Town Meeting Archives - Granite Grok

Next, On Granite State Live: Failing New Hampshire’s Children …

January 23, 2025 Steve MacDonald

Watch live on Tuesday the 28th as we dive into New Hampshire’s failure to protect children. From the Sununu Center and sexual and physical abuse to DCYF and Family Court. But wait, there’s more!

NH Annual Town Meetings Are Coming – Would You Like a Tax Cap?

January 11, 2025 Skip

I just got my latest tax bill in the mail – once again, I’m working on TMEW to allow me out of my “never run for BudComm again if you let me serve a 3rd term,” as it seems that the Progressive-captured BudComm in my hamlet didn’t see a funding request it disliked. SideNote: Bruce … Read more

Traditional Meetings, Voter Disenfranchisement, and SB2 Balloting

March 9, 2024 Op-Ed

Are you a concerned voter and taxpayer who cannot attend the traditional town meeting or a COOP school district meeting? Some fellow citizens tout the traditional meeting as a pure democracy, as the voters present at the traditional meeting make up the legislative body and decide on all matters.

Thirty-One School & Supervisory Districts Reject Town Meeting Budgets

March 8, 2024 Op-Ed

The total number of known Vermont school districts and supervisory unions that rejected proposed school budgets at Town Meetings now stands at 31.

Hartford Has An Activist Problem – Now They Know About it

March 3, 2024 Aaron Warner

Warner: Hartford Has An Activist Problem – Now They Know About it

Martin Luther King Jr. famously said:

“Vanity asks the question, ‘Is it popular?’

Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’

Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’

But conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’

Restoring SB2

February 27, 2024 Steve MacDonald

There are still a lot of towns in New Hampshire that gather every year for Town Meeting. In a crowded room, all your neighbors raise their hands and say yeah and nay in front of everyone else. It could always get contentious, but in today’s political climate, you could get branded or targeted. There’s a cure for that.

HB-1175: Another Attempt to Repair SB2

October 10, 2024January 28, 2024 Spike

To set the stage: Town meetings are dominated by the people who receive, benefit from or massage taxpayer loot. The “official ballot referendum town meeting” or SB2 procedure took away from town meetings the power to make final budget decisions for the upcoming year.

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.

Croydon School Board Meeting – How a Work Meeting Turned into a Rantfest

March 16, 2022March 16, 2022 Skip

I have never seen anything like this and I’m probably never going to see this again. Thumbnail: At this past Saturday’s Town Meeting, the townfolk voted to HALF the School District Budget from $1.7 million to $800,000. Let that set in.

It’s Voting Day Here in NH (For Most SB2 Towns, Anyways). GO VOTE!

March 8, 2022 Skip

And just to draw the ire of those on the Left who constantly have the words “misinformation!” or “disinformation!” on the tip of their tongues – don’t worry, it’s next week (smirk).

The Flag They Want to Vote on for My Town is “Modern” and Soulless

March 7, 2022 Skip

Gilford has an unofficial flag right now. It’s not really “New Hampsha” based but to me, this whole idea of replacing it is yet another attempt to replace history that shouldn’t be done.

Bonds Most Effective Way to Protect Current Taxpayers

March 5, 2022
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Once again this year, on many towns’ ballots, we will find numerous warrant articles asking voters to place monies in “capital reserve funds” — much coming from what is often referred to as “surplus fund balances” or “unexpended fund balances.”

It’s Almost Town Meeting Time in NH – And Petition Warrant Article Machinations Have Already Begun

February 12, 2022February 12, 2022 Skip

Here in New Hampshire, we have the old style town meetings where everyone in a town gets together to hammer the final budgets for the town and schools spending. There’s generally a bunch “warrants” (or articles or questions) about all kinds of sundry things like appropriating money for new equipment like police or fire vehicles, … Read more

Hudson NH Thinks That Blindly Sending Out School District Ballots Is a Swift Idea?

February 28, 2021 Skip

I am just agape at what another Loyal Reader just sent me. Apparently, the School District in Hudson has decided to blithely just mail out their ballots to everyone in town.

If Andru Volinsky wants to Cut Property Taxes, He Should Become a School Superintendent

August 17, 2020

Andru Volinsky, a candidate for governor of New Hampshire, has a problem understanding how property taxes are paid in the Granite State. He has lived here long enough to know that property taxes are paid at the local level and we have had, for several hundred years, Town Meetings where annual budgets are voted on by the citizens who pay their share – as our State Constitution demands.

The ‘someone’ was me

September 26, 2018March 15, 2013

Artist's rendering from Warner 2013 Town Meeting — Artist’s rendering from Warner 2013 Town Meeting

In today’s Concord Monitor fish wrap, Meg Heckman, a lovely young woman and competent reporter wrote about the goings on at Warner’s Town Meeting Wednesday night.

It was a pretty straightforward recitation of Warner’s headlong rush from ‘freedom to freebies’ (Thanks. Skip. Great phrase) and then she writes:

‘A proposal to set aside $15,000 to help offset town employees’ health insurance deductibles also met with some resistance.

“Are you kidding me?” someone shouted from the front row.

After a ballot vote, the article passed, 67-41.’

It’s for the children

September 26, 2018March 12, 2013

I’m sure Mr. Cohn misunderstood, Deerfield teachers are prohibited from ‘striking’:

Town Meeting Tomorrow

September 26, 2018March 11, 2013

For many, if not most of us, tomorrow is Town Meeting day where we vote on school and town budgets, local government officials, planning and zoning regulations. Town meeting is government up-close and personal and is where of many us fail to effectively use our voices and our votes. Town meeting is where things like … Read more