Barnes: Hampton NH Proposed 2021 Budget

Dear Editor.

There was a motion made to Hampton’s 2021 proposed Operating Budget by Amy Hansen on Saturday, January 30, 2021 at the Hampton Deliberative Session. The Hansen motion was presented without a complete understanding of the absolutely appropriate actions taken by the budget committee as an elected body to this town. The Hansen motion included false statements made with the presentation of the motion to the voters in attendance. It should be noted that the Budget Committee conducted 19 public workshop meetings, analyzing the budget, line-by-line, their work provided the results presented at the town deliberative. There is plenty of money in the budget.

Facts were not presented clearly and as a result of the low attendance, estimated at 100 voters, this motion passed. The number of attendees included town employees, some of which are not Hampton voters, a very small percentage of voters was actually represented at the January 30 meeting, this is most always the case, with or without a pandemic.

The cuts made by the budget committee over their workshop meetings were slightly less than $290,000 and would not have affected the operation of any town departments or their 2021 budgetary concerns. In my view, to make any such statement would be not factual. The board of selectmen, at their February 3, 2021 recently reviewed the end-of-the-year purchase order report, included in this report was an additional $442,688 of end-of-the-year expenditures, coming from monies appropriated and unspent in the 2020 budget. There is plenty of money in the budget.

So where does this leave us?
Effective January 30, 2021, the operating budget as presented to the voters at the March 9, 2021 election (voting day,) will now include an increase to the operating budget as proposed by the budget committee. Part of this increase never went before neither the Board of Selectmen nor the Budget Committee as part of the 2021 Operating Budget Review process. There is plenty of money in the budget.

However, even with the amounts added by the Hansen motion, the operating budget is still less than the Default Budget. When we get to town voting day, voters should vote “yes” on the article, for the “cheaper” budget. All town voters should heed caution and think who you should vote for, someone that will best represent the interests of the town as a whole; honestly, ethically, and with prudence!

Remember, there is plenty of money in the budget.

Regina Barnes
Hampton, NH