As the ink was still drying on the 2017 Belknap county budget a crisis arose which would require dipping into the county’s contingency fund.
If you want to get Pravda on Winnipesaukee to write some serious fear porn just find a way to put nursing home residents in “danger.” This was clearly contrived to demonstrate the dire ‘lack of funding’ in the budget. It was rejected, and not another peep has been heard in the following years.
We want to thank NH State Rep Mike Sylvia for this Op-Ed. If you have an Op-Ed or LTE
you would like us to consider, please submit it to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
Sprinkler systems need routine maintenance.
A mere month later the Convention was assembled to hear a request from the county commissioners for a supplemental appropriation. The request for $229,500 failed on a 7-7 tie vote.
On August 8, 2017, the Convention again gathered to hear another request for a supplemental appropriation. The extra $256,852 was approved. At the year-end, we would find this exercise was unnecessary and $900,000 would be returned to the county’s fund balance.
The time, money, and effort that went into getting the supplemental appropriation was not a benefit to the citizens of the county, rather it went to make managing the budget a very simple process – just spend what you have, there is plenty. It’s hard to understand how that can even be considered management.
If you go back through the records you will find that the commissioners hired two law firms to assist in their pursuit of additional funding. They spent $6,540.05 in their zeal to grasp control of appropriating authority. None of that money benefited the citizens of the county, it simply made the commissioners’ job easier.
Do you recall this one: 643:1 Official Oppression. – A public servant, as defined in RSA 640:2, II, is guilty of a misdemeanor if, with a purpose to benefit himself or another.
Each time they get away with this sort of behavior, they become bolder in their disregard for the law. Bear in mind as the years roll by that we have different members of the board of commissioners. One might want to put a bit of thought into why it is that the commissioners continue to act in the same way despite the change in elected officials.
2018 would be a banner year for corruption in the county, we’ll get into that next time…
