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This week's stories: (click on the headline
to jump to story)
 Kindergarten
passes
Goffstown
OKs new recycling plan
Weare
votes to elect police chief
Some
say income tax may be only solution
Goffstown
Kindergarten
passes
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By RUSS CHOMA
Staff Writer
rchoma@yourneighborhoodnews.com
After decades of trying, Goffstown public
kindergarten supporters finally saw their dream realized when
voters passed the proposal by a wide margin.
After they missed the mark by only 15 votes last March, supporters
were jubilant at the passage of this year's proposal. Tuesday's
vote in favor of a public kindergarten was 2,308-1,664.
Although the warrant article only required 50 percent to pass,
58.1 percent of voters cast ballots in support of the plan.
Peter Oseicki, chairman of the kindergarten planning committee,
said he was confident going into the vote that the article would
pass.
"I spoke to a supporter a little while ago, and they said,
'You know, 30 years ago we were trying for this,' and I said
we're going to get it for you this year,'" Oseicki said.
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STUMPING FOR VOTES: Goffstown
School Board Chairman Scott Gross and Dianne Quigley finally
got their satisfaction as voters approved a public kindergarten
after years of failed attempts. (Russ Choma Photo)
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"I guess the big thing is perseverance.
Articles sometimes have a hard time getting through the process,
but what we learned through some of the other warrant articles
and watching other towns who tried to pass kindergarten was to
keep trying and keep trying."
This year's proposal was retooled after
the razor-thin defeat last year.
The approved plan, which appeared as Article 2 on this year's
warrant, calls for the construction of a 10-room facility to
be built off Tibbett's Hill Road for a total cost of $3.3
million.
Because of state kindergarten aid and money already in reserves,
Goffstown taxpayers will only have to put up $256,000.
There will be a one-time estimated tax impact of 21 cents per
$1,000 of assessed property value. That means the owner of a
home valued at $250,000 will pay an extra $52.50 on this year's
tax bill.
"This is a full circle change for us," Oseicki
said. "It's taken 30 years to come around, but sure enough
we did it."
For most of the last year, Goffstown has had the distinction
of being one of only 17 communities nationwide without a public
kindergarten program. Each of the other communities on that list
are also in New Hampshire.
The kindergarten plan was criticized this year by people who
argued that placing a school on Tibbetts Hill Road would cause
traffic back-ups on Goffstown Back Road, one of the two major
corridors leading into town from Manchester, during morning and
afternoon rush hours.
But proponents of the kindergarten proposal have countered that
steps can be taken to alleviate the traffic congestion on Back
Road.
Although nothing specific has been determined, placing a crossing
guard at the intersection of Back Road and Tibbetts Hill Road
or installing a traffic light there are two possibilities that
have been discusssed.
Proponents have also argued that the Tibbetts Hill location was
too good a deal to pass up. The land where the 10-room school
is to be built has been donated to the school department for
$1.
Had the proposal on this year's warrant not been approved, building
a kindergarten would have become a much more expensive proposition
in the future, said supporters. State kindergarten aid, they
said, would likely not have been available to Goffstown next
year.
In addition to the aid, the cost of building the structure
which could expand into a third elementary school in the future
reduced this year because members of the kindergarten committee
chose to finance the plan with $800,000 from impact fees and
money in the district's own unreserved fund.
Last week, School Board Chairman Scott Gross argued that Goffstown
is losing out on $315,000 in additional state aid under the state
funding formula. That formula is based on the town's equalized
valuation per pupil. The town loses the targeted state aid because
total district enrollment is 200 students less than it would
be with a public kindergarten.
Goffstown OKs
new recycling plan
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By TIM RYAN
Staff Writer
tryan@yourneighborhoodnews.com
GOFFSTOWN Voters said yes to both
a plan for municipal curbside recycling and an initiative to
form a charter commission to assess the town's form of government.
The recycling plan was approved 2,623-1,137; the charter commission
passed 2,336-1,409.
The recycling plan required three-fifths, or 60 percent, of voters
to approve it.
Selectman Robert Wheeler, an advocate for
the curbside recycling proposal, said the measure makes for a
better recycling program and a more economically viable way of
providing it.
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DECISION TIME: Voter turnout
during this year's balloting was high due, in part, to the public
kindergarten question.
See the full results inside this week's paper.
(R. Choma Photo)
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"I'm delighted," he said. "We'll be able to save
money and provide a better service in the area of recycling.
We're pleased the town accepted the proposal."
The recycling program is a $578,541 plan for personnel and equipment
to collect recyclables from residents throughout town. Of that
amount, $533,800 will be spent on a bond for capital expenses,
including barrels, a truck and a facility for the program.
The remaining $44,741 will cover employee wages, vehicle operating
costs and recycling disposal fees. Residents will receive 65
gallon bins for their recyclables; residents can put all recyclables
in one bin, and they will be sorted using the new equipment.
Town officials have said the plan will reduce the operating budget
by more than $69,000, and will save around $100,000 a year when
the start-up costs are paid off five years from now.
