Budget Time!

It is the time of year when we conduct hearings on our budget plans and proposed bonds for capital purchases.  On Wednesday, February 6th at 6:00 p.m. we will have our hearing at the Recreation Department Multi-purpose Room.  Anyone interested in our Town is invited, and encouraged, to attend these hearings.  We appreciate your participation and value your thoughts on how we conduct Town business here in Waterville Valley.

Here in New Hampshire, we practice direct Democracy - one person, one vote at Town Meeting.  And as we practice this form of governance, everyone gets to express their opinion about how things should run.  The budget hearing is a key part of our governmental process because it gives you a chance to hear what the Selectmen and other community leaders think about our town and how it should be run.  The Town Meeting is the legislative body of the Town and is the only means of appropriating money to fund our Town operations, which means it is critical for everyone to be fully informed on the issues our Town faces and the plan for meeting those challenges.

We have posted the proposed budget on the Town Website at this link.  There are also hard copies of the documents at the Post Office and Town Hall.  This year the proposed budget is approximately $111,613 or 4.0% higher than our 2018 Approved Budget.  This is a larger increase than we have had over the past few years.  There are two factors impacting the budget request.  The first is in personnel costs as we are transitioning in new staff as others retire.  We are training new personnel while we still have our current staff here to ensure there is no interruption of services during the changeover.  We are also incurring costs for training and certification of the new staff.  Also with personnel, we are proposing a new position in the Recreation Department to allow us to develop and deliver new programming.  This is the other impact on our budget request - new Recreation Department programs.  We are proposing a new focus on hiking in an effort to increase the use of our excellent trail network and bring new visitors into the Valley.

This is only a short summary of the 2019 Town Budget and the major impacts on the bottom line.  Please join us if you can on Wednesday evening and listen to a full presentation, ask some questions and provide us with your feedback.