More than a few folks in Merrimack probably had heart attacks when they saw the front page article “Council OKs 23.5 million budget” in the Merrimack Telegraph Journal. In the second paragraph, right below the front page fold, it claimed this new budget would mean a $5.25 increase per $1000.00 of assessed value.
That would be an increase of approximately $1,312.00 per year for a home valued at $250,000.00 and a new town rate of $10.50/1000 –the sorts of numbers typically reserved as the low end of a school budget that still can’t manage to teach math adequately.
Those are torch and pitchfork numbers.
If you managed to sputter past that part, without tearing up your paper and reaching for the phone or the email address of your town councilors, you might have begun to question the reporting. If you were wise enough to choose something more reliable than the Nashua Telegraph’s Merrimack-satellite, you’d know that the town rate is not going up at all. The town tax rate is actually holding steady at $5.25/1000. So no tax increase. The Council managed to juggle all its eggs in all its baskets without increasing your town tax rate.
That budget will go to voters, and it should be noted that the default budget is actually higher, so keep that in mind when you hit the polls. No means more money, yes…means less.
As for the Merrimack Telegraph Journal less is always more when there is less Journal, and if it were not for the fact that I get my Market Basket circular out of it, I’d have no use for the thing whatsoever.
