##VIDEO ID:ahPNnGsuQzQ## good evening this uh call the meeting to order this is a meeting of the hamon select board and Board of Health being held in the townhouse Auditorium on December 2nd 2024 this meeting is being conducted in person and remotely using video conferencing technology please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all thank you is anyone recording the meeting other than ourselves Kristen rivers from the wilham Hampton times thank you good evening Kristen uh we have minutes there is one set there yes from the October 21st 2024 great meeting that was a great meeting Don Let's see we we talked about the thoron burges building assess and the special town meeting that was coming up electronic voting and we had selectman reports on the tree lighting the see which at that point they were selectman reports correct there were selectman reports at that point the tree tree lighting Senior Center building committee planning board master plan committee reports and motion to approve second call favor I I okay the next item on our agenda is a tax classification hearing uh as I open the hearing pursuing to Mass General laws chapter 40 section 56 uh the purpose of this hearing is for the board of assessors to provide information to the select board regarding the tax rate options available to the town under property tax classification the select board will then decide and a factor to establish the allocation of the tax levy there will be four votes required which will determine the share of the levy to be bor by each class of property please note that the FY 2025 tax rate has not been approved and this hearing does not determine what the actual tax rate will be the estimated tax rate being used is subject to change final tax rates can change when they are submitted to the Department of Revenue assessors hello hello are you yes thank you for having us um I'm here with two of my board members tonight Bob muu and Phil Snider and as you mentioned there are four required votes tonight for the classification hearing uh so the first vote is whether to adopt a minimum residential factor of one which would mean that there would be a single tax rate for all classes of property the other option would be to shift the rate to lessen the amount for the residential class but it would increase the amount for the commercial industrial and personal property class the second vote tonight will be an open space discount uh which the town of Hampton currently has no property classified in open space which is class two the third vote is a residential exemption which would shift the burden within residential class onto higher priced in non a non-owner occupied properties this exemption has been adopted in a few communities that have a large number of vacation homes and the fourth vote is on a small commercial exemption which would shift the burden from qualifying small businesses to other commercial and Industrial properties and out of 40 commercial properties fewer than 10 may qualify for this exemption so first we have we'll go to the uh single versus split tax rate so again adopting a minimum residential Factor one will result in the single tax rate um we currently have approximately 85% of of all of the property in town is residential while the other 15 is a mixture of commercial industrial and personal property historically Hampton has always adopted a single tax rate I prepared some information for you um showing a a history of the levy percentages so as you can see we've been right around 15% several years now for the commercial industrial and personal property last year went to 14% And then back to 15 this year but it's it's stayed um pretty steady around that point I've also provided some information here for you on uh the value so the town value has increased um this year from $877 M 61188 uh which was a town value for fy4 and it's increased by approximately 100 million of the fy2 5 Town value is 977 m539 640 that that's all the property in town all all of the taxable property in town yes is increased by 100 million yes why the values are just increasing they've been rising new grow and then yes and then out of that we also had over $30 million in New Growth this year okay and New Growth is like a new house a New Growth would be any new constructions additions sheds any new personal property accounts um new new solar arrays we have one new solar array um on rear Summers road that hit the books this year which is over $17 million in New Growth so that was that was a significant number for us this year so pardon me Kelly the increase from 2017 to 2025 8 years I mean you see it going up oh my gosh down 60 something per roughly from 513 up to 8:30 is would you say that percentage is reval or most of it's New Growth I think a mixture a lot of it is our our Market adjustments um we're required to be within a specific range by the Department of Revenue standards so when properties are selling for more we have to we have to do our analysis and if we're outside of that range then adjustments are required in order for our values to be approved um so that's a big part of it but there was Al also a significant amount of New Growth this year as well the personal property jump from one year to the next I mean it went up 25% and a lot of that had to do with the solar array the new qualifi Under personal property it does and so do our Public Utilities um so for the public utilities we also had some new growth from those as as well uh just to give you an idea uh New England power we had um over 1.8 million New Growth this year uh ever Source Gas almost 1 and a. half million uh the NSTAR Electric over 200 11,000 and Mass Electric um over 600,000 so so the buker new