Town Administrator Andre and Community Development staff told the Budget Committee that the department's budget holds $27,002.94 in professional services to update several impact-fee ordinances.

The department explained a phased approach: updates to the police and fire and parks-and-recreation impact-fee ordinances are underway or prioritized because the town is already returning some fees in those categories; a traffic-impact update is planned next year and will be expensive; a school impact-fee update is being held for later because the town has not yet identified school projects that meet the growth-related legal tests for impact-fee spending.

Andre and staff emphasized that impact-fee ordinances ideally are updated about every five years to match a town's capital improvements program and growth projections; the last full updates date back to the late 2000s for some categories. Staff noted a legal limit: impact-fee funds not obligated within six years generally must be returned with interest. Andre summarized the Route 3/Hackett Hill corridor project as an example of a regional transportation priority and said Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission advocacy recently helped increase a funding estimate from about $4 million to $10.8 million.

Community Development also reported a vacancy in the town engineer position and said hiring a permanent replacement has proved difficult; the department plans to hire an interim engineering firm for peer review and to handle workload while recruiting. Staff said escrow arrangements and applicant-paid escrows cover some outside-review costs for site-specific engineering work.

Why this matters: Impact fees fund growth-related capital needs (parks, fire, police, traffic, school capacity). Updating rates and legal language affects the town's ability to retain and spend those funds on qualifying projects and avoid returning them with interest.

What was not decided: The committee did not change the professional-services allocation; staff said they will continue recruitment for a permanent town engineer and pursue a contract with an interim firm.