HAMPTON – Hampton voters will vote on 23 arrest warrant articles in the March 9 vote, including a $ 15.7 million project to rebuild Winnacunnet Road and High Street.
The big ticket project to tackle the pothole-ridden streets involves replacing sewage and drainage systems, as well as sidewalks, curbs and other improvements. It calls on the city to commit $ 13.7 million over a 30-year period. The remainder of the balance would come from the Road Improvement Capital Reserve Fund and the city’s unallocated fund balance of one million each.
Voters overwhelmingly backed the $ 435,000 spend from the Road Improvement Capital Reserve Fund last year to develop construction and design plans to rebuild both roads with updated sewers and drainage.
Jennifer Hale, assistant director of public works, said the study led to this year’s arrest warrant article.
The recent survey and camera inspection of the infrastructure beneath Winnacunnet Road and High Street found areas of both streets in disarray, areas where drainage is not working, and sewer pipes that are broken or cracked.
Winnacunnet Road is approximately 2.3 miles long and has 9,000 feet of sewer and over 6,500 feet of drainage. High Street is about 2 miles with 4,000 feet of sewer and 3,500 feet in drains. Winnacunnet will cost $ 9.5 million and High Street will cost $ 6.2 million.
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Also on the ballot are four of the city’s union labor contracts and five proposed changes to the city’s zoning ordinance.
The ballot also contains two petition articles, including one to set up an ethics committee in the city and one to prevent selected individuals from creating new positions without the approval of the city assembly.
The vote will take place from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Winnacunnet High School.
HAMPTON FALLS
Voters in Hampton Falls will hold a 15-question ballot on March 9th, but at Lincoln Akerman School instead of the usual town hall voting location.
The CDC’s pandemic requirement for two meters of detachment is the main reason it moved to Lincoln Akerman School this year, city host JP Pontbriand told voters at an advisory meeting. But there are other reasons why LAS is a good choice.
The school’s parking lots offer more parking spaces for voters than the smaller parking lot in the town hall. In addition, the space in the historic Hampton Falls City Hall is becoming too small to hold the number of voting booths required to reach the voter record.
This year there are no races among those running for city office.
The main subject of the vote, according to Ed Beattie, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, is the adoption of the city’s operating budget, Article 5.
The budget requirement for this year is $ 2,902,265 million, an increase of $ 116,000 from the previous year’s budget of $ 2,786,070.
“We really need the budget to fix our culverts,” said Beattie. “A large part of the budget increase is to do the repairs on two culverts. The rest of the increase is just business costs, like rising healthcare costs. We financed many things at the same level. “
A standard budget about $ 48,000 less will be introduced if Article 5 is not passed.
Other articles contain two amendments to the ordinance, the first being a zoning change in relation to FEMA flood maps. The other involves major changes to the city’s solid waste regulation, including roadside collection of recyclable materials.
Article 8 calls for $ 6,255 to purchase and install a new sign for Governor Weare Park.
The polls open from 8 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
NORTH HAMPTON
Voters will vote at North Hampton School on March 9, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The 14-item voting includes the election of a new Select Board member this year as veteran Selectman Larry Miller retires from the board. Jonathan Pinette and Bill Kibby run to replace him.
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The selected chairman of the board, Jim Maggiore, sees the adoption of the operating budget (Article 5) and the proposed new three-year contract for the city’s fire service (Article 6) as the two most important points in the vote to ensure the efficient and safe functioning of the non-profit services.
Maggiore believes the new three-year collective agreement for firefighters, which offers an annual increase of 2.5 percent, “is a good deal”. The terms were approved by all parties involved in the negotiations.
According to Finance Director Ryan Cornwell, taxpayers at the advisory meeting changed the proposed operating budget to $ 7,694,313, roughly $ 268,000 more than last year. Cornwell said the driving factors behind the increase were the city’s contractual and legal obligations.
The principal and interest on debt servicing are up $ 129,187, according to Cornwell. Health and dental insurance premiums rose another $ 115,296, and the city’s contribution to the state pension service also rose nearly $ 106,000.
Those three increases equate to more than $ 350,000, according to Cornwell, who said officials cut other line items by more than $ 94,000 to keep the increase as moderate as possible.
SEABROOK
Polls open at 7 a.m. at the Seabrook Recreation Center and end at 7 p.m. on March 9th.
This year, Seabrook’s 38-question ballot is much shorter, compared to years when voters raised 50 or more. Since Articles 22 to 38 all relate to the funding requests from the usual recruitment agencies, Articles 1 to 21 deal with the articles relating to cities.
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The most critical issue of the warrant is the passing of the city’s operating budget of $ 26,431,800 (Article 2), according to City Administrator Bill Manzi. The higher proposed budget, which is up about $ 2 million year over year, doesn’t represent new hires, Manzi said. Most of the increase was due to collective agreements and other issues approved by voters in the past, such as the two additional police officers approved in last year’s elections. Healthcare costs also increased by around six percent.
Manzi believes that approving Articles 11 and 12 is also vital to the safe operation of the city’s wastewater treatment system that supplies every home and business in Seabrook.
Article 11 calls for $ 495,000 to replace the drain pipe that carries the treated wastewater at sea. Taxpayers won’t have any financial implications, however, as select individuals have voted to take the money from the city’s reserves.
The pipe installed under the Route 286 bridge over Blackwater Creek is aging and vulnerable from exposure to the elements. If that fails, not only could the environment suffer, but the city’s entire sewage system could be disrupted.
Article 12, an application for $ 2.28 million, is required to upgrade the decade-old sewage treatment plant, Manzi said. The repairs and improvements ensure that the system runs more efficiently and stays in good condition. Manzi estimates that the improvements could save the city at least $ 100,000 a year in transportation / disposal fees, if not more.
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