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Select Board hears budget appeals from White Birch and Community Action Program
Summary
White Birch requested $65,000 to support senior programming; Community Action Program asked for $14,000 to sustain fuel, electric and other services. Board members questioned participation numbers, cost allocation and coordination with the budget committee; no appropriations were decided at the meeting.
Two nonprofit organizations presented their 2025 budget requests to the Henniker Select Board on Oct. 15.
Mark McMurphy (speaker 10), executive director of White Birch Community Center, asked the town to continue a $65,000 annual appropriation to support the senior active living program. McMurphy said the program served roughly 200 participants in 2023 across more than 100 programs and reported about 11,000 program hours. Board members asked about enrollment trends, the proportion of Henniker residents served (McMurphy said 53.8% Henniker in 2023, 46.2% out of town) and how shared administrative expenses are prorated across White Birch programs.
Beth Hayward (speaker 11), speaking for Community Action Program (CAP), thanked towns for longstanding support and requested $14,000 (the same level as last year). She gave program counts for Henniker residents over the past year (370 residents, 264 households, 4,519 meals) and explained that while federal and state grants cover some assistance (fuel, electric, weatherization), town funding supports local staffing that maintains the resource centers.
Board members asked technical questions about how expense lines are apportioned, about outreach methods (CAP shifted to online/mail outreach since COVID), and noted the budget committee had not yet received some materials; staff said those distribution issues would be corrected.
Ending: The presentations were informational; the board did not vote on appropriations that night and said budget committee coordination and additional review would follow.
