1182 Union Ave., Laconia
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2010
FRIDAY
Trying to mitigate impact on Belmont tax rate, Shaker panel ready to go to work to find $1.1M in savings in school budget
VOL. 11 NO. 143
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Dollars for superintendent survive on tie vote BY GAIL OBER
THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
GILFORD — After all of the hue and cry about the Budget Committee’s alleged desire to eliminate the superintendent’s position from next year’s school budget, last night it voted removing a sum equivalent to administrators’ raises and school board member stipends — a total reduction of $23,000. The tentative bottom line number that will
be raised through taxes in 2011-12 is now $8,575,258. The budget committee will meet once more in January to finalize the number before submitting it for the town warrant. While the Budget Committee recommends the final number for the warrant, it is the School Board members — most of whom were at last night’s meeting — who decide how the money will be spent. The issue that brought a roomful of people to the Gilford town offices last night stems
from the announced retirement of Superintendent Paul Diminico and the desire by some members of the Budget Committee to save money by changing the administrative structure of the district to one without a superintendent. According to Jorge Mesa-Tejada, one of the authors of the 1993 study to simplify the administrative structure of New Hampshire’s schools, a stand-alone school district see GILFORD page 12
BY MICHAEL KITCH THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
CANTERBURY – The Shaker Regional School Board last night began wrestling with the prospect of constructing a 201112 budget that could eliminate 9.5 full-time positions as well as reduce spending for technology purchases and building maintenance while increasing total expenditures by two-percent. The board seeks to limit the increase in the budget to ease the disparate impact on the tax rates of Belmont and Canterbury, which together comprise the district. The towns share the cost of schools by a formula that lends equal weight to assessed property values and annual student enrollment. The burden of increased spending falls most heavily on Belmont, where see SHAKER page 7
Melissa “Missy” Kennell shows a patient the proper way to use a toothbrush. Kennell has been practicing dentistry for children in the Lakes Region since 2006 and plans to open her own practice, Children’s Dentistry of the Lakes Region, in February. (Laconia Daily Sun photo/Adam Drapcho)
Open wide: new dental practice will be for children only BY ADAM DRAPCHO THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
GILFORD — As a girl, Melissa “Missy” Kennell spent her summers vacationing with her family at a lakeside cabin in Gilford. “I’ve always wanted to live here, it
was always my dream,” she said, but in her youthful world view she didn’t realize that there were people who resided year-round in the Lakes Region. Now that she’s an adult, she and her husband Alan have taken full advantage of
the opportunity to settle and raise their family where many choose to spend their vacation. They’ve also been pleased to find out that their services – Alan’s an orthodontist practicing on North Main see DENTIST page 11
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