School Resource Officer, Union Contracts, New Ambulance All on Town Warrant

A school resource officer, two collective bargaining agreements and ambulance and highway equipment purchases round out the warrant articles proposed for next year.

Acting Town Manager Bill Hart presented the proposed warrant articles Monday night as part of his larger budget presentation before the Town Council.

The $110,000 appropriation to fund the school resource officer would have a 3-cent impact on the tax rate in 2014, according to the warrant document.

At Monday's meeting, resident Dan Bouchard, who served as the town's first school resource officer in the 1980s, said he hoped to see the position split into multiple part-time jobs.

"(Take) an officer who was retiring and already trained and don't give him any benefits, at $50,000 a year, working 180 school days," he said Monday. "Now if you've got $110,000, I think you could get two guys."

Hart, who is also the town's police chief, said he doesn't support that idea because the town doesn't have an existing part-time program. He said a part-time officer would need to be trained at the same level as a full-time officer.

"I'm willing to look at it, if we can do it and maintain our professional standards," Hart said Monday.

One new collective bargaining agreement and one contract extension will also go before voters on the warrant.

An agreement between the town and the Londonderry Executive Employees Association would cost a total of $41,277 over the three years, with a zero pay increase in 2013 and 2-percent increases in both 2014 and 2015, according to the warrant document.

The AFSCME 3657 union, which represents public safety employees, has asked that the town extend the existing contract into fiscal year 2014. There would be no increased costs associated with the one-year extension.

Voters will be asked to raise $310,000 for ambulance and highway equipment purchases, to couple with a $400,000 expenditure from the June 30 fund balance, according to the document. That $310,000 would account for roughly 9 cents on the tax rate.

An initial warrant article sought to add $400,000 to the roadway maintenance trust, with half of that amount coming from tax dollars.

But councilors on Monday directed town staff to bump that number up to $500,000 to help make up for the money spent to cover refunded impact fees this year. Half of the money will come from property taxes and the other half from undesignated fund balance.

Another warrant article would spend $100,000 from the June 30 fund balance to create a capital reserve fund for cable services.

Citizen petitions must be submitted by the second Tuesday in January, with at least 25 signatures from verified Londonderry registered voters. Hart said town staff will be available to help citizens with the legal language of their petitions.