As winter closes in, I assume that work is proceeding briskly on Gov. John Lynch's new house high atop Gould Hill in Hopkinton.

From all accounts, it's going to be quite a place. Some 11,000 square feet, they say. That is big. Maybe not Wal-Mart Supercenter big, but still sufficient to hold seven fireplaces and a fitness room and God knows what else.

The lure of these proliferating huge houses eludes me. Even those of us who maintain that a little grime around the place is good for the immune system know that eventually the vacuum must be run, the tables - at least those not covered with stuff - dusted. That's an irksome enough chore in an 1,800-square-foot joint. The idea of scrubbing 11,000 square feet of floors is dizzying.

But then it's highly unlikely that either John or Susan Lynch will be trudging through their new house behind a vacuum cleaner any time soon. Presumably, one doesn't build a place that big without having Merry Maids on speed dial.

Presumably, also, one doesn't put up a pile like the ones the Lynches are erecting without having the wherewithal to cover that nasty not-so-little fact of New Hampshire life: the property tax bill. And as we're reading, these days in Hopkinton it can be a real doozy.

Thanks to a revaluation that, to hear them tell it, came out of the blue for many Hopkinton residents, a lot of people are looking at thousands more in taxes. That includes, by the way, the owners of Gould Hill Orchard - the same people who sold the governor his prize piece of property.

The orchard, with its breathtaking views, occupies one of the most desirable chunks of undeveloped

land in the Concord area, and its owners had been negotiating with the town to see if there might be a way to preserve the property. But now, Erick Leadbeater tells the Monitor, his taxes have increased by $25,000, to more than $72,000 a year.

"Agriculture's not sustainable" at that rate, he said. "The farm's preservation prospects are much dimmer than they were."

Leadbeater's not alone in his dismay. Residents are jamming the town's switchboard, and some older townspeople, in particular, say it's likely that they will not be able to afford to stay in their homes without relief.

To which I can only say, with deep sincerity: Tough. Really. Because our state's reliance on the property tax isn't likely to change. And those wailing Hopkinton residents can just thank . . . well, their neighbor, John Lynch.

A debate deferred

Lynch might decry the thing, but he has sworn, repeatedly, that he will veto any reasonable alternative to this 18th-century relic. In fact, he's so eager to preserve the status quo that he's talking about endorsing a "limited constitutional amendment," whatever that means, when it comes to funding the state's obligation to education.

And, contrary to what some Republicans charge, he almost certainly means it. At least so says Ted Gatsas, the GOP Senate president who is so delighted with the Democratic governor that he had to be shamed into giving even a nominal endorsement to his own party's hapless nominee.

Of course, Gatsas, like his pal Lynch, can well afford to pay his own real estate taxes. As is the case with most of our lawmakers. After all, people scrambling to stave off the tax collector can hardly afford to run for an office that pays a pitiful $100 per year.

This means that for at least the next two years - and probably a lot of years after that - we won't have a serious, all-cards-on-the-table discussion of what we in New Hampshire expect of our government and how, realistically, we're going to pay for it.

We're talking about a lot more than schools, as important as they are. We are one of the richest states in the country, but we live like paupers. Our infrastructure - highways, bridges, dams - is crumbling because there's little money for repairs. Our historic properties are falling apart because we can't afford rudimentary maintenance. Even as our precious open places are being turned into lots for trophy houses - see Gould Hill, above - our lawmakers won't give more than token financial support to the wildly popular LCHIP program, perhaps our best tool for preserving our state's heritage. (next page »)