BRISTOL — Selectmen from most of the seven towns in the Newfound Area School District have voiced their opposition to the administration’s precedent-setting decision to bypass the voters and include $712,300 in major capital improvement expenditures in the default school budget. Officials from Bristol, which pays nearly a third of the district’s school taxes, have been reluctant to get involved in the debate, however.
Bristol selectmen have officially expressed the opinion that it is a matter for residents to take up with the school board.
Chair Rick Alpers answered for the selectmen on July 9 when Bristol resident Paul Simard asked, “What is this select board doing to alleviate the situation?”
“We’re doing nothing,” Alpers said. “You elect the school board, and it’s their territory. I’m not interested in getting into a tussle with the school district. You as voters need to hold them accountable.”
Selectman Wayne Anderson agreed: “I think it’s something to take up at the school board level.”
Simard posed the question again at the selectmen’s July 16 meeting: “You [Alpers] answered, but I didn’t get a sense of how the rest of the select board feels. Do you approve of the way that money was included in the default budget?”
“That’s an unfair question,” Alpers said before allowing other board members to respond.
Selectman J.P. Morrison echoed Alpers’ comment. “I don’t think it’s a fair question for the select board,” he said before continuing, “I’d hammer on the school board all you could. I’m not in favor of it; they pulled a fast one, in my opinion.”
Selectman Leslie Dion responded, “No matter what I personally think, I don’t think it’s right for the selectmen to make an opinion.”
Milbrand said, “I’m on record on the issue, but you have to go to your elected representative.”
Simard countered, “You represent the taxpayers of Bristol, who were dealt a bad hand.”
It was not the first time selectmen have sidestepped taking a stand on taxes by other governmental entities. When Grafton County Commissioner Omer Ahern Jr. spoke of the rising cost of county government, Alpers dismissed his concern with the comment that the county tax rate is just pennies on the property tax bill, compared with the school district’s impact.
Local taxpayers were hard on town budgets this year, including Bristol’s, after last year’s school taxes rose significantly, due in part to a motion to increase the operating budget by $800,000 in order to make repairs to the high school roof. Other contributing factors were a declining student enrollment that caused a cutback in state funding, as well as a decision by the school board the previous year to return unexpended funds to offset taxation, which kept the tax rate lower that year.
As a result of the voters’ action, Bristol administrators are being extra vigilant with spending, postponing some of the initiatives they had hoped to implement — including some that would increase revenues and reduce the need to borrow money. They had wanted to make computer and website updates to allow to pay bills by credit card— something residents have been asking for. Selectmen are hoping to see enough savings by the fall to proceed with the credit card program.
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