growth is utility and energy related quite a bit yes we did have some we did have new constructions we had quite a few of on shapen Road as well as some others and several lot splits as well uh so going to uh the next page here so um provided some information showing the percentage of the classes um the impact it could have if you were to look at doing a shift in the tax rate instead of having a single tax rate um we use the the current estimate that we have um and you can see that I gave options showing if it was a 125% shift or 150% shift what the minimum residential Factor would be and then on the next page showing what the tax how that would affect the tax rate and uh potentially the tax bills for both the residential CLS um and also for the commercial industrial and personal property values um they the average assess value for a single family home in hamon Rose from 377,000 to $419,000 this year m a lot to do with the market adjustments really yeah 377 to what to 419,000 what what percentage is that oh I don't have it right here I can figure but um quite a bit I mean it's uh 23 42 that's that's 12 15% 13 but it could be yeah and then the grouping together the commercial industrial and personal property last year when we looked at the average for all of that was $858,000 this year it's 1, 12,500 so values have increased quite a bit on both sides who pays the most personal property tax solar M so if we shifted it the problem is that most of your solar tax things are under Pilots or several are under Pilots several are correct so if we did a shift we wouldn't be able to would we be able to recoup that with the pilot agreements well not with the current pilot agreements no right I mean unless something else could be renegotiated but I I don't think that could affect those only those that are not locked in well we have a couple of we don't have yet there are a couple without pilots and there are a couple that are looking to enter into Pilots possibly like 10 1 what what about the what about uh National Grid and them they pay for all they pay personal all that that's all personal property yes so those um those figures I gave you were just the new growth that they had from this year but that's those are all personal property accounts as well I remember one of the biggest jumps besides the substation on Allen Street was when they changed all the high wire poles a few years back and that represented a pretty good jump in their value at that point I'm wondering and we've never done it before but if we did that shift especially towards personal property and you're always worried about who you're affecting are we mostly affecting the electric slash solar or are we also affecting people in town all of the commercial businesses so all of the small businesses will as well and there would be pretty significant yeah and many of those are local people who also want in town yeah you have you have to sh I see that you have to shift on the commercial industrial and personal property you cannot just SOL do it on the personal property so The Bu the buildings on Commercial Drive are assessed as commercial commercial think the price of ice creams at snappies will probably have to go up I really I would really like tax you know who the the electric yeah we can't separate them out we can't sep them out can't separate them out right those uh leftover polls are worth quite a bit I think yeah antiques high value so I mean based off based off of um the estimates the current estimates if looking at the maximum shift of 150% you know the um the commercial industrial person personal property tax bill could increase by $7,800 so and you know all of the small businesses included m are they taxed any different than most home occupations are they're it's still their home it's it's residential um but then they would pay personal property tax on items that are used for the business unless it's being unless the property is being used um for mixed use so if they are if they have a store if they have part if they're living there but they have a store or something like that then it would be a mixed use and it would be classified both ways we would look at the the square footage that's used for each purpose but the person who has an accounting office and meets with a client it's still a residential because that's what the property is I'd say that I mean we now you and I have been doing this for several years I really don't see a need to at this point change from course of action good thing we don't have that new guy with us you know rebble I would really like to you can all right go ahead so we need uh four motions so I'd like to make a motion to keep a single a single Factor rate of one for the Min minimum residential Factor second any pardon me as recommended by the board of assistants any further discussion I think we beat it to death all in favor I I uh as the assessors have said there is no open space this I'll make a motion to uh not offer the open space discount and make a note that the town currently has no properties classified for that anyhow second all in favor any discussion all in favor I I vote I make a motion to not use the residential exemption as uh endorsed by the board of assessors second if it says vacational do a colle if you own a vacation home someplace else can we tax that no no okay but I shed in the back you call that your vacation home your man gave my still it's a tax revenue that's Federal it's Federal uh where are we second discussion all in favor I Mr chair person select I'd like to uh vote a not to offer the small commercial exemption as recommended by the board of assessors second any discussion all in favor I okay thank you very much Year yes I did um