NHAC Ramping up to spin spending down
A conservative group is coordinating efforts in four cities to cap municipal spending at the rate of the consumer price index beginning in 2010.
The New Hampshire Advantage Coalition is working with activists in Manchester, Concord, Merrimack and Rochester to put proposed changes to those communities' municipal charters on the ballot in November.
Coalition chairman Mike Biundo said the effort was sparked by "legislative overspending" last year and by the recent initiative by the Granite State Fair Tax Coalition "to strip away our (anti-broad base tax) pledge and strip away what New Hampshire is, a low-tax, low-spending state."
Biundo said that by tomorrow, language for charter amendments will be filed in the four municipalities. He said plans call for similar filings shortly in Londonderry, Conway, Portsmouth, Keene, Somersworth, Lebanon and Bedford.
"When you add up the 11 communities, this is over 30 percent of the electorate in the state," he said.
Biundo said state law requires the proposed petitions for the charter amendments to be reviewed by the Attorney General's Office and Department of Revenue Administration. He said that when the language is approved, organizers will have 60 days to gather petitions signed by at least 20 percent of the number of local residents who voted in the last municipal elections.
Biundo said his coalition has hired former Ron Paul field director Jared Chicoine and brought back former coalition executive director Tammy Simmons. He claims that such an effort "has never been done before on this scale in this state."
