Plaistow outlines $13.3 million operating budget; committee hears ambulance revenue options and a proposed 30-year solar lease at closed landfill

The Plaistow Budget Committee held a public hearing on the town’s proposed 2025 operating budget, which totals $13,306,304 — a roughly 5% increase over the prior year — and on a slate of warrant articles that fund capital reserves, contingency, and other special appropriations. Committee members also discussed how ambulance collections would be recorded if the town takes over ambulance services.

During the hearing, staff read major departmental totals. Highlights included the police budget, which the presentation showed rising about 10% primarily because of collective bargaining contract costs; the fire department up about 4%; the library budget up about 4%; and the town-wide “other general government” and finance office increases tied partly to legal and staffing costs. The water enterprise budget was listed at $510,516 and described as self-funding.

The committee reviewed a set of warrant articles that mainly seek to deposit funds into existing capital reserve or expendable trust accounts: highway equipment ($100,000), library capital reserve ($55,000), transportation infrastructure ($50,000), reevaluation capital reserve ($25,000), multiple fire department reserves (apparatus $140,000; equipment $30,000; radio $20,000), public safety communications ($80,000), police vehicles ($80,000), cemetery maintenance ($25,000), recreation capital ($30,000), and others. The committee also heard Article P-25-17, which would authorize the select board to lease part of the town-owned closed landfill at 6 Wilder Drive (parcel cited in the presentation as 32-032-000-000) to a vendor to install a solar energy array for up to 30 years and to negotiate a power-purchase agreement and related documents.

Committee members asked for additional detail about some budget line-item increases. On the finance budget increase, the chair asked whether the rise was due to salaries; staff replied that it reflected salary and redundancy in the finance office. On assessing, staff confirmed the department’s increase related to contract costs for assessing services. The human-resources and insurance lines also showed year-over-year increases tied to benefits costs.

Members discussed how ambulance revenue is being treated and whether it should be placed into an enterprise or revolving fund rather than flowing through the general fund. Greg Colby said town cash collections related to ambulance service were “in the neighborhood of 275,000 for the year” for an eight- to nine-month period, and clarified that this figure reflects cash collected and not outstanding receivables. Colby told the committee the town is reconciling receipts and working with the ambulance company and the fire chief; he said collection timing varies by insurer and that the town is working to identify a vendor to manage bad-debt collection.

Committee members noted that a neighboring jurisdiction, the Atkinson Board of Selectmen, had voted to establish a revolving account to capture ambulance revenue. Members discussed whether Plaistow would pursue a similar mechanism or whether the town should treat the remitted funds as fiduciary (acting as agent and expending on behalf of other towns) and thus account for them separately.

The committee closed the public hearing portion of its meeting and confirmed the deliberative session for Saturday, Feb. 1, at 9 a.m.