Lauren has the form that to be signed just showing that you had voted on one for residential factor with a single tax rate do we all have to sign this um yes we'll have you and John sign it please down this line that says no signatures to display yes because that's there's also ways to electronically sign things but in this case we always have we're not that we're not that skilled we'll get the quill out we'll do it later that one yeah and you guys are still efforting to come to the tax rate at some point okay great I where am I sign you sign over here right there they lose it that's all you're going to get since quite not here that no and that's fine as we have the majority so that that works thank you very much good evening by bye bye bye Phil and the brains of the outfit bye Kelly oh yeah Kelly okay uh building use policy Theater guil what's up uh I'm Mark Isa this is Rick rben in hey and um we were just curious um why the choice or what had happened there being build or being preached room now for the Mel room or for the auditorium where it's been around for 20 minutes all of a sudden when I was talking book warrant very nice to book the rooms we said there was going to be a charge now for using the rooms we decided to come into the 21st century you know the the these buildings we have to heat and light these buildings and and uh security and that stuff so we want and we have we've had a lot of request for different uses of the building so we decided to implement this policy which is pretty similar to what the Senior Center policy is then I'll turn the next part over um the theater Guild of ly Lango I'm um with along with Rick Rubin we serve on the board of directors Mark is our president and and directs most of the shows um theater Guild of hamton uh is going to be celebrating our 20th anniversary uh in 2025 that we're excited about um I I serve as the treasurer so I see the money and we had some very very tough years during Co where um with all the restrictions in place we had plays that had you know one that was cancelled Midway and um with all the rules and regulations we just could not um we just could not put on our Productions um and uh we tried doing things outside and we showed for one of the shows and we've just struggled financially now since 2020 since Co and we're starting just starting to get back on our feet we're doing more fundraising we have three shows planned for 2025 for the first time since 2019 that we trying to put together three shows um um and a big fundraiser and all but I can tell you right now we cannot afford $50 a night for um for rehearsal time we're not using other than the space we're not you know making a mess or anything but um so we don't need like a janitor to come in and clean up um behind us but I I I I can tell you it'll bankrupt us if we have to um pay $50 for every time we rehearse for a show we're not we're not making that much on each show a local nonprofit and you know if we we make2 to $3,000 on a show that's really good for us if we have to spend half that amount on just um paying for rent for rehearsal time will will F and we've been a good Community uh Community Organization for Hampton for 20 years well we all we always we always have the op to select board I said it right the select the SEL the select board always have the option to wave a fee so if you when you need the building you could ask the board to wave the fee and I'm sure I'll make a a comment I've been know Mark rck and Lynn for quite a while I've been involved in a couple of shows and Don I believe you know you have the opportunity to take the lead in the next show I believe I've seen your reviews thanks um going back in in a bit in history the category one is obviously Town boards Etc Category 2 was the Boy Scouts and Municipal groups like that which and I recall discussion with the Hammond was one of them there was no intent at that time to charge it was more to make sure they understood that town boards always got priority and if the planning board needed the auditorium and you all had it booked you had to make other plans because the needs of the Town elected boards came first but I don't believe there was there never was a charge for we never charged the Boy Scouts the Girl Scouts the Cub Scouts any of the the scanic Riders to come in and use it with permission of the board this was something we try to get in order to be consistent with policy at the senior center as well where they do charge but as Don said the option for waving and it has been waved by the senior center for your some of your use there right yeah Becky let us getting really busy with stuff in the winter right booking um I think I think uh the board's appreciative of what you've done for the town Etc and I can speak I would look favorably on a request away sure it's hard because we don't have our own home there's a lot of theaters out there um that have their own space their own small theater and we don't have that and we've kind of spent the past few years kind of getting bounced around and uh we've been using the red Barn over at Fountain Park but there's no bathrooms you know so there's like an issue with everywhere we look to I I think done the big purpose would be I think a waiver with a security deposit would be about the only thing that would be and I know from personal exper you have insurance which they have a insurance from H already so I think waving but just a security POs to be returned at the end of the rehearsal session would be appropriate yeah go problem get some um lead time on if something does have to get canell boy that's that's Mar has a rehearsal scheduled for that night and he finds out this morning can't you know the the Town Hall's