By TORY DENIS
[email protected]
UNITY — With a turnout of 69 registered voters at the annual town meeting Saturday, citizens in Unity passed a $1.03 million operating budget and all articles — including an All Veterans Tax Credit, a new Highway Department shed, and funding to continue Center Road reconstruction.
“The idea is to make it so the road will last a long time,” said engineer Dave Eckman, who is overseeing the project slated to complete another half-mile of road this year.
Voters unanimously approved, by floor vote, a budget of $1,033,649 for general municipal operations at the 2018 Unity Annual Town Meeting.
That budget is a best estimate based on last year’s figures, according to Selectman John Callum Jr.
The approved operating budget includes $478,715 for general government, $125,650 for public safety, $239,250 for highways and streets, and $85,700 for sanitation.
It also includes $6,744 for health, $6,945 for welfare, including for direct assistance, Southwestern Community Services, and Sullivan County Nutrition; $47,515 for culture and recreation, $2,200 for conservation, and $1,500 for debt service.
This year’s budget accounts for anticipated new spending in a few departments. They include a $4,000 increase in Planning and Zoning due to the town writing up its Master Plan this year, and a bump up in the Solid Waste Disposal line due to the town’s need to replenish the waste disposal bags that citizens can purchase for $2 each, which can be brought to the transfer station when full.
Voters on Tuesday approved funding of $200,000 to add to the Roads and Bridges Capital Reserve Fund for long-term maintenance, and $300,000 toward the reconstruction of Center Road.
The town plans to continue the Center Road reconstruction project this year, starting where the project left off last year. The final half-mile or so should be completed next summer, according to Eckman.
Eckman’s engineering firm has been meeting with land abutters in advance of the road reconstruction to discuss the cutting and removal of some trees that, if left in place, could encroach on the roadway and cause freeze-thaw cracking later due to root systems.
Voters unanimously approved a measure to adopt the provisions of a $500 All Veterans Tax Credit (RSA 72:28-b). The tax credit will be available to any resident, or to the spouse or surviving spouse of any resident, who served at least 90 days on active service in the U.S. Armed Forces, and were honorably discharged or an officer honorably separated, and not receiving or eligible for RSA 72:28 or RSA 72:35 (standard or optional veterans’ tax credit already voted by the town of Unity).
Callum said Unity has a few individuals who will benefit from the new tax credit, since they were in the U.S. military service for more than 90 days, but under the previous tax credit were not permitted to benefit.
By adopting the change, “they’d be able to take advantage of it,” he said.
Unity Volunteer Fire Chief Jeff Matthews and several members of the fire department attended the annual meeting. One of the approved articles was to raise and appropriate $110,000 to purchase self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCUBAs), a breathing air compressor/fill station so the department would no longer have to travel to Lempster to fill the bottles, and other equipment.
Board of Selectmen Chair Ed Gregory also commended the fire department as having “done wonders out here.”
Voters unanimously approved an article to appropriate $500 for the Vital Records Restoration Expendable Trust Fund for a restoration project for historical town books. About 10 books are left to be restored in all, and six of them should be done as soon as possible. The cost is about $2,000 each, according to Town Clerk Rosemary Heino.
Heino said that the books that have already been restored are on display in the town office if anyone would like to see how this funding is used.
At one voter’s request to consider digitally cataloguing the town’s historical records, to be available to a national database, Heino said the town could look into it.
Also approved were: $50,000 for the Highway Vehicle Capital Reserve Fund, in anticipation of the town needing a new backhoe this year or next; $20,000 for the Revaluation Capital Reserve Fund for a revaluation to take place in 2019; $16,000 to be added to the Well Monitoring Expendable Trust Fund; and $500 to raise the town treasurer’s salary from $6,000 to $6,500.
Voters unanimously approved $33.839 to add to the Fire Department Emergency Vehicle Capital Reserve Fund to purchase a 2018 one-ton fire truck to replace a 1984 truck; $30,000 to begin building a pole barn shed to house Highway Department vehicles; and $50,000 to add to the Bridges Capital Reserve Fund to provide a required 20 percent match on state and federal grant funding to replace a “red-listed” bridge with a new two-lane bridge.
Voters met previously on Tuesday to vote in the town’s annual school and municipal officer elections.
The Annual School District Meeting is scheduled March 24 at Unity Elementary School. A town-wide Unity Roadside Cleanup is scheduled for April 21.
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