Budgets Archives - Page 4 of 24

Belknap County Delegation Chair Harry Bean Proves That the Peter Principle Is Alive and Well

March 8, 2023 Skip

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)?

February 16, 2023February 15, 2023 Judy Aron

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

February 7, 2023 Steve MacDonald

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

February 2, 2023February 1, 2023 Ian Underwood

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

January 14, 2023January 13, 2023 Skip

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

Just When You Think It Can’t Get Worse, It Does

March 26, 2023January 9, 2023 Op-Ed

I had to check three times, as I didn’t believe the scores could go any lower. Drumroll, please. I guess a new 9 million dollar school and 7 or 8 (lost count) tax cap overrides in ten years for the school budget does not improve education.

National Propaganda Radio (NPR) Gets Pinched as Corporate Sponsors Walk Away

December 6, 2022December 5, 2022 Steve MacDonald

The big news in Liberal Radio (doing business as public radio) is a network-wide hiring freeze. According to reports, National Propaganda Radio (NPR) lost 20 million in corporate sponsors, which I find amusing because it’s their own damn fault.

Maggie “The Budget Hawk” Hassan

August 8, 2022August 7, 2022 Op-Ed

Maggie “The Budget Hawk” Hassan’s latest ad explains that she is busily reducing the prices of oil and gasoline that are plaguing us. She is portraying herself as having “fiscal responsibility” in another one and being praised as a budget hawk.

Nashua’s Illegal and Corrupt Project – The Nashua Performing Arts Center (NPAC)

July 18, 2022 Laura Colquhoun

Article 1 Section 8 of the NH Constitution states that government should be accessible and accountable to its citizens. This is not the case with the Nashua Performing Arts Center (NPAC).

Nashua, NH Is Ignoring the Spending Cap Once Again

June 12, 2022 Laura Colquhoun

Nashua City Hall has decided to ignore the Spending Cap in regard to the proposed budget for next year.

City of Nashua seth-dewey-EOlo15oy8Ks-unsplash

What’s going on between His Honor and Nashua’s Corporation Counsel?

May 24, 2022 Laurie Ortolano

The Mayor announced at the May 16th Budget Review Committee Meeting that a Right to Know (RTK) paralegal position was added to the Administrative Services budget. In December 2020, the legal office hired an RTK Attorney to manage requests. Attorney Neumann spent eight months in Nashua; his work resulted in four costly lawsuits. Aldermen John … Read more

empty chairs original photo Photo courtesy of Gratisography

Super-Duper Majorities

April 28, 2022 Ian Underwood

It’s rare to read a story about the recent Croydon budget adjustment that doesn’t mention how small the number of voters was, as if it was some kind of anomaly.

Gunstock Mountain Resort – I Just Got a New Batch of Homework to Do

April 25, 2022 Skip

It’s amazing what happens when folks that realize that a Government agency whose function is to make snow get elected to the Gunstock Area Commission and start to turn the canoe around to be realized as such instead of being thought of as a private company.

NH Republican Rep. Dan Wolf Celebrates Gruesome Late-Term Abortion with Democrats

April 24, 2022 Beth Scaer

Last year, Governor Chris Sununu signed the Fetal Life Protection Act into law as part of the budget trailer bill and the Democrats have been attacking him mercilessly for it ever since.

Croydon School Board 2022-03-14 GraniteGrok

A School Hijacking, Amanda Leslie of Croydon? Hardly, and Stop Making Kids Your Political Pawns

April 8, 2022 Skip

A headline in the UL yesterday read, “Amanda Leslie: Undo the hijacking of Croydon’s schools.” My retort is that the “hijacking” was done, not by those who showed up, but by those that didn’t bother to show up.

Thoughts on Croydon – Residents Refusing to Accept Blame for Missing the Town Meeting Vote on School Budget

April 1, 2022 Skip

Listen to what a Croydon resident says at about 1:19 seconds in:

School District Says Vote-By-Mail Suppressed Voter Turnout

April 1, 2022April 1, 2022 Steve MacDonald

A local district in Vermont had its school budget fail by 60 votes. They blamed it on low voter turnout, which they blamed on vote-by-mail. The ability to vote by mail resulted in low turnout which put the kibosh on the budget.

Gunstock Mountain Resort – Gac Meeting (3/23/22) – Public Comment Session – Why I Want the Budget

March 28, 2022 Skip

A bit of joviality during the meeting but I think it was more of an inside joke between Tom Day (GM and Prez of GMR) and I as the discussion during the Public Comment session was around whether or not the GMR Budget at the General Ledger line level was going to be released to me as a result of my RSA 91-A demand for it.

Gunstock Mountain Resort – Right to Know: Budget. All of it. At the General Ledger Account Level

March 25, 2022March 24, 2022 Skip

At the end of the Public Comment section, last night, I made a bit of a stir, having previously submitted an RSA 91:A Right To Know demand for the entire budget, at the General Ledger line/account level.

Woman pointing Photo by Austin Neill on Unsplash

Croydon Leads the Way Again

March 20, 2022 Ian Underwood

House Bill 1393, which passed the House recently, seeks to make it possible for voters in school districts to do, as a matter of policy, what Croydon was recently able to do on a one-time basis: Tell the school district what they can afford, rather than wait to be told how much will be demanded from them.