Hooksett’s Town Council held a public forum at the Hooksett Public Library on November 4 that was designed to build understanding, increase transparency, and encourage voter participation. The forum was led by Town Administrator Andre Garron, who took the roughly two dozen attendees through a slide presentation and fielded numerous questions from the audience. Some of the topics he addressed include: What is an SB2 town? How is the tax rate set? And how are the town budget and warrant articles created?
Two themes became apparent almost immediately: 1) The Hooksett citizens in attendance were largely confused and overwhelmed by the 31 warrant articles included on last year’s ballot; and 2) The town administrator and councilors would like to see more active involvement from the voters, particularly during the budget development process.
It is not a coincidence that the town council decided to host a public forum now, in Hooksett’s second year in a default budget. Garron noted that there seems to be “a disconnect there in regard to the preparation of our budget, the programs that we are moving forward with, the things we think the community wants and what we budget for. Maybe [you] have different ideas about that,” he said to forum attendees.
In the beginning of his presentation, Garron explained the difference between an SB2 town and the traditional town meeting structure. Before Hooksett adopted the SB2 charter, it held an annual town meeting -- typically on a Saturday -- and all deliberations and decisions were made during that one meeting.
SB2, by contrast, is a form of town government in New Hampshire that involves a two-part process: There is a deliberative session and a voting session. The deliberative session is designed to give voters a chance to discuss and amend the proposed budget and warrant articles ahead of the voting session.
(For clarification, SB2 refers to Senate Bill 2, which was the name of the original state bill proposed in 1995. In 2000, state legislators approved “SB2” as the official name for this form of government.)
After a brief description of the structure of town government and an overview of how decisions are made, Garron moved on to taxes and the budget -- “our favorite topics,” he joked.
The formula used to calculate the local property tax rate is as follows: Voted Appropriations minus Revenue, plus Overlay (money specifically set aside to fund anticipated tax abatements or exceptions), plus Tax Credits for Veterans and Others, divided by the Locally Assessed Property Value. The resultant number is the tax rate, which is then divided by 1,000 and expressed as the tax rate per $1,000 of property value. In Hooksett, the current tax rate per $1,000 valuation is $8.95.
The tax rate is the same for both residential and commercial tax payers, said Garron. The vast majority of Hooksett’s tax revenue comes from residential sources. Just 17% of the town’s tax revenue is collected from commercial and industrial sources.
“Every year, we try to develop a budget that meets the needs of the community but hopefully at a cost that makes sense to voters,” said Garron.
He explained that the budget process begins in July and culminates with the voting session in March. It starts with an examination of upcoming capital improvements. These are items over $50,000, including vehicles, equipment, buildings, and infrastructure. That process usually lasts a couple of months and leads to budget development, which typically begins in July or August.
Every department submits a budget proposal, and Garron meets with each department head to go through this proposal line by line.
“They inform me what it takes to run the department,” he said, “and I tell them to make sure we are operating as efficiently as we possibly can and utilizing the tax dollars as best we can.”
Finally, Garron submits the total proposed budget to the town council, which reviews that budget line by line or sometimes section by section. That proposal then goes to the budget committee for review before it is presented to the voters during the deliberative session.
According to Hooksett Finance Director Christine Tewksbury, the default budget is developed along a similar timeline. She explained that the default budget is derived from last year’s operating budget, minus one-time expenditures, plus voter-approved additions (such as previously negotiated and approved contracts or salary increases.)
Garron and the town councilors in attendance all stressed the need for more public input.
“At every point along the way -- at the Town Council level, at the budget committee level, all the way through the deliberative session -- the public has every opportunity to come in and ask questions,” said Garron.
Moreover, he said, all of those meetings are recorded and can be found on Hooksett’s town website (www.hooksett.gov).
Warrant article woes
A number of Hooksett residents in attendance voiced their frustration with both the sheer number of warrant articles on recent ballots and the confusing manner in which they are written. One voter shared that she had “floundered” in the voting booth for almost an hour and felt “really ill informed.”
Last year’s ballot featured 31 warrant articles: 14 zoning articles and 17 financial articles. According to the town council, some voters simply voted “no” to every warrant article after number 12. On many ballots, articles after number 20 were simply left blank, which is a clear indication that voters had stopped reading.
To be fair, even the town councilors recognize that 31 warrant articles is a lot for one ballot, and they are currently exploring ways to group related articles together. They are motivated to streamline the ballot; Last year was the first time in seventeen years that none of the capital reserves passed.
Town councilor Randall Lapierre said he doesn’t understand why people vote “no” on warrant articles. If the town knows that it will need a new fire truck in six years, for example, the best way to pay for that is incrementally. If we pay, say, five cents (per $1,000 valuation) per year for six years, the burden on the tax payers is far less than it would be if we paid the entire cost of the fire truck all at once.
“This is the most fiscally responsible thing we can do,” he argued.
As for the confusing language used to describe the warrant articles, the town councilors said there is little they can do about that. The state of New Hampshire dictates the specific language that can be used for warrant articles, and the town council is not able to deviate from that narrowly prescribed language.
“This is the reason we have a Voter’s Guide,” noted Garron. “The Voter’s Guide allows us a little bit more flexibility to attempt to explain what you are, in fact, voting on.”
Project Coordinator Leann McLaughlin confirmed that a Voter’s Guide is available every year and typically runs around 60 pages. It can be found on the town Web site, and hard copies will be available at the library. Next year’s guide should be posted online by January 31, 2026, ahead of the deliberative session.
Voters looking for even more information can sign up to receive E-Alerts at the town Web site (www.hooksett.gov). Simply click on “E-Alerts” on the menu bar at the top of the page. This takes you to a new page where you can add your email address or phone number if you prefer text messages. You can customize your E-Alerts based on the information you would like to receive. If you want to learn more about past or upcoming budget committee meetings, for example, you can select the Budget Committee and receive an email or text message whenever new information about the budget committee is posted.
