Webster select board Chairman Bruce Johnson had a message for his state senator Monday night, loud and clear.
“Small towns need help.” he said. Financial help, that is.
During an annual visit with Webster town officials, Sen. Andrew Hosmer spent the whole time discussing state aid to municipalities, and why there seems to be less and less of it every year.
“There’s a lot going on right now in the State House, particularly the opioid crisis,” Hosmer said. Other issues, he later added, have mostly become secondary concerns and unfortunately, local aid was not restored in the upcoming budget.
Though that’s not to say those other issues aren’t important.
“It’s funny – odd funny – because every municipality I hear from has the same exact concerns,” Hosmer said.
Johnson emailed Hosmer a list of specific areas the town is struggling in, such as property taxes.
“We have one of the lowest tax rates of all our neighboring towns, but people are still concerned,” said Johnson. “It’s not based upon local property taxes. It’s going up because the state is downshifting costs.”
He added, “Everyone’s pointing to the schools.”
Paying for local transportation infrastructure – such as the Clothespin Bridge in need of replacement in Webster – is also a challenge. Voters have approved spending $75,000 from a capital reserve fund for the project so far, though the cost is estimated to total $350,000.
Hosmer agreed bridges and other local infrastructure was an issue. “We have a chronic problem here.” With many red-listed bridges in the state, Hosmer added, it’s only a matter of time before there’s an accident.
“It’s not just a Webster issue – it’s a state issue,” said Johnson.
When Hosmer mentioned that the New Hampshire Police Standards and Training Council almost became so underfunded that municipalities would have to pay tuition for their officers, he said, “That would have been another downshift there, which I think would have been a poor choice.”
Johnson responded, “Yeah.”
“This is something I’ll continue to fight for,” Hosmer said.
With that promise, the select board continued with its regular meeting Monday night. On the agenda were two invoices to sign: one for Right Angle Engineering and one for Fleece and Flower Farm.
The total cost – just over $13,000 to come from a capital reserve fund – covered equipment and labor for boring samples around Clothespin Bridge.
(Elodie Reed can be reached at 369-3306, ereed@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @elodie_reed.)