By Suzanne Laurent
LONDONDERRY — Town Planner Tim Thompson said he was looking forward to going into work Monday.
The article to support a new contract for the town's administrative employees narrowly passed by 17 votes at Saturday's Town Meeting.
Thompson, the president of the employees union, said he was "sitting on pins and needles" as he waited for the secret ballot to be tallied.
"I know how close the vote can go," he said. "In 2008, we lost by four votes."
The union, which includes 11 mid-level managers and technical professionals, as well as police captains and lieutenants, fire captains and the fire marshal, has been without a contract since June 2006.
"The police and fire guys are very visible," Thompson said after the votes were tallied. "It's the people behind the scenes at Town Hall who I'm really happy for. I can't wait to tell them."
The two-year collective bargaining agreement approved Saturday calls for 3 percent raises for the town's administrative employees, effective July 1.
At the start of the four-hour meeting at Londonderry High School, voters decided to move the article on the general operating budget to the end of the session, after all of the other budgetary articles were voted on.
Just 318 of the town's 17,936 registered voters attended the session. The final tallies on each article varied, as voters came and left throughout the morning. Elected officials were chosen at the polls last Tuesday.
Other articles concerning town employees were voted on by secret ballot as well. The collective bargaining agreement for Police Department employees passed, 238-54, but the one for the executive employees was shot down, 78-200.
Many residents spoke against the article asking that only 20 percent of revenues received from the land use change tax be placed into the Conservation Fund. Currently, 100 percent goes into the fund.
"I think this is the most important article other than the operating budget," resident Marilyn Hoffman said. "Preserving land overall reduces our taxes. This is hardly the way to save money on your tax bill. It is important to defeat this and maintain money for open space."
Voters rejected the change, 65-180.
All other articles passed, including the $163,456 balance for construction of the new north/west fire station. The Fire Department had previously received a $1.66 million federal grant for the station.
The proposed general operating budget of $25,914,327, which would result in a 2.44 percent tax increase, was amended twice.
Town Councilor Sean O'Keefe asked for a motion to reduce the budget by $25,000, as the council had decided to have no more than a 2 percent increase to taxpayers.
Another amendment proposed by Councilor-elect Tom Dolan subtracted the $117,825 that went to the administrative employees union.
The reduced operating budget of $25,770,562 went to a secret ballot and passed, 168-63.
