By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

Voters chimed in on a number of contentious topics at Hooksett’s Friday, April 1, deliberative session of Town Meeting including a proposal for a town-run ambulance service, a $500,000 request to move the town offices into the historic Village School building and a $50,000 request to fund a study for a parkway to bypass Route 3.

Officials are also proposing a $14.4 million operating budget, which voters amended up by $4,000 after a motion from resident Patricia Rueppel to give more money to the Hooksett Heritage Commission. The proposed budget is 4 percent higher than the town’s current budget.

Rueppel’s was the only passing amendment throughout the fivehour first leg of Town Meeting. Hooksett Finance Director Diane Savoie estimated if all warrant articles pass on voting day, May 9, taxpayers can expect an increase of 94 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation for the town portion of the property tax rate. If all the articles fail, Savoie estimated an increase of 38 cents per $1,000.

Under that scenario, the owner of a $300,000 property would pay an additional $282 per year for municipal services if all articles pass, and an additional $114 per year if all fail. Additional increases would come under the school, county and state taxes.

Village School
Warrant Article 20 asks to use $500,000 of surplus revenue to convert part of the historic Village School building into town offices. Voters last year rejected a bond proposal of $1.5 million to convert the building into half town offices and half community center.

Town Administrator David Jodoin said several people have come forward to volunteer services for renovating the building, which has been vacant since 2004. He likened the proposal to two projects – including the Allenstown Fire Station – he oversaw as Allenstown’s town administrator, where volunteer efforts minimized the burden to taxpayers.

The $500,000 plan received mostly positive feedback at the recent meeting.

“This article is an investment in our past,” said Hooksett School Board member Jim Sullivan. “We need to continue to use this valuable piece of historic property.”

Ambulance service
Officials are asking for $156,000 to launch a Hooksettonly, 24-hour ambulance service to be under the watch of the fire department. If the article passes, an ambulance would be purchased through impact fees already collected.

Hooksett has employed Tri-Town Ambulance – which also caters to Pembroke and Allenstown – for more than three decades, but Fire Chief Mike Williams said a town-run service could generate considerable revenue and allow for more prompt ambulance care for a growing Hooksett.

Currently, Tri-Town houses an ambulance at Hooksett’s safety complex during business hours Monday through Friday, with a 24-hour, seven-day ambulance housed at its Pembroke location.

Williams said a permanent ambulance at the safety complex could provide quicker medical care than is currently being provided with Tri-Town.

“There is a problem now that exists,” said Williams. “It’s existed since 2000.”

Williams said that on the morning of the deliberative session a patient with chest pain waited 19 minutes before a Tri- Town ambulance arrived.

A flier handed out by Tri- Town representatives outside Cawley Middle School said the Hooksett proposal could reduce the level of ambulance service, add to the tax burden because of operational costs and possibly create “hidden taxes in the form of town based ambulance billing practices.”

Parkway feasibility study
Officials are asking for $50,000 for a parkway, southern leg, feasibility study.

Town Planner Charles Watson noted that the parkway – a conceptual road that would bypass Route 3 through currently undeveloped land – was first listed on the town’s 1971 master plan, included in the 1989 master plan, and is listed as a “high priority on the town’s current master plan, adopted last year.

Several officials in support of the $50,000 request suggested that time is running out for the conceptual roadway, the southern portion of which is proposed to run through developable parcels owned by Southern New Hampshire University. The northern leg of the parkway runs largely through land owned by Manchester Sand and Gravel.

“One of the problems we have in this town is we don’t think 10, 15 or 20 years in the future,” said budget committee member Bryan Williams.

Said Town Council Chairman Michael DiBitetto, “This cannot be kicked down the road indefinitely.”

Planning Board Chairman Dick Marshall said the issue that drew the most attention during the creation of the current Master Plan was traffic on Route 3, and suggested the parkway study could be the first step toward finding a long-term solution to relieve congestion on the corridor.

Other articles
Other articles voters discussed included a $1.5 million bond request to complete phase two of the three-phase sewer department plan to double the town’s sewer capacity. That article would be rendered null if the $18 million TIF plan passes (see related story).

The town’s unionized firefighters are hoping voters accept warrant Article 5, which would give them a 6 percent raise this year, with 3 percent raises the following two years.

Also proposed is $105,536 for the final phase of HVAC improvements to the library, and a $100,000 annual cap on conservation funding, which would funnel more current use tax revenue into the town’s general fund.

One resident questioned why so many of the 23 warrant articles discussed, as listed on the Town Meeting Guide, were not recommended by some councilors and even more members of the budget committee.

Budget committee member Bryan Williams said some members of that committee at some point “drew a line in the sand” regarding spending and said “no more.”

Resident Frank Gray stood in support of a petitioned article asking for a police detail revolving fund.

Voting day is set for May 9, between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. at Cawley School.