By Devon Cormier
Staff Writer

Hooksett voters were in a negative mood on Election Day, shooting down the school district’s operating budget, the use of leftover money from a bond to repair school buildings, a petition to move the annual School District Meeting date, as well as a petition to have the budget committee determine a default budget.

School officials were disappointed that the budget and bond money lost by a razor-thin margin.

Default budget
The Hooksett School District will operate under a default budget for the second year in row after voters shot down the proposed budget on Tuesday, March 8, by just a few votes.

“We are not too happy about the bottom line,” said School Board Chairman Jim Sullivan. “For the second year, we will have a default budget and that is very disappointing.”

The budget lost by a slim margin of 261-268.

The operating budget was proposed at $21,744,339. The default budget will be $21,180,599.

Sullivan said he wasn’t pleased with the voter turnout and thought the low number of residents may have had something to do with the unexpected results.

Million dollars
Sullivan said the school board was shocked to learn they had taken another hit when voters did not show quite enough support to use almost $1 million in funds leftover from the construction of the Memorial and Cawley Schools to repair the Underhill School and the SAU building.

While 181 voters opposed the article, 354 approved the switch. However, of the 535 votes, 357 people had to vote yes in order to satisfy the two-thirds requirement for changing the use of a bond. The article lost by three votes – or 66.1 percent when 66.7 percent was necessary.

Repairs at Underhill would have included the heating and ventilation system, asbestos removal, a sprinkler system, tile and floor replacements, electrical work and a roof upgrade among other things. The repairs were expected to cost between $700,000 and $900,000 and the remainder of the money would go to repairs at the SAU building.

Petitioned articles
However, Sullivan said the school board was pleased about the failure of two other warrant articles. Budget committee member Bryan Williams had gotten an article on the ballot by petition asking that the budget committee get the power to calculate the default budget rather than the SAU.

The default budget this year has already been calculated by the SAU, and that process will continue. Williams petitioned for the change after noticing different interpretations of the budget by the school board and the SAU.

Another petitioned warrant article that was submitted by Williams to get the annual School District and Town Meetings closer together failed at the hand of voters as well.

“I am disappointed,” Williams said. “However, I am a big believer in letting the voters decide.”