Are you ready for a 37% increase in your county property taxes? Belknap County Commissioners Peter Spanos, Hunter Taylor and Glen Waring have proposed a budget for county operations for next year that would raise taxes by 37%. No, that is not a typo.
That is actually what they are seeking.
The huge increase in taxes on our citizens, during a period of health crises that caused people to lose their jobs and many businesses to close, is in addition to projected spending by the county of over $9 million in so-called ARPA funds supplied by the federal government (from our federal tax dollars), would supposedly fund spending of over $33 million on county operations.
Fortunately, the county budget is examined in detail, is subject to modification, and must be finally approved by a vote of the entire county delegation, consisting of all 18 elected state representatives.
The process of severe overreach by the county commissioners is not something new. Last year, the county commissioners proposed a budget for this year that would have raised taxes by 12%, but after many hours of examination and study by the county delegation, the delegation finally approved a budget that actually lowered taxes by 11%.
As our late beloved governor, Meldrim Thomson, was wont to say, “Low taxes are the result of low spending.” It was true many years ago when he said it and it remains true today.
