NH Senate: Budget reaches the floor
The New Hampshire Senate Finance Committee voted to approve a budget yesterday, sending it to a vote by the senate next week. In a rather lengthy press release, which we’ve published at Girard at Large dot com and linked to from this news read, senators identified multiple areas in which they increased funding for programs like Meals on Wheels, ServiceLink and developmental disability services, among others. Finance Committee Chair Jeanie Forrester said quote “By funding programs that allow citizens to stay in their homes, we are effectively saving taxpayer dollars that would otherwise go to cover higher costs for nursing home care.”
Forrester: Finance Committee is done its work
The committee also restored the funding formula for the Alcohol Abuse Prevention and Treatment Fund, which had been suspended since 2003 and was not included in the governor’s budget. Forrester said the committee provided thirty two million dollars for drug and alcohol abuse treatment and prevention across numerous departments.
It all adds up…
The proposal includes small cuts in the Business Enterprise and Business Profits taxes, a twenty million dollar allocation to the state’s bone dry Rainy Day Fund, a small increase for U N H and a two hundred fifty dollar increase in the per student allocation for the state’s public charter schools, which had sought a two thousand dollar per pupil increase. The release failed to mention what the total of the overall spending plan was and a separate release touted a proposed one hundred twenty five million dollar spending plan for the state’s capital budget.
The committee’s proposal doesn’t fund the four million dollar study to further the Governor’s Shiny Choo Choo and the Rail Trail Authority issued a statement indicating they were disappointed with that.
Derry: Property tax bills in the mail
If they haven’t already, taxpayers in Derry should be receiving their favorite piece of mail. The town announced Tuesday that the first half of the two thousand fifteen property tax bills were on their way. The bills were computed using a taxpayer’s current assessed valuation multiplied by on half of last year’s tax rate, which was the sky high twenty nine dollars and forty two cents per thousand. Taxpayers won’t see the dollar twenty one tax cut in the municipal tax rate that roiled the town’s departments and unions until the next tax bill. Residents are encouraged to contact the tax Collector’s Office if they don’t receive their tax bill, or if they have any bill related questions.
Derry tax cuts: Effective with NEXT bill.
As an aside, Girard at Large has learned that there will only be two layoffs as a result of the Derry budget cuts, a fireman and the assistant town administrator. Seems that normal attrition in the work force and a hiring freeze have taken care of the rest of the positions that were defunded. So, Derry will have fewer employees, but as it stands now, only two will actually lose their job.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
Conducts poll
The Women’s Defense League of New Hampshire has released the results of a poll they conducted on Senate Bill one sixteen, which would eliminate the requirement that state residents obtain a permit from their local police departments to carry a concealed weapon. The General Court has passed the bill, which will soon be on its way to the desk of Her Highness, Governess Margaret Wood Hassan.
Guns: Can be legally carried in the open, but not in secret, without police permission
The poll included eight hundred thirty three registered New Hampshire voters were interviewed between May eighteenth and the twenty second. The margin of error is plus or minus three point four percent and all of the interviews were conducted over the phone. There was a total of six questions asked in each county in the state. The poll, which we’ve uploaded in its entirety with this newscast at Girard at Large dot com, found a super majority of registered voters agreeing that a person should be able to defend themselves with a firearm; a majority of agreeing that Vermont’s lack of a pistol license law discourages crime; seventy one percent believing the law requiring permits should be repealed once they learned it was enacted to prevent union members and Irish and Italian immigrants from exercising their Second Amendment Rights, among other findings, like sixty seven percent believing women should not have to wait up to fourteen days for permission to conceal carry when facing emergency situations, such as domestic violence.
On Thursday, June 4, 2015 at 7:00 pm, a public meeting will be held to discuss the Bicycle Master Plan being created by the Manchester Department of Public Works. The meeting will be held at the D P W headquarters on Valley Street. Any questions or comments regarding this meeting may be directed to Bruce Thomas at 6 2 4 6 4 4 4
Memo to folks in Goffstown: Volunteers will be working on the Rail Trail this Sunday from nine to four to remove fallen trees.
Memo to folks in Bedford: Bedford P D’s fourth annual Bicycle Rodeo is scheduled for this Sunday from ten to Noon at Bedford High School.
