By STEPHEN BEALE
Union Leader Correspondents
 

GOFFSTOWN - The town would do work on Merrill, Mountain and Paige Hill roads under the proposed DPW budget now taking shape.

The Goffstown Public Works Department is proposing an operating budget of $4,653,000, not including capital projects, for 2008.

The proposal, according to Public Works Director Carl Quiram, reflects an increase of 2.38 percent over the 2007 budget, low for a department that normally sees twice that rate from year to year.

Quiram said the new contract for solid waste single stream recycling plus retirements of more highly compensated workers contributed to the lower increase.

The budget breaks down into $3.2 million for highway, $106,000 for cemeteries and $1.2 million for solid waste.

The budget includes $345,000 for the annual road plan, with an additional $2,353,000 in the capital budget.

The roads slated for work in 2008 are Mountain Road, Merrill Road, and the lower portion of Paige Hill Road, totaling nearly four miles, assuming town officials do not make changes to the budget, according to Quiram.

The capital budget for the Public Works Department also has requests for two $161,000 dump trucks and one $179,000 Caterpillar loader.

Reproduced by the Goffstown Residents Association.