Update
Michell Sand and Gravel in Winchester had the Hinsdale contract for years per the town's road department. They were recently sold to a conglomerate. I called them today inquiring on what is asphalt prices today and the trends next year. The road department said they got special below market asphalt from Michell for years. The new owners so called said to the road department there is going to be a considerable price increase in the next year, like a contract price has already been locked in. The Hinsdale road department said Mitchell Sand and Gravel would definitely get the new asphalt contract in 2020. This false high priced ghost winter asphalt is the sole bases for the "considerable" increase in asphalt prices in the next year's town budget gap. Today the Michell said they didn't sell asphalt in the winter. The plant is shutdown. I ask them what do you think the direction of prices in the spring? She says they don't disclose price trends or springtime prices. The prices of asphalt and components are too erratic in the winter. They absolutely don't make contracts in the winter and they never disclose prices until the plant startup. She says if they declare prices in the winter and the prices go up 200% in the spring, their loyal customers would rebel and they would ruin their reputation. They never disclose trends and prices of asphalt during the winter. Obviously Dracy is lying in the below statement.
Darcy: "We learned last night [at Monday's board meeting] that the cost of asphalt is going to go up considerably,"
The Hinsdale Police department is investigating the town's asphalt contracts for fraud. Inflating asphalt prices to line somebody's pockets. The asphalt prices in our region are stable or declining based on my talks with the NHDOT and Keene's public works asphalt expert. Basically asphalt prices are keyed to petroleum prices. There is no justification for the "considerable rise" of asphalt prices in Hinsdale. I made the complaint to the police yesterday at their office and got it in their computer system. The young police women told me her investigation is beginning...
***Hinsdale board struggles with budgetEvery salient being knows this family budget model is grossly falsified. We all know there are really two components on a family budget: the income(taxes and property taxes) going into the budget and expenses going out of the budget. Why do these town officers never mention the property taxes feeding the town budget. What is going on with our property taxes and home valuation?
Posted Tuesday, December 17, 2019 8:33 pm
By Bob Audette, Brattleboro Reformer
HINSDALE, N.H. — Each year, the cost of goods and services increases and towns around the region struggle to take care of their communities while not overburdening taxpayers with ever-increasing taxes.
"We're always trying to present a budget that is providing the level of services that we need," said Mike Darcy, chairman of the Hinsdale Board of Selectmen. "But at the same time, we are trying to make it as economical as we can."
Darcy noted that anyone who writes a household or business budget knows there are certain increases you can't control, such as health insurance and retirement plans, which you still have to pay. The money has to come from somewhere.
"We learned last night [at Monday's board meeting] that the cost of asphalt is going to go up considerably," Darcy said during a phone call with the Reformer on Tuesday. "And in the water and sewer departments, the cost of the chemicals we use to treat the water is going up. Those things are out of our hands. Even the cost of electricity is going up."
The Board of Selectmen asks its department heads to keep their budgets "as trim as possible" in the hopes of keeping any tax increases reasonable.
"It's very challenging," Darcy said.
On Monday night, the board heard from Hinsdale Police Chief Todd Faulkner, who said he has been able make $31,000 in cuts to his $1.4 million budget but expenses, going up $35,000, negated the cuts. The board had asked Faulkner to find an additional $20,000 in cuts in response. He said that's just not possible.
"We are down to bare bones," he said. Any further cuts, Faulkner said, would jeopardize the safety of officers and the public and might mean there is nothing in reserve for unforeseeable events like a cruiser that breaks down or a communications system that needs immediate repairs.
One suggestion that was made during the meeting was to cut two positions from the Police Department.
"Our numbers are not adding up for our residents," said board member Megan Kondrat, who pointed out the Police Department has budget lines for 10 officers but currently only has three and Faulkner on the payroll. Kondrat said it might be time to cut two positions if the town can't find enough officers to fill the open positions anyway.
"If we can't find a couple right now, I don't see us finding six officers in the next 18 months," she said.
"With that mentality," responded Faulkner, "we never will."
Faulkner said the major reason Hinsdale can't find officers to fill its open positions is because the pay is not commensurate with the level of work required. He said Hinsdale's officers have a higher call volume than other nearby towns and agencies that pay better.
"I and other officers have sat before the board many times and explained the need for better pay," said Faulkner, during a telephone call with the Reformer on Tuesday.
Faulkner said he understands the burden increased costs put on the town's taxpayers, but he asked if they are willing to sacrifice safety and service in exchange for keeping the tax rate down.
One option the town is looking at as a stopgap measure is to sign a 40-hour-a-week contract with the New Hampshire State Police.
Lt. Michael Kokoski, commander of NHSP Troop C in Keene, said the pay rate, depending on the rank of the troopers assigned to the contract, ranges between $50 and $90 an hour. Kokoski also noted that the contract wouldn't be signed unless Hinsdale can guarantee there will be an additional officer on duty while a trooper is assigned to the town. That could be a Hinsdale officer or it could be another trooper, but the call volume in Hinsdale demands dual coverage, he said.
Faulkner told the Reformer the town is also considering a contract with Chesterfield or the Cheshire County Sheriff, which would provide an officer at a little more than $80 an hour.
Whoever the town signs with, said Faulkner, that money would come out of the budget lines set aside for the six positions not currently filled in the department.
Another option that was discussed was to cut one position in the police department and use that money to give raises across the board.
Faulkner said that he wouldn't want to lose a position, but that's a viable alternative.
"That's the best option I have heard, but I guarantee the new chief will come in and say we need to go back to 10 positions," he said.
Faulkner recently tendered his resignation. His last day on the job is Jan. 6, when a contracted chief supplied by Municipal Resources Inc. will step in until the town finds a full-time replacement.
Faulkner also pointed out that he budgets about $50,000 for the student resource officer in the Hinsdale schools and that the schools pay about $25,000 on top of that. But that money goes back to the town's general budget, rather than to the police department. Faulkner said the town should send the money back to him so he can use it to pay his officers a little bit more.
"Townspeople don't realize the amount of crime and the call volume we have in this community," said Faulkner, who blamed much of that call volume on the town's proximity to Brattleboro and Massachusetts and the presence of the Super Walmart on Route 119.
"The Walmart alone keeps us super busy," he said. "We arrest people from around the region there. We're dealing with gang members, drug users and violent offenders on a regular basis. Hinsdale is not the same town it was 23 years ago when I first started here. This is a great community, but you need a police department to hold these issues in check."
Darcy told the Reformer that the board is responsible for working with department heads to set the budget. The members of the town's Budget Committee, which are elected positions, review the budget and offer their guidance back to the board, which eventually has to approve the budget before presenting it at annual Town Meeting in March for approval from town residents.
He said while he can see both sides of the discussion when it comes to the police budget, he told the Reformer town residents concerned about the process should attend board or budget meetings to inform themselves in advance of the town-wide vote.
"It's not black and white," he said. "There is no simple fix."
On Monday night, the board voted to table the discussion about cuts to the police department and continue it at the next meeting.
