Manney: Voted to raise taxes because residents didn’t say not to
Voters in Goffstown will be facing a town operating budget that’s up by six percent when they go to the town’s deliberative session, and that doesn’t count the spending contained in the special warrant articles that are headed for the ballot. In voting to recommend the budget over the default budget that was almost one point five million dollars lower, Budget Committee Member Pamela Manney said quote “Not one person said ‘My taxes are too high. I want you to do what you can to lower them,’ ” end quote, in reference to the public hearing on the budget. Budget Committee Chairman Elizabeth Dubrulle opposed recommending the budget saying there was about a quarter of a million dollars in increased spending she couldn’t account for in teeny tiny changes throughout the budget’s line items. She faulted the Board of Selectmen for not sending stricter guidelines to town departments in the development of the budget.
Goffstown: Facing BIG spending and tax hike
Committee Vice Chairman Guy Caron, pointed out massive increases in spending on roads as well as additions to the police budget, in opposing the budget. While he agreed there was quote unquote “creep” in the budget, he said those big ticket items were driving the spending increase. Committee Member Brian Fournier, who was the third and final member to oppose the spending hike said that taxpayers may have been unaware of the coming increase in spending and taxes because last year’s proposed budget was actually lower than the default budget and that when they get their tax bills this year, the committee will know just how unhappy people are with the budget. We’ve linked to the schedule for the deliberative sessions for the town and school budgets. They start this coming weekend, so if you live in Goffstown, be sure to take a look! Watch the meeting here.
Hassan: Blames Revenues
Morse: Blames spending
The plan of Governess Margaret Wood Hassan to close a fifty eight million dollar deficit in the Department of Health and Human Services is drawing fire from Republicans in the state senate. It appears Senate President Chuck Morse Republican from Salem and Finance Committee Chairman Senator Jeanie Forrester Republican from Meredith don’t much care for Hassan’s plan to cut $7 million from New Hampshire nursing homes in order to make up for the department’s spending shortfall. “New Hampshire nursing homes didn’t create this problem, and they shouldn’t have to pay for it,” Morse said. Forrester said “The Legislature clearly directed these funds be spent on nursing home reimbursements…the budget, signed by Governor Hassan, does not allow this action per a footnote explicitly prohibiting transfers or reductions of the state’s nursing home funding,” said Forrester.
Rayno: Exposes both
Republican hands aren’t clean on when it comes to the cause of the budget overrun in the department, however. According to a story written in yesterday’s New Hampshire Sunday News by State House Reporter Gary Rayno, a little unbudgeted item known as Medicaid Expansion, which also caused more people to enroll in the traditional Medicaid program, is responsible for about half the budget shortfall in H H S. Funny how that works. That said, the governesses’ oft repeated complaint that a reduction in business tax revenues resulting from changes to the tax code last session are to blame doesn’t hold water either. While those revenues are down, unexpected increases in other taxes, such as the rooms and meals tax, have more than made up for the losses. We’ve linked to Rayno’s story from this newscast at Girard at-Large dot com.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
Gatsas: Convening Snow-Zilla meeitng
In case you haven’t heard, “Snow-Maggedon!” is about to be unleashed on New England. I’m not exactly sure I trust what forecasters are saying about the looming and possibly historic blizzard that Mother Nature is about to throw our way, but suffice it to say public works and emergency response personnel are gearing up for “This is it! It’s the big one!” as Pop used to say on Sanford and Son. Anyway, Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas will meet with Public Works Director Kevin Sheppard, Fire Chief James Burkush, who is head of the city’s Emergency Operations Center, Police Chief David Mara, Public Health Director Tim Soucy and other relevant staff to review forecasts and storm readiness. Announcements may be forthcoming from that meeting as city officials Girard at Large spoke with over the weekend were adopting a wait and see approach. Quote “A lot can change in twenty four hours” said one official, not wanting to downplay the storm, but wanting to avoid being swept up in the hype. Frankly, it’s nice to see someone keeping their heads while most are freaking out like we’re Atlanta.
UPDATE! SNOWZILLA HAS BEEN SEEN IN OUR LISTENING AREA!
Craig: To better serve constituents
Manchester Ward One Alderman Joyce Craig seems to have taken another step toward declaring a run for mayor. About two weeks ago, we told you that she’d registered Joyce Craig for Mayor dot com. While no site has been published at that address yet, Craig launched the Joyce Craig for Manchester Facebook page over the weekend, complete with professional portraits of herself and her family. For those of us who know her and know she’s never had any kind of Facebook page until now, it raised another eyebrow or two. In reply to our inquiry about the page, Craig sent us a text message saying quote “At this point, I’m building up my social media and online presence to better communicate with my constituents.” In a follow up conversation, Craig reaffirmed she was still eying a run for the city’s top office, but said no decision had been made and didn’t expect to make any announcements regarding her intentions until sometime in March.
That’s news from our own backyard, the LAST Girard at Large show before Snow-Zilla’s rampage begins/continues right after this!
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