State Rep. Judy Aron gave us a nice 30,000-foot view of the budget here. But we’ve only just begun to dissect this. Budgets are no longer just exercises of force that redistribute your money. They are vehicles for law-making without public input and that can’t go unreported.
Related: Proposed Housing Appeals Board Would Rob NH Residents of Local Control
First, economics. The redistributive bit. I asked New Hampshire’s AFP State Director Greg Moore for a quick summary.
The good news for New Hampshire employers is that the Sword of Damocles hanging over their head of higher business taxes is no longer there. Our booming economy no longer has the risk of state government slamming the brakes on our success. Additionally, this budget doesn’t saddle the next legislature with the massive yoke of a huge structural deficit that the vetoed budget did. These are two big positives for our economy and our state’s future.
The bad news is that this budget increases spending by 11.6% over the last budget. To put that in perspective, that increase is roughly the same as the decrease in the 2011 budget that caused so many complaints from various groups about being “draconian.” Moreover, by pumping cash to local governments, to the tune of over $110 million, it is building expectations and dependencies of future state aid that may never materialize. I certainly hope that local governments realize this and use these funds on one-time expenditures and not for building the basis for future local spending, which would just set up their citizens for massive property tax hikes.
I have high confidence that local budgeters will not respond accordingly. Primarily in the liberal-leaning cities and most of the larger municipalities. Hanover, Portsmouth, Keene, Plymouth, Claremont, Franklin, Concord, and even Manchester. But, also in your plucky berg.
It is incumbent upon you at the local level to get involved in the budget and spending process now to ensure one-time money does not find its way into the creation of new or expansion of recurring spending.
Housing Appeals Board
I get that sometimes you have to take a punch to deliver a knockout blow. I’m not going to rant about Republicans who let this slide because a good deal more was accomplished under less than ideal circumstances. But this sucks.
The housing appeals board is an ugly swamp creature designed to crush local opposition to building projects. A complete abrogation of local control, thanks to the Democrat majority Senate.
Do you want unelected bureaucrats making local housing, zoning, building, and land use decisions in your town? The NH Senate does. I’ve been told they just stuffed SB306 (their version of HB104 – the Housing Appeals Board bill) into the State budget.
You just lost all local control of “Planning Board decisions, zoning board decisions, decisions of historic and conservation commissions”.
SB306 never went before the House. The House version of this was ruled inexpedient to legislate. They rejected it. The Senate, knowing the same fate awaited their version tabled theirs and then stuffed into the budget where it could be snuck into law under the radar.
Democrats did not do this alone. They had help from Republicans.
An unelected committee will now have veto power over your rejection of any development project in your town.
I hope you are as unhappy about as I am.
Get involved locally. Make a lot of noise. The appeals board needs to go away but to do that we need legislators who are more interested in local interests than those of big developers who writing them campaign donation checks.
