Salisbury Town Meeting includes police and fire funding

May 2—SALISBURY — Spending for police computers, fire engine brakes and road paving will be among the items coming up for approval at Town Meeting later this month.

The annual spring Town Meeting will take place at the Salisbury Elementary School at 100 Lafayette Road, on Monday, May 16, at 7 p.m.

A special Town Meeting will also take place on May 16 and the warrant includes a request for $13,120 to purchase redaction software and a standalone computer for the Police Department's body-worn camera program, as well as a request for $11,200 to replace and upgrade 10 computers at the Beach Road Police headquarters.

Replacing the garage doors at the Lafayette Road Fire Department headquarters will cost $18,000, as will repairing the brakes on Fire Engine 6.

The town is currently in the process of creating a new water division within the Public Works Department, rather than entering into another five-year contract with Pennichuck Corp., and the special Town Meeting warrant also includes a request for $105,000 to pay for purchasing and equipping new vehicles for the new division.

Upgrading the town's phone system from copper wire to fiber optics will take $75,000, and a new drop box at Town Hall is the subject of a $2,000 request at the special Town Meeting.

Poll pads and printers for electronic voter check-in will cost $9,150 and a $15,000 request has also been made to offset a portion of the cost and expenses associated with various community events.

A request for $100,000 to pave various streets in town is also on the special Town Meeting warrant, as is a $125,000 request to upgrade drain lines on Jak-Len Drive.

A trio of $10,000 requests to provide for unanticipated costs of unemployment compensation will also be part of the special Town Meeting, as will; a $12,000 request to complete the conversion of old building inspector permitting data into the town's new Citizenserve program; and $121,685 to fund the Salisbury Community TV & Media Center budget.

Special Town Meeting voters will also be asked to change the purpose of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Piscataqua River dredging project to include general beach renourishment, when necessary.

A request has also been made to establish a minimum $5,000 value of personal property subject to taxation on the special Town Meeting warrant.

Spring Town Meeting

Voters at the spring Town Meeting will be asked to approve the town's $32.1 million operating budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, which includes $14.7 million to pay Salisbury's anticipated share of the Triton Regional School District operating budget.

Requests for $350,000 and $49,723 has also been made to pay for debt service on the $18.5 million Lafayette Road sewer project, and a $100,000 and a $9,945 request have also been made to pay debt service on the $3 million Bridge Road water main project.

Town Manager Neil Harrington has asked to increase the Harbor Commission's spending limit from $100,000 to $125,000 and Salisbury will be able to approve or deny the creation of a Triton Regional School District stabilization fund during the spring Town Meeting.

Three requests to amend the town's zoning bylaw also appear on the spring Town Meeting warrant. The first request asks that the housing contribution payment for each market-rate housing unit in the Salisbury Beach Overlay District be equal to $10,000 for all housing units with a sale price of $300,000 or less (or equal to 3.5% of the selling price of market-rate housing units with a sales price higher than $300,000.)

A request to expand the commercial district in the area of Elm Street has also been made, as well as a request that any construction project over three dwelling units should be subject to site plan approval from the Planning Board.

The spring Town Meeting warrant also includes a request to delete 7 Fourth St. and 15 March Road from the Ring's Island Neighborhood Preservation District, and a request to require that Town Meeting warrants must be posted in at least nine public buildings over two consecutive Sundays before the meeting takes place has also been made.

The May 10 town election ballot includes two questions, the first question asks voters to approve paying the health insurance premium of the family of a firefighter who was either killed or died from a result of injuries received on duty.

The second ballot question asks the same for the family of a police officer.

If approved on May 10, the ballot questions will also need to pass the spring Town Meeting on May 16.

Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.

Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.