Keene had its annual legislature meeting Monday which included city counselors, the mayor, state reps, and a few others. A who’s who of the Democrat Party locally.
The meeting also included an organization called the NH Municipal Association, which gave input and advice to the group. How best to fight the downshifting of costs. I’m sure they are non-partisan, right? Unbiased advice? I’m not holding my breath on that one.
I have yet to hear reports on who won the contest for most Ph.D.’s or was voted smartest person in the room, most progressive, or least likely to vote for someone with an R next to their name.
But one thing you can’t deny, all joking aside, is that some of them love to talk. Maybe to hear the sound of their voice. I’m not sure. But if you let them, they will always tell you who they are, and this instance is no different.
Keene mayor George Hansel said he and city councilors hear from their constituents constantly about the need to reduce property taxes. But without more financial help from the state, he said, the city is in a tough spot.
He talks about millions of dollars over several years (how many?) that Keene has not gotten what it should as a share of state revenue. Share and share alike? An appeal to spread around the wealth? Give me my fair share already!
If you consider what the real estate market has done these past few years, who has not seen an increase in property taxes?
Values in Cheshire county have gone up dramatically. No secret unless you live under a rock. The median home price in 2015 was $194,250. In 2020 its $285,00. The increase in value leads to a much higher bill ( Duh ) unless your town is one of those nice towns that reduce the rate per thousand to offset. I guess not so much in Keene?
And nothing can be done locally to lessen that burden unless the state steps in and helps out?
It sounds like a dire situation. Or so they like you to think.
Here’s where progressives and pretty much all Conservatives or Libertarians bunched into one differ significantly.
Self-reliance and those types of principles are at the forefront of what we do in our individual lives and what we should be doing in our towns and state. We can debate promises made, promises broken, promises kept by the state, but the fact remains that in one portion of the meeting, it was said that the state owes the town a total of $9 million since 2010? 2010! If it takes you 12 years and you still don’t wean yourself off whatever that money was supposed to be for, that is entirely on you!
Fiscal responsibility, by definition, is not relying on someone or something else to step in and bail you out. At the end of the day, your bills are yours and no one else’s. Yours.
Tell me, do you operate your household budget like that? Even if you’re promised money that never comes through, you still have to buck up and balance the budget. You could, of course, rack up credit card debt and complain about the money promised to you 12 years ago.
Let’s hold out hope for bankruptcy or, in this case, a bailout.
Reliance on the government to take care of the things you need in your life is, by definition, slavery.
A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take from you everything you have.
Yet the only real thing that matters to our local progressives, and it appears to matter a whole lot, is that we spread around the wealth to help pay the bills. And at the end of the day, we find a way to blame the budget shortcomings and high taxes on Republicans.
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