[fatlazyless]

SB2 takes precedence over school budget increase

The Meredith News, Thursday, Feb 21, 2008

By Sarah Schmidt


MOULTONBORO - At the presentation of the Moultonboro School District budget, the focus wasn't the 3.97 percent increase in the budget, but rather the hotly debated SB2 hearing.

With little input from the attending public about the budget, School Board Chair Laurie Whitley opened the public hearing for the SB2 petition warrant article. Several Moultonboro town officials stepped forward to speak as citizens, by and large speaking against the passage of the SB2 warrant article.

"I don't see the petitioners (of SB2) running for committees or the school board," said Town Moderator Mel Borrin. "This is just a method of getting you to cut the budget, a 'getcha' deal."

Borrin said that if the town voted to change to the SB2 form of government, it would endanger the school budget, since such a large portion of it encompasses the salaries for teachers negotiated by their union. He also spoke against the practice in SB2 of allowing residents to vote on the Town Warrant in a polling booth.

"If they say you're spending too much, let them challenge you," said Borrin."There's no challenge behind a curtain when voting all no. It can cripple something begun years ago."

Borrin also took issue with the deliberative session of the SB2 process, where residents can amend articles a month before voting on them, and said that just as many people who couldn't attend Town Meeting would not be able to attend a deliberative session. School Superintendent Mike Lancor also expresses concern about the deliberative session's average attendance and called SB2 ballots themselves a form of "multiple choice."

"My concern is that SB2 does not give voters a full choice," said Selectman Ed Charest. "When the ballot is mailed out, you're getting a choice that other people have made for you. It's taking away the right to vote."

Chair Karel Crawford also spoke against the petition warrant article, encouraging people to vote for people who represented their interests.

Speaking in support of SB2, Al Hume took issue with the defnition of the purest form of government, saying that rather than the exact method, the best method is to maximize the amount of people who could vote.

"If Moultonboro had SB2, there would be a lot more people voting," said Hume. "About 360 people voted on the whole budget, and 107 at the school. The purest form of government is maximizing the number of people voting."

Hume said that SB2 would not change the government in Moultonboro, just the time and manner in which warrant articles are approved in. It would also, he said, allow people who could not make it to Town Meeting, who could not stay the whole time, or who felt more comfortable casting their vote in a private booth, the ability to vote.

"I don't think people are hiding behind a closed booth." said Hume, in response to Borrin's earlier comment on voting on the Town Warrant in polling booths.

Crawford noted that both the school and town budgets and warrant articles will come before voters at Town Meeting on Saturday, March 15. Childcare will be provided and a lunch will be available for purchase.

As far as the school budget, the majority of the $518,465 increase is in the $475,781 increase in the personnel budget, much of it in salary increase for teachers and other school employees. The Moultonboro School District will enter the second year of its collective bargaining agreement in the next school year, with an average salary increase of 5.12 percent, and an average step increase of 1.8 percent. Other increases include salaries for 10 and 12 month employees, administrative and conract employees, paraeducator's salaries, retirement, FICA, and dental insuirance. The personnel budget accounts for about 70.1 percent of the total budget, and the increases within the personnel budget accounts for 91.8 percent of the budget.

Amoung the warrant articles up for a vote this year is an article that would appropriate up to $50,000 from the unreserved fund balance at the end of the school year, to be placed in an expendable trust fund for buildings and grounds.

The Meredith News,Thursday, February 21, 2008

By Sarah Schmidt

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