In approving the creation of a charter commission, Goffstown
may shift from its current selectman form of government to perhaps
a town meeting form, and might incorporate a town council, town
manager or possibly a mayor.
Michael Ryan, who helped craft the warrant article calling for
establishment of a charter commission, said the objective is
simply to determine the best method to govern the town.
"We don't have an agenda," he said. "The ultimate
goal is to explore what would be the best form of government
for Goffstown at this time."
Of 9,698 total registered voters, 4,051 votes were cast, which
constitutes 41 percent of the electorate. There were also 209
new registered voters casting ballots Tuesday.
Weare votes
to elect police chief
By KATE BENWAY
Staff Writer
kbenway@yourneighborhoodnews.com
What opponents called a thinly veiled attempt
to oust Police Chief Myles Rigney succeeded at the polls, as
a warrant article making the chief's position an elected one
passed 903-766.
But Rigney is not leaving Weare without a fight.
He's been in touch with lawyers and is ready to stand by his
contract.
"I was given a contract that's a life term and I'm not planning
on retiring in a year," he said. "So I have a
feeling it's going to be up to the courts to decide how far it
goes from here."
Rigney became the chief of the Weare Police Department in April
2000. He has signed a contract with selectmen that stipulates
the town shoulder the costs of any legal counsel Rigney retains
should he be illegally terminated.
"This is Weare," he said. "There was very
little doubt in my mind this would happen. If you start to say
anything in this town, you get in trouble."
The petition warrant article, spearheaded by resident state Rep.
Gary Hopper, has made Weare one of the few New Hampshire communities
with an elected police chief.
In fact, according to estimates, there are just seven or eight
such communities out of the 234 in the state.
Supporters of electing a police chief say Rigney intimidates
Weare's residents and even its elected and appointed officials,
and that he has crossed ethical boundaries.
Law enforcement experts, along with some selectmen, have come
out against the warrant article, worried that an elected chief
might lack the experience a community of 8,500 needs.
"This is going to end up being the biggest mistake the town
ever made," said Tom Reynolds, chairman of the board of
selectmen. "And it will end up being a costly one. I don't
know why anybody would want to elect a police chief. If he's
performing his job duties, how do you get rid of him?"
But voters have weighed in and made the statement that they'd
rather have control over who heads the town's police force.
It's something that the article's proponents have heralded: making
the police chief accountable to the people. Especially, they
said, because Rigney is a loose cannon.
The article spurred a heated debate at the deliberative session
of Town Meeting this year.
While arguing with Hopper, Rigney held a slew of papers above
his head, insinuating he'd performed back ground checks on the
petitioners.
The Attorney General's office is purportedly investigating the
action, which has given Rigney's opponents fodder.
But others, including selectman Brian McDonald, who lost his
seat in the election, panned the move as "dangerous"
for Weare.
He said he didn't want a police chief more concerned with winning
an election than fairly enforcing the law.
"If things go the way they go in Weare, then the town could
wind up with anyone from Bozo the clown to one of the local big
wig politicians becoming the chief of police," said Rigney.
He said he's been presented with other job opportunities that
he has not taken because his contract binds him to Weare.
He would not comment on the reactions of his officers, but others
worried aloud about a sudden defection of good officers from
the department in the wake of the vote.
"I'm hoping it doesn't send the officers packing,"
said selectman Laura Petrain. "The fear of the unknown sometimes
scares people. I've heard a lot of positive feedback from the
public in regards to the officers themselves."
Petrain said the vote is not only one that reflects feelings
about Rigney, but about selectmen as well.
"I think the petition article was the result of the board
not handling things the way the public would have liked them
to," she said. "Employees can make mistakes, but it's
how those mistakes are handled."
Petrain had publicly lambasted her co-selectmen for opting to
not reprimand Rigney for the scene at the deliberative session.
She called their inattention to the matter unethical.
"I support the residents," she said. "Elected
chiefs have been successful in other towns and I think it can
be successful in Weare."
Incoming selectman Heleen Kurk said she had no choice but to
support the article, as she saw the move as a way to bring change
to Weare.
"I don't think that it's the best of both worlds, but we
have to move forward and this was the only way I could figure
to do that," she said. "It was up to the selectmen
to handle the problems as they came."
But the transition may not be a quick one.
With Rigney committed to his contract and some confusion about
how to begin the process of changing over the position, the issue
might be in the hands of legal counsel for some time.
"It'd be very easy and convenient for me to leave tomorrow
but I plan on living up to my signature and I expect the town
of Weare to do likewise," said Rigney.
School funding
Some say income
tax may be only solution
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By RUSS CHOMA
Staff Writer
rchoma@yourneighborhoodnews.com
During a recent budget committee meeting
in Hopkinton, Bob Wells, a 15-year veteran of the board, was
filled with frustration.
Committee members were debating how they could best reduce the
size of the school board's proposed budget. Some suggested axing
additional special education positions the district requested
in an effort to avoid costly tuition for special needs children
to attend special private schools.
Eventually, the committee voted to reduce the entire bottom line
of the school budget and let the district decide what specific
items would be cut. Wells was irritated with the cuts.