gone it's like where do where do we go well the good thing is that most of our meetings require 48 notice anyhow 48 hour notice anyhow so that what it'd be hard pressed oh my gosh something happens this morning and I'm going to need it tonight you've been very fortunate you have a great relationship with Ellen Mari using the rodford room as required she doesn't like Ed so I think if they take a couple trucks out of the fire station there's a chance to have a rehearsal in there done right and if the generator is running even better right is that something that you know as the town looks to maybe move town offices W that's something that it could be open for us over there well sure you got the or leave them the key for they got a big stage they got a big stage over there again it's all about I think Don made the point that it's not just it's the upkeep part of it and that's where we're waving does there need to be a custodian here you've been fortunate with the work at the senior center that you know Becky comes over Tina comes over Rudy comes over and that's good and you know um I've done it in the past for different rehearsals Etc over there so so when's your next use needed well I'm going to need a Sunday Sunday afternoons and according to Lauren Sunday afternoons are very good because nothing goes on in Sunday afternoons um that would be starting uh January 19th yes January 19th musical Pro play uh it's for Jerry's Girls which is our musical for the spring and that's when the music director can come on Sunday afternoons and um sometimes U it'll go to a double dat of Tuesday but that could be anywhere it does not but I mean the auditorium is where I know Sunday afternoons have always been good for us there's nothing's in here on a Sunday afternoon so the only thing it might be is if Lauren and Brian have set the room up you see how it is right now and that's typically for meetings Etc um if they've got that held over from maybe a Thursday night or something like that you might find I think we would ask and be you would do it of course if you take the chairs out of the way do your rehearsal put them back where you find them condition that you found ex Sundays would actually be uh for the music director in music rehearsal so he's going to bring his little Pian so he isn't going to be it blocking or anything really it's mostly just going to be music singing well then the chance of Don and I showing up is pretty high I think at that point right Don I think I know the words for that music I never even heard of this guy Jerry something no idea Jerry Herman you ever heard Jerry M Hello Dolly Big Show it's going to be a good [Music] show are you looking they're moving along are we looking for specific dates now every Sunday till we open which would be right now from the 19th on until we open the 25th of April and that week will'll be at the senior center we're doing the show at the senior center okay excuse me the last weekend of April the first weekend of May those already booked in with Becky that's already done about week we will be in rehearsal there but it would be Sunday afternoons here starting the 19th what times uh two usually 2 to four okay um the only thing I would say like snow days and typically um if you had a booking for that we would I guess include you on our distribution text type thing the town hall is closed oh yeah you know because the for instance big snowstorm comes marinus crew is going to be out working on the streets because the town hall is not in use for municipal use they're not going to come here and do the parking lot so therefore we're to tell you don't come and okay theic director is coming from vermonts okay so uh what about the Tuesday thing Tuesday could be any room anywhere it doesn't have to be that t if something's spoke if the M's open or whatever so usually on Tuesday one of the two is open I would think yeah it usually is our pass reverses all right uh Mr chair I'll make a motion to wait gave the uh rental fee for the production of rehearsal Productions of Jerry's Girls by the H the theater Guild here gu hon is there a second oh second and thereafter John I think Don said let's see how this goes I think I mean it goes well I don't see a reason why we're not doing it on for we'll have another production yeah um any discussion we beat it to death all in favor I I the only the only thing I would ask you is would you just fill out the form because I'm a I'm a stickler for forms you know just just mark That's W that's go okay so we want I'll be in contact with you but we W start till the 19th Tuesday is going to be every week as well yes if that changes I will let you know yeah the other thing is definite Jan about the doors and making sure that's all about things yeah she really has John do you want me to do that now get a yeah I got you here all right pen no I'm uh okay next item on the agenda if we could pass that till next week are we because Craig I think would want to be involved what are we keeping the fees that was the other thing you were talking about we wave the fees no but for General publicy we're keeping the that we have yes yes we have a waiver option we have AER option okay uh town meeting discussion just we we'll we're going to defer this to next week when the other select person is here hey I don't know if we got the information can we get some input from the board of register like how much time would they like on citizen petition stuff you know because last time they have to certify the whole thing they might have a recommendation yeah I I I I just think this next town meeting there's going to be a lot going on I know there going to be some citizen petition I don't want to be in the position that