Walpole Town Meeting Approves 2006 Budget and Warrant Articles

By Charles C. Bingaman, Contributing Writer

            The one hundred forty citizens present Saturday afternoon at Town Hall unanimously approved the proposed $3,011,474 consolidated budget that was up just .15% from last year’s total budget.

            While the operating expense section of the budget exceeds last year’s by 6.34%, due to increases in highway and street maintenance, solid waste disposal costs, anticipated legal expenses and an across-the-board town employee salary increase of 4.1%, lower warrant article costs for 2006 resulted in the smaller total budget increase percentage.

            Responding to observations of Dana Hemenway of Old Keene Road that costs of solid waste disposal had been increasing for the past several years at abnormally high rates, Select Board Chair Sheldon Sawyer noted that, “there is no good way of properly getting rid of our waste.  We can’t burn it.  We can’t bury it. But we continue to generate more of it.”  Sawyer also noted that tipping fees and transportation costs of dealing with solid waste continue to increase.

            All seventeen warrant articles passed.  In addition to the overall budget article, voters approved purchasing a new International Six Wheel Dump Truck for $130,000, an $8,500 hydraulic Road Broom attachment for a loader, and a $14,200 10-foot wing for the loader.  In other article votes, $30,000 was approved for new granite curbs for the downtown area, $8,399 for new overhead doors for the Old Town Shop, and $80,000 (75% of which will be reimbursed by the state) for work to be done on the Old Keene Road Bridge project.  Selectman Whitney Aldrich drew laughs when, in answer to an inquiry about the location of the bridge, he said it was near the other selectmen’s homes.

            Walpole Police were authorized to purchase a new cruiser for $26,447 (although $16,447 will come from the Capital Reserve Fund for Police Vehicles) and $10,500 to purchase 3 new Motorola XTS3000 portable digital radios for more effective communications with other police and emergency units.

            Town improvement expenditures voted in were…

·        $5,400 to replace the aging furnace and ductwork in the town library

·        $14,810 to repair cracks and install new color coat on the tennis courts, basketball courts and walkways at the Recreation Center.

·        $10,000 to repair structural problems with the pillars on the north side of the Town Hall

Voters also approved a $23,600 contract with Granite State Assessing Services for the mandatory Statistical Update of town real estate values required because, in 2005, valuations of Walpole properties sold were found to be just 76% of actual sale prices. 

At the end of the formal agenda, John Hanzel, co-chairman of citizens group Walpole Tomorrow, rose to comment on Tuesday’s vote on zoning ordinance amendments seeking to limit building size for new commercial developments.  While the 600-551 vote favored the 40,000 square foot size for such buildings, the article failed because a special petition by commercial landowners required two-thirds vote.  Hanzel said that, “although defeated, we sent a clear message to the developers: ‘You’re welcome, provided that you develop commercial property with restraint and with respect for our values as set out in our Master Plan.’”  Hanzel also noted that the amendment carried a majority despite the Planning Board’s voting not to endorse it and the ballot’s carrying a notice to that effect.  “Imagine the majority we would have had,” he said, “if the Planning Board would have supported us!”

At the conclusion of the meeting, Frederick A. Newton of Warwick, R.I. asked for the floor, explained that he was visiting friends in Walpole and had never before attended a town meeting. “But,” he said, “I am speaking from my heart when I say that I am very impressed with how well the meeting was run and  how seriously the citizens have taken it.  It’s been a great example of democracy in action.”

      The meeting adjourned with those in the audience standing and giving the selectmen and other town officers a rousing round of applause.

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