"What was presented was a perfectly acceptable budget,"
he told the rest of the committee.
Wells, who claims he doesn't have a particular ideological leaning
toward the left or the right, said he sympathizes with those
who say costs are too high, but feels districts shouldn't be
punished for things they need, like more special education teachers.
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He also argued there is a bigger problem
than just Hopkinton's particular needs this year.
"The issue here is: We, as a state, continue to elect governors
and legislators who refuse to address the issue head-on,"
he said at the meeting.
Wells said he believes his town provides a very good education
for students, but realizes that to maintain even the status quo
in terms of quality, costs will continue to rise.
In Wells' eyes, the current system of funding education in New
Hampshire, which relies heavily on local property taxes and some
state aid, also raised through a property tax, is inherently
unfair.
"The system really pits the landowner against the other
citizens in town," he said.
In particular, he says it hits the elderly, who generally lack
significant incomes yet may have owned land for many years which
has appreciated in value.
Wells may be more adamant than many on the need for a permanent
education-funding fix, but few would argue that the current system
is severely flawed.
Squeeze play
The five communities that sued the state in 1991 because they
could not adequately fund their own schools still struggle.
In addition to Claremont, Allenstown, Pittsfield, Franklin and
Lisbon, a large number of other communities are also finding
their budgets squeezed tighter each year, while their local property
tax rates continue to rise unchecked.
The current formula for distributing state aid to needy districts
known as House Bill 608 was designed to cut the state's
property tax rate, target the money more specifically to the
towns in need, and depend less on the extremely wealthy towns
as sources of funding.
The bill appears to partially succeed at each aspect, but opponents
say it does so at the expense of a large number of so-called
middle towns, communities not wealthy enough to qualify as donating
towns and not poor enough to be receiver towns.
In Goffstown, one of those middle towns, School Board Chairman
Scott Gross said the idea behind HB 608 is flawed.
"I think you have to look at what it costs to adequately
educate a student and go from that," he said," not
how much money do we have, and then divide up the pot."
A taxing problem
The fix, Gross argues, is in finding a fairer way to distribute
the burden of funding education.
"I think the state does need to look at the potential of
a sales tax or an income tax, in combination with the local property
taxes," Gross said. "Because right now, you're forcing
(the total cost) on the local property owner."
That solution almost became reality in 1999, when the legislature
narrowly passed a measure that would have instituted an income
tax. The bill was vetoed by Democratic Governor Jeanne Shaheen.
The likelihood of the income tax returning any time soon appears
slim. Current Gov. Craig Benson, a Republican, is pushing his
"Taxpayer's Bill of Rights" which includes a
plan to tie all state spending increases to the changes in the
annual cost-of-living increases.
This cap concept is also part of HB 608, and many lawmakers have
argued that to abide by that cap, school districts may have to
learn to control their spending.
Not everyone who opposes the idea of new broad-based taxes says
they are necessarily against increased education spending.
Matt Thomas, chairman of the Weare School Board, described his
district as able to fund curriculum needs, but is in no shape
to make the multi-million dollar investments needed to expand
crowded facilities that have become what he terms "unhealthy."
Despite his district's need, Thomas said he is extremely wary
of any sort of broad-based tax because he sees it as a dangerous
route to greater taxation.
"It's a very slippery slope," he said. "If you
initiate an income tax or a sales tax to make up for perceived
inequities in funding, what I fear is that money would be too
easy for the state to go back to. Instead of a simple 1 or 2
percent tax, we're now looking at 4 or 5 percent to start funding
other things like road projects."
Thomas said he thinks that keeping current state property tax
levels as they are and working more seriously toward a
better formula will solve the problem.
Farther south in Bedford, a town which in the past has been able
to maintain a high level of educational quality based on local
property taxes, School Board Chairman Sue Thomas has also considered
the income tax.
"I think you could go to any state and there's serious issues
about the funding," she said, noting she is originally from
New York, where they have both an income tax and a sales tax,
yet still have fights over the cost of education.
"You can go to any state and they're arguing over school
funding, whether there's an income tax or not," she said.
"I don't think an income tax necessarily solves the problem.
"Half the population thinks school spending is extravagant,
and the other half thinks there needs to be more money. I'll
tell you, I don't know the answer," Thomas said. "But
I'll say this: I'm glad I live in New Hampshire and not New York."
For Scott Gross, though, New Hampshire's traditional opposition
to an income tax is sending his district headlong into a crisis.
"I think they are fooling themselves by not looking into
(a broad-based tax) more aggressively," he said. "And
that whole rallying cry of 'that's what makes us unique' is nice,
but in three or four years, we'll be crying 'Uncle' if we don't
reform either how we fund things or get new revenue streams."
Bob Wells would agree, and said he's discouraged about the prospect
of finding a new revenue source for schools anytime soon.
"We now have a legislature who apparently will never vote
for one, and a governor who will never vote for one," he
said. "So it's the same old story an unwillingness
to say up-front we need a broad-based tax, and so now it's constantly
being put on the backs of people who own."
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