Selectmen Take 50 Percent Pay Cut

By Thomas P. Caldwell

BRISTOL — Setting the tone for 50 percent cuts in many of the items that had been included in the 2018 town budget, members of the Bristol Board of Selectmen halved their own compensation, reducing the amount from $16,000 to $8,000.

The highway department took the brunt of the adjustments selectmen made to bring the budget in line with what voters appropriated at March Town Meeting. The final number is 4.4 percent more than the town spent last year, but $370,450 less than what the Budget Committee had proposed for spending in 2018.

Road and drainage work have been eliminated from the highway maintenance program, and road resurfacing projects have been drastically scaled back. The road resurfacing budget was reduced from $190,000 to $64,031. Selectmen eliminated the $15,000 that was to go to regular drainage work and $28,000 earmarked for drainage at Cummings Beach. The $50,000 for chip seal also was brought to zero.

Another $9,000 came out of the highway department’s operating budget, including cutting in half the amount for sidewalk maintenance.

General government spending for computers, website, maintenance, and security was reduced by $30,000, but selectmen kept money in the budget for a new computer and telephone system.

After hitting several areas of direct spending, the selectmen turned to some of the outside agencies, reducing the town’s contribution to the Newfound Area Nursing Association by $3,400, from $33,400 to $30,000. Most other funding was cut in half: the Grafton County Senior Citizens Council was reduced from $8,500 to $4,250; Voices Against Violence from $3,000 to $1,500; Pemi River Local Advisory Committee from $300 to $150; Communities for Alcohol and Drug-Free Youth from $2,000 to $1,000; Court Appointed Special Advocates from $500 to $250; and the Day Away respite program from $1,500 to $750. Bridge House Shelter was not cut as drastically being reduced from $2,000 to $1,250.

Funding for the Lakes Region Mental Health Center (formerly Genesis) had previously been reduced from $3,000 to $1,500 by the Budget Committee, and the selectmen pulled another $750 out of that amount.

In announcing the adjustments, Rick Alpers, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, praised the department heads for the careful scrutiny of their budgets and willingness to make the cuts necessary to bring spending in line with what voters had appropriated.

17 April 2018