The Budget Advisory Committee met on October 19, 2026, to review the town’s operational budget, discuss major capital projects, and plan for upcoming financial decisions. Key topics included the ongoing wastewater treatment project, road infrastructure challenges, solid waste funding, and the Capital Improvement Program (CIP).
The meeting began with approval of the October 6 meeting minutes (link).
Town Operational Budget and Revolving Funds
The Assistant Town Manager provided updates on the town’s operational budget, including clarifications from the Finance Department regarding questions raised at the previous meeting. Committee members expressed satisfaction with the responses, noting they resolved questions about overlapping spending categories (link).
A significant discussion centered on the town’s intent to establish additional revolving funds, which could reduce the operating budget by moving certain expenses out of the general fund. Categories under consideration include police details, ambulance user fees, water and wastewater operations, and municipal solid waste (MSW) (link). The town is also exploring special revolving accounts for the Conservation Commission and Library to address donation lines that were impacted by the prior year’s budget reductions. This topic is expected to be discussed further at the November meeting, when the WVAIA and the Rey Center will present to the committee (link).
Wastewater Treatment Project Update
The committee received a detailed update on the wastewater project following a recent meeting with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NH DES). Town officials traveled to Concord and met with the DES commissioner and his team to discuss a pipeline deployment as an alternative to constructing a new wastewater treatment facility on site (link). DES expressed strong support for the concept, praised the town for “thinking outside of the box,” and connected officials with an engineer to assist while the town remains in compliance with its Administrative Order on Consent (AOC). The town also met with a Plymouth sewer district to discuss regionalization. While DES emphasized it has no direct funding to offer, officials noted that substantial federal funds may be available for regional solutions. A pipeline could offer a “hundred-year solution” compared to a roughly 50-year lifespan for a new treatment plant, with the added benefit of lower long-term operations and maintenance costs.
A feasibility study is the immediate next step, with results expected by mid-December (link). The town’s engineering firm is supportive of both options and will assist in navigating the EPA process. The two approaches — pipeline and treatment plant — would need to run in parallel for a period while the feasibility study is evaluated. The town has confirmed that the existing $10 million CWSRF loan can be used to fund the alternative project, and bond counsel is reviewing whether the scope change affects previously approved warrant articles.
On financing, officials noted that EPA programs allow municipalities to delay principal and interest payments for up to 10 years after project completion, effectively extending loan terms to 40 years. The WIFIA application is currently in progress; the application fee of $25,000 is being waived for small communities, and loan agreements could potentially be signed as early as spring or summer of next year (link). Earlier feasibility work by a prior engineering firm estimated a pipeline at approximately $50 million; current preliminary estimates from the engineering firm place either option in the range of $100 million when all components are included.
The Select Board will need to consider whether to begin setting aside $1 million to $2 million annually — equivalent to roughly $2 added to the tax rate — to build a capital reserve ahead of loan repayments (link). Committee members emphasized the importance of identifying budget offsets to help the town understand the full picture of any tax rate increase, rather than presenting it as purely additive (link).
Solid Waste Management
The committee discussed renaming an existing Capital Reserve Fund (CRF) — previously designated for a solid waste truck — to “Solid Waste Transfer Station Improvements” to allow the funds to be applied more broadly (link). Solid waste costs are primarily covered by user fees, with only a small tax rate subsidy. As the town transitions away from the Bethlehem transfer facility, which is slated to close in 2027, officials indicated they are hoping for a reduction in user fees rather than a tax rate increase (link). The committee also discussed the longer-term question of whether to shift solid waste funding back to the tax rate — as was done approximately five to six years ago — in the interest of equitable contribution across all residents, similar to how school costs are handled.
Large Projects and Debt Service
Several major capital projects were reviewed in the context of debt service capacity:
Corcoran Pond Dredging: The project remains in limbo pending contaminant testing on dredged material. The goal is to reuse the dredge spoils as fill, but an environmental engineer has indicated a methane-capture cap membrane would still be required before any cover could be placed. A separate, smaller US Forest Service project to re-engage Snow’s Brook with adjacent wetlands — helping reduce sedimentation into the pond — has received approval and is expected to proceed this spring (link). The combined dredging and siltation basin project was previously estimated at approximately $4 million, which led to it being deferred; engineering is being revisited to explore lower-cost alternatives.
Road Projects: Rising reconstruction costs are creating difficult tradeoffs. Snow’s Mountain Road, which includes water line replacement and drainage work, is under contract with Piper Construction and will proceed (link). The town has already invested approximately $200,000 in gravel processing for that project, and the water line replacement is considered time-sensitive given a recent main break. Other roads — including Lost Pass and West Branch Road — are in poor condition. Officials discussed whether simpler approaches such as reclaim asphalt and repaving could extend their useful life by eight to ten years while the town builds reserves (link). The road reconstruction schedule also includes Cascade Ridge and Beanbender Road in subsequent years, as well as a culvert replacement on Valley Road estimated at approximately $600,000. A separate discussion noted that Tripoli Road maintenance is governed by a Forest Service agreement, limits the scope of what the town can do, and serves an important dual purpose as an emergency alternate route and bypass for Livermore Road parking traffic.
West Branch Road Sewer Repair: A warrant article of approximately $57,000 previously designated for engineering design of a sewer repair on West Branch Road will be resubmitted under revised language to fund a contractor-provided solution directly, avoiding additional engineering costs (link).
Town Hall / Public Safety Facility: A projected cost of approximately $28 million for a new facility or major retrofit of the existing building remains a long-term concern. A previous warrant article to study the options failed, and officials indicated an intent to resubmit it with clearer framing to obtain actual cost estimates (link). A related development: the existing wastewater lagoons, which had been reserved as potential land for a Town Hall expansion, are now being repurposed in wastewater project engineering — as either equalization basins for a treatment plant or for the pipeline alternative — representing an estimated $5 million in project savings (link).
Capital Improvement Program (CIP) and Departmental Budgets
The CIP Committee is expected to present a draft list of recommendations to the Select Board at the upcoming Wednesday meeting. The Budget Advisory Committee will receive a copy and plans to devote one or more future meetings specifically to the CIP before the Select Board takes final action (link). The committee noted that the CIP Committee has worked diligently this year, prioritizing items more clearly than in previous cycles and beginning earlier than usual. Work is also underway to require upfront cost quotations for CIP requests to improve the accuracy of planning estimates.
Department heads have begun entering 2027 budget projections into the town’s financial software, and presentations to the Select Board are scheduled for November (link). For the next meeting, the committee requested a summary of all departmental staffing adjustments — including restructuring underway under the Town Manager — showing which departments have changes and which do not, along with the anticipated impact on services and costs (link). A simple spreadsheet format was suggested to provide a clear, high-level overview before the committee receives detailed operating budget numbers.
The next Budget Advisory Committee meeting is scheduled for November 3rd. The agenda will include a preliminary look at the CIP draft and presentations from the Rey Center and WVAIA.