Town Manager's Budget Set at $27.5 Million

Citizens will get a chance to weigh in on next year's budget proposal later this month, after councilors moved the town manager's recommendation to a public hearing on Monday night.

The $27.5 million budget proposal for fiscal year 2014 currently comes in at $111,000 below the default budget.

Councilors had asked town staff to deliver a budget proposal at least $100,000 below default and including between 25 and 40 percent of cuts focusing on employee costs.

In Acting Town Manager Bill Hart's most recent proposal, $43,512, or 39 percent, of the cuts target salaries and benefits. Those reductions can only affect non-union employees, as collective bargaining agreements protect union employees from such adjustments.

Included in that number are $22,500 in cost savings after library staff volunteered to forgo cost-of-living and merit pay raises next year. Other insurance adjustments accounted for an additional $7,200 of that total.

But Hart, who is serving as interim manager until a permanent replacement is named, said specifics about the remainder of the cuts will be decided by the incoming town manager.

"These are choices that are going to be made by the town manager on July 1, 2013," he said Monday. "It's very likely that whoever is hired will discuss with policy experts and make those decisions."

While the official public hearing won't be held until later this month, some did speak about the proposal at Monday's regular Town Council meeting.

Resident Dan Bouchard, a retired Londonderry police officer, said he opposed the cuts in salaries and benefits.

"We have great employees in this community who work extremely hard," he told the council Monday. "I was here when we only had one union in this community and now practically everybody is represented by unions and this is why you've got people who aren't represented by a union being targeted."

The town's first public hearing on the budget will be held on Dec. 17.