered in multiple meetings, multiple emails as well. I have seen the correspondence and the information that has been shared around this particular question. >> Yep. And I'm going to report what I have found investigating what Mr. Cutter told me to look at if that's okay. My assertion is that the default budget uh and as it says up there, should this article be defeated, default budget shall be x number of dollars, which is the same as last year. That's the same language that was in last year's budget. And what that means is it takes the
060uh approved budget of the previous year and then adds any adjustments for requirements for um existing contracts, teachers contracts or >> transportation, other things that are an obligation that have been that have multiple years of of uh time period. that then becomes the default budget. In 2025, the FY25 budget came in $1.4 million less. I argue that that $1.4 million carried over because it it was included as the basis for the default budget. My argument is the default budget has $1.4 $4 million of excess in it. I will prove the point or make the point. What I have done is taken uh the budget as Mr. Cutter suggested and I've taken the 44 individual categories and put them on a spreadsheet so I can see try to find out where that 1.4 actually accumulates. And
061what I want to point out is that I will use one line item as a demonstration that the surplus has been carried over into this year's budget. It's line 2225 computer instruction in FY25. The budget was 118,483. The actual expenditures was 83,912. This year's budget is not the $86,000 or $83,000, excuse me, of the actual, it's the carryover is exactly the same number of $118,483. So while there was surplus in the original budget, that surplus has been carried over into the default budget. This one I this one line item proves my point. So I appreciate that the operating budget seems to be a a small increase, but I believe it's actually a sub more substantive increase when you understand that there is already a surplus that's carried over into the base budget. My second thing
062I'd like to speak to is uh the proposed uh teachers contract and u these numbers here I brought up represent and a uh let me back up here. The teachers contract is primarily made up of two elements. The majority of teachers are on what's called a step and essentially it is an annual increase based upon uh their just an annual increase and that is typically and it's 3% uh just for the step. In addition to that in this proposal here there's an additional 3% raise across the board. to that. So the net is a 6% in the first year and compounded to the second year it is 12% over the two years. I've said it before I believe that's too much that's above far what what I'm getting um and I think majority of people
063I had said previously that if the steps remain at 3% I think that's a sufficient increase. Additionally, there are other steps that teachers get as they get credits. So, it is a opportunity in multiple ways to increase in this using the step function. Mr. Carter mentioned that not everyone gets them but the majority of them do. In fact, the desire is to increase the number of years that qualify. Currently the number of qualifying years is 15 and after that there is the implementation of what's called longevity payments. The contract includes increasing the steps by two years from going 15 to 17 demonstrating the desire to continue to use this as a substantive means for teacher salary. I so the simple point is I feel that the 3% increase in addition to the SESS is excessive
064and should be negotiated to a lower figure. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any additional questions or comments this evening? >> I would just McDonald 46 naka a his math is wrong. >> I gu his math is wrong. I am not getting a 12% increase. I would be jumping up and down right now if I was getting a 12% increase next year. >> Name and address, please. >> Uh Derek Barker, 8 Smain. Um I'm on the budget committee as well, but uh when Mr. Blonus first came to the budget committee and inserted this um about the 12% raise, I actually looked at the numbers and he is correct in one specific situation and that's in the um step one. So step one every year on the step does increase 3%. And as they go from step
065one to step two to step three, there's also a 3% raise. So yes, if you compound that over those three steps over three years, then yes, it ends up as being a 12% raise over that full time. However, as you obviously make more money, the the gaps between each of those steps decreases significantly. So if you're at the top step for some for example um each year it's only going up 1.2%. So yes he's right in one very specific use case and that's the people at the very very bottom which in my personal opinion and everyone can have their own personal opinion that makes perfect sense. You're you're straight out of college. You're making very little money. 3% of $40,000 is not a lot of money. So you make those steps a little bit a
066little bit bigger than you would at the people at the top of the range. So, just to clarify the the the real numbers for for everyone to know. >> Thank you. Any additional questions or comments on the school warrant articles this evening? >> I'll just point out that the the numbers are the steps segments and this is very confusing unless you have the contract. I did not choose the lowest and I did not choose the highest. I chose in the middle for the purpose of uh Mr. Barker's point. The the difficulty comes is that essentially there's not much difference. The 12% as the lady said is not a single year. It is over the two years. I want to clarify that. I also want to highlight that Mr. cutter mentioned that we do need to
067offer 10 to 12% wages because that's what everybody else does. So I believe this represents as I talked about an approximate 12% in that neighborhood for the majority of the teachers. >> Any additional comments or questions this evening? Name and address, please. >> Sure. Andrew Cutter, Six Moose Hollow, uh chair of the school board. So if I'm going to be referenced and quoted, I'd like to be quoted properly. Um the uh the wage increases this year in terms of the contract uh is highly competitive. Uh what is being presented to the voters this year is very modest at a couple of points, three points, 3%. If we do look at our surrounding towns um that we do actively compete against, the contracts that are going to voters this year are in the 10 to 12%
068range. Uh so to get a couple of year contract uh in front of our voters for 3% uh is highly competitive and is a value ad to our taxpayers. Thank you. Any final comments or questions this evening on the school warrant articles? Okay, seeing none, I will use this as an opportunity to let everyone know who's here this evening as well as anyone who's watching at home that uh the next opportunity to come and ask questions um and also to make motions is first at the school deliberative which is on Saturday, January 31st, 10:00 a.m. here at Campbell High School in the auditorium. And then the town deliberative is the following Saturday, February 7th, 2026. Also at 10:00 a.m. and also here at Campbell High School. Additional information about the Lichfield, additional information about everything
069presented here tonight. Um there is a link that is there. Um these slides will be posted on the Lichfield budget committee portal which is budget.lichfieldnh.gov. And with that, I will close this year's budget hearing and thank you all for attending. Just as a reminder, the budget committee is going to meet down below to vote on three revote three warrant articles uh before we conclude this evening. Thank you all very much.