We’ve emailed you before about problems with the Housing Appeals Board (HAB), a state-level, 3-person panel of appointed, industry ‘professionals’ who are now allowed to override your town vote by defying the decisions of any of your town boards (planning, zoning, conservation, school, etc.).
Articles tagged as
Budgets
Overload in Public Schools. Or If You’d Rather: Overhead Bloat
My career was spent as a software engineer and consultant. The last twenty years of it were spent working for a manufacturing software vendor, and I spent a lot of time talking with both C-level leaders, the blue-collar workers on the shop floor, and everyone in between. The mantra, at least in well-run shops was:
Here’s How the Federal Government Is Mucking Up the Inflation Fight
By hiking interest rates, the Federal Reserve has pulled some of its monetary stimulus out of the economy. While the Fed hasn’t done nearly enough to put the inflationary fire it lit with more than a decade of easy money, cooling consumer price index (CPI) indicates that this has put a modest dent in price inflation — for now.
The Chickens Have Come Home To Roost; It Just Took a Decade+ Longer Than We Thought
While I was on my town’s Budget Committee, I warned the town and school board against taking “free money” that the Feds were giving out like the candy thrown out by Old Home Day marchers. The analogy was apt.
An Open Letter to Four Senate Finance Committee members
Greetings, committee members. While I haven’t read all 149 pages of the budget heading your way, I know some who have. This email could easily get very long, but I will try to keep it short and focus on my biggest grievances against the House for passing it.
The 2023 Belknap County Budget – It Wasn’t Just About the Money
The 2023 Belknap County Budget would make for a most interesting case study for students enrolled in a graduate school program and course in public administration. At the same time, examining the process—and especially the decisions made around the processes and procedures adopted by the Delegation’s Budget Committee, cries out to me for corrections and … Read more
The NHGOP Rewards Failure … It’s All About “Losing Gracefully”
The budget passed by the nominally GOP New Hampshire House represented a CAPITULATION to the Communists (nominally Democrats). Among the lowlights … cutting back on school choice, while pumping even more money into funding DEI and CRT (the public education bureaucracy); continuing Obamacare Medicaid expansion; and massively increasing spending, according to Rep. J.R. Hoell by … Read more
Absence of Shame: Belknap State Rep Harry Bean & Laconia City Councilor Henry Lipman
After many months of apparently keeping a fairly low profile, Laconia City Councilor Henry Lipman has recently fielded a letter to the editor in the Laconia Daily Sun (also known as Pravda by The Lake) commending and endorsing the incompetent and inept management by Belknap Delegation Chair State Rep Harry Bean of the Belknap County … Read more
NH v. VT – A Tale of Two Political Cultures One Red and One Blue
Vermont’s legislature is working out the final details of Gov. Scott’s proposed 8.4 Billion dollar budget. Eight billion. That’s over 12,957.00 dollars for every man, woman, and child in the state. Guess how much New Hampshire’s is?
Data Point – National Debt and Biden’s Budget Proposal
As of March 8 of this year, which is the latest date currently reported by the U.S. Treasury, the total federal debt was $31.459 trillion. In his budget—which proposes increasing the debt to $50.712 trillion over the next ten years—Biden emphasizes his commitment to fiscal responsibility. (H/T: CNSNews)
Like a Boomerang, The Exasperation Keeps Coming Back – Federal Govt Debt Ceiling Games
This is a freakingly great concept! If you can’t spend for everything, try PRIORITIZING the spending.
Breaking: So NOW Belknap Delegation Chair Harry Bean Calls For Another Meeting – but Fairly Authoritarian & Rigid Rules, Wouldn’t You Agree?
Update: another little birdie has said “Harry didn’t write that email – he doesn’t write that well. Somebody ghostwrote it for him” and has suspicions.”. Either way, the above title still stands as his signature is on it. And he was just a bad boy in another way, too!
If You Live In Belknap County (NH), You are Looking At A 35% Rise In Your County Taxes. Blame Belknap Delegation Chair Harry Bean!
You need to contact Belknap County Delegation Chair Harry Bean: Email: froggytouttaint@aol.com Phone: (603) 455-2993. He’s responsible for this. In NH, the various Counties, all County budgets start with the Commissioners. Here in Belknap, I’m betting that they didn’t just throw the kitchen sink into their budget, they put your street’s entire collection of kitchen … Read more
Biden Budget is Not About the Money
Joe Biden is late in proposing his budget for 2023, but that may be because it took a lot of time to add so many more ways to control our lives. Although the budget is a staggering $6.8 Trillion, the real story is how Biden and Democrats feel they need to be more involved in our lives.
Belknap County Delegation Chair Harry Bean Proves That the Peter Principle Is Alive and Well
Background: Well, Monday night was supposed to be THE night that the Belknap County Delegation (made up of all the NH State Representatives from Belknap County) to finalize the Belknap County budget for the next year. The “Biz” items on the Agenda: Approve Budget Review Committee Minutes of February 15, 2023 Presentation of Review Committee’s … Read more
So Kids, What Did We Learn From Tuesday’s House Session (02/14/23)?
We learned that attendance is everything this term. You can’t win if you don’t have the numbers. All eyes are on the whip! We learned that the Speaker of the House voted more today than he did in total in the past 2 years! There’s probably a Speaker vote record being made!
Bureaucrat Makes Crack About Federal COVID Funding Falling from Heaven
Patricia Tulley is the Director of the Division of Public Health Services at the NH Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). She recently testified before a New Hampshire House Committee, and I’m unsure how to describe it.
Croydon Superintendent: $1 Million per Student Not Enough to Teach Kids to Read
In an earlier piece on charter schools, I suggested that we need to start asking school districts: How much is enough?
That is, if we want to get 100% of our educable students to proficiency in reading and math, how much would it cost?
It’s Town Meeting Time Again in NH – Of COURSE, There are Those That Wish to Cancel Budget Committees
It’s almost March – the main month in which Town Meetings take place and the voters decide how their towns will be operating the rest of the year. Every single year, starting about now I get a couple of these “Petition Warrants” to be put on the Town Warrant. The latter usage of “warrant” is … Read more