Hampton Voters Reject School District, Firefighter Pay Raises

HAMPTON, NH — Voters in Hampton went to the polls Tuesday and elected new members for town offices, town and school budgets, and also rejected raises for some town and school employees. On the town ballot, voters in Hampton had three competitive races. Five people ran for two three-year board of selectmen seats — with 7 votes separating the winners.

Russell Bridle topped the ticket with 1,403 votes with Chuck Rage earning 1,394 votes. Brian Warburton came in third while Michael Plouffe was fourth and Bryan Provo Provencal was fifth.

Five candidates also ran for two trustee of the trust funds seats. Chris Nevins came in first with 1,330 votes. James Dearden earned 790 votes while Joyce Skaperda received 784 votes. Larry Quinn and Christopher Koutalidis rounded out the five candidates.

Thomas McGuirk and Anne "Tocky" Bialobrzeski won two zoning board seats out of three candidates. Gregory Grady came in third.

Voters also approved a $28.3 million operating budget by a five-to-one margin.

Many other articles were approved by voters but some were not.

Article 16 and Article 17, raises for firefighters and supervisory fire personnel in Hampton, were both rejected by voters. Voters also rejected spending $40,000 for a new vehicle for the fire prevention officer.

Voters also rejected a proposal to lease a refuse and recycling truck by 370 votes.

Hampton District Ballot

The Hampton School District had an uncontested school board race. Voters barely approved the district's $23.8 million budget by 79 votes.

Voters also rejected a four-year collective bargaining agreement with the Seacoast Education Association for between $433,000 and $493,000 in pay increases. The warrant article was rejected by 45 votes.

Other warrant articles for school improvements and benefit services were approved easily.

Regional School District Ballot

Voters approved the Winnacunnet Cooperative School District budget of $28.6 million by 100 votes.

Cooperative school district voters also approved all of the warrant articles. One, Article 4, the $85,000 replacement of the school's auditorium sound system, was approved by 9 votes.

The only competitive race on the cooperative school district ballot was for budget committee-Seabrook between Patricia O'Keefe and Max Abramson. O'Keefe won the race by 990 votes.

View the Hampton town, Winnacunnet Cooperative School District, and school district results here.

North Hampton Town Ballot

James Sununu easily one the select board race besting Kathleen Kilgore by about 80 votes. Bill Kibby came in third.

Angela Blatus won the town treasurer race by 42 voters over Jonathan Pinette.

Four candidates ran for two three-year budget committee positions: Margaret Delano easily won one seat with 506 votes with Frank Ferraro coming in second with 431 votes. One vote separated Laurel Pohl and Charles Gallant, 413-412.

Four people also ran for two planning board seats. Nancy Monaghan won one of the seats with 576 votes. Tim Harned received 503 votes while Scott Baker earned 494 votes. Bill Kibby came in fourth.

Most of the town's warrant articles were approved but two were rejected. A zoning ordinance clarifying the definition of a duplex to require one of the units to be affordable failed by 49 votes.

A citizen petition appropriated $0 for the expansion and renovation of the public library was defeated by 95 votes. Article 9, a new library building proposal which requires $2.275 million bonding was approved by around 270 votes.

The North Hampton school ballot had no competitive races but voters approved its $9.3 million school budget by a more than two-to-one margin. Voters also approved pay raises for staffers and trust fund transfers, too.

Voters in both communities also approved a citizen petition to not allow sanctuary cities to be established and to comply with immigration detainer requests by solid margins.

View the North Hampton town ballot here.

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