Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Alton budget panel approves $90,000 add-on to fund an additional firefighter after public hearing
Summary
After a public hearing on a revised 2026 operating budget, the Alton Budget Committee voted to add $90,000 to the proposed budget to fund an additional full-time fire position; the meeting also reviewed line-by-line reductions that cut six vacant positions and incorporated a required revaluation expense into assessing.
The Alton Budget Committee voted April 8 to add $90,000 to a revised 2026 operating budget to fund an additional full-time fire position, following extended presentations by town staff and public comment on staffing and tax impacts.
Town administrator Ryan Heath and finance manager Laura Parker opened the public hearing with a line-by-line review of documents showing the original proposed operating budget of $10,791,640 and a revised proposal of $10,132,064. Heath said the revisions remove funding for six vacant positions (two in public works, two in fire, two in police) and otherwise reduce benefits and wages where feasible to arrive at the lower total. Parker told the committee she had removed health and dental for the four vacant positions and identified roughly $112,000 in retirement-related reductions and other savings tied to vacancies.
The presentation also explained a $116,580 addition in the assessing contract-services line related to the town's statutorily required five-year revaluation (cited in the meeting as RSA 75:8-a). Heath said a warrant article to create a capital reserve for the reval failed at town meeting, so the town must fund the reval expense this year and legal advised it is acceptable to include that cost in contracted services for the revised operating budget.
Public safety dominated the committee's discussion. Police Chief Mark Knuppel described reductions tied to a deferred 14th full-time officer and anticipated six-month vacancy savings for a departing patrol officer. Fire Chief James Wrennett summarized a 2023 consultant recommendation to transition toward a full-time fire department, recalled that voters approved four full-time fire positions in 2025, and said the revised budget currently funds two of those four. Wrennett urged the committee 'at a minimum' to support one vacant position so the department could staff all four shifts with two certified firefighter-EMTs and to maintain the ability to transport patients. He estimated a full-year cost for one firefighter, including wages and benefits, at roughly $106,000 and said averaged overtime effects could put the near-term budget impact higher.
Committee members and members of the public pressed chiefs and finance staff on overtime dynamics and whether existing savings from unfilled town-hall positions (planner and building inspector) or reduced discretionary items (for example, fireworks) could be redirected to public-safety staffing. Reuben Wentworth, a resident, urged reallocating assessing money toward fire positions; other commenters supported adding staffing because of Alton's aging population and higher EMS demand.
After deliberation the committee voted to add $90,000 to the revised operating budget to fund an additional fire department position; the motion was seconded and carried on a voice vote. The transcript does not record the motion maker by name or a roll-call tally; the committee set the new revised operating budget total at $10,222,064.
Finance staff reported a preliminary 2025 surplus of about $323,466 in year-end expenditures, and committee members discussed using fund balance to reduce tax impact. Several members noted that appropriating fund balance to offset the operating budget would require explicit inclusion on a warrant and voter approval; they also cautioned that using fund balance to reduce the tax rate creates a recurring baseline the town would need to sustain in future default budgets.
The committee left final allocation of the $90,000 (how much goes to wages versus benefits/holiday pay) to staff to implement in the wage and benefit lines. The revised budget with the committee's amendment will appear on a town ballot June 6 for voter action; the committee and several residents discussed whether the Saturday, 7 a.m.-3 p.m. schedule will affect turnout.
The committee approved minutes from Jan. 14, 2026, with one abstention and adjourned.
Next steps: the revised operating budget, as amended by the committee, advances to the town ballot and the select board for inclusion on the warrant. The town must also proceed with its five-year revaluation this year under RSA 75:8-a.