we were the last two times where we were keeping the warrant open then advisory can't get it we can't post it and we publish it and people know and here you go right I've seen it on other Town's websites yeah all right so we're going to defer that uh we have a number of licenses entertainment [Music] licenses have these all been the entertainment ones have all been eded by the police department yep including the Sunday yeah that requires a separate report back from the police I a separate report Craig I mean um I did talk to Scott he said there was no issues besides a couple complaints from a drunk Patron at lacina but then when they got there the person was gone like something in writing I have emails you get an email no with me but yes he did email me about him okay we get to make include that in the minutes that we receed email Oh Yeah from the yeah so Mr chairperson I have requests for three entertainment licenses these are all renewals for the next year 2025 from current license holders L casabella would like an entertainment license Fridays and Saturdays 4:00 to 10:00 for the next year similar and Lauren is that what they have now cuz we've moved some time we've moved some times in the past yeah and like to know I have to check it last year's I mean I just went by what they put on their applications I already got all these applications back I want to know what last year's was I don't think it's changed last year but I can Che especially the patio stuff you know chair I'd like to pass this until we get last year's copy okay there I mean it's end the year needed itself so we need last year's yeah okay let's see how you do with used car dealers what kind of cars you get yours I got might kind of total I know is that a new one I got do one I got man one every 20 years you are we're so good for the economy it's incredible all right so we have a request for 12 used car dealer licenses these are all current holders renewing for next year they require information provided to typically Lauren and Jane bonding Etc we have Ferraro Corby and the Autobody DJ really I thought he passed away okay DJs a toz hamon trading RR Auto Sports Fox Motors FC Auto Sales Max Auto Sales Safe Auto Sales and Northeast Automotive um I make a motion I would like to make a motion to approve all these subject to all paperwork bonds Etc being in place and reviewed second any discussion all in favor La this this uh Commonwealth IM mat Alcohol Beverage Control Commission we just said this is just our we don't have we don't them with the liquor renewals okay which I got the number from Eva I just got to sign it yeah that three more people we would hit that 5,000 we would had no that's the reason you know we had to get rid of our was meure guy all right we have any what else we got here we have uh seasonal population increase form was that passed that down to L please I have no report report uh no you have no report okay the uh the only thing I have to report is that the hamton wilham Regional School District planning committee met last Tuesday yeah nice snacks for and uh they they're moving forward with uh Mak recommending amendments to the regional agreement uh one of the things would be to uh have the region change from uh so that the K through five prek through five children would be educated still be educated ham then 6 to 12 become part of the region however the problem they have right now is with the wilam Middle School whether they want to give it sell it to the region or keep it as a town and it makes a difference what happens with the capital planning side that's where they are so it's for Minds far if and if they sell it to the district that would mean a encourage of a debt for him then because we pay correct 18% of the district money or whatever it is 17 a right so they have to go to town meeting both Town meetings for that so we'll see how that goes Town administrative report yeah a couple quick things um sub bids for the water district Expansion Project are due Wednesday the 4th and those are for HVAC and electrical and then the GC bids are due December 12th uh for the water district district experience and project so hopefully we can get that under contract uh shortly thereafter so that way we'll meet the arpa obligation deadline of uh December 31st uh last time the board uh for the fire station generator project the board awarded the contract to Sako electric um I'm waiting back for the contract from them so that they can get started there and the cable license agreement the the draft that the board voted on was sent to Charter and cable Council says it's about a one to two month turnaround before they expect anything back from Charter on that um so that's about it there's a casino webinar tomorrow so warn more about the grant we'll have to uh make a decision on not what to apply for that's again that's $75,000 $75,000 block grant um that's about it you anybody else have anything to bring before the committee the board no were you were expecting something no we just wanted to check it check it oh oh good great thanks for coming in thanks we usually have cookies we didn't bring anything uh one other item the board will be the the board will be meeting on this Thursday 10 to 12 with uh The Advisory some advisory committee members Senior Center building committee Treasurer accountant and others to talk about the municipal buildings and the capital expenditures to for the municipal buildings come try to come up with some type of plan is that here here yeah 10 10 to 12 on Thursday anything else to come before the board might be Qui then I move to adjourn I move to adjourn the select boards second any further discussion all in favor I thank you everyone I'll sign these