In 2019, House and Senate Democrats passed a compromise budget and got it signed by the governor, which returned more state funds to towns for property-tax relief, education, and municipal expenses. This plan is called “revenue sharing.”
The state collects a large fraction of the property taxes collected by the towns, a portion of which is called SWEPT (state-wide education property tax). SWEPT doesn’t leave your town but is applied to the local school. SWEPT funding, however, pays only $3,636 per student, and the town must raise the rest through additional taxes based on assessed property values. Since the average cost of education across New Hampshire is $17,000 per student, a large part of the “adequate education” mandated by the New Hampshire Constitution is essentially unfunded. For example, AEMS expenses ran about $22,000 per student, because the state did not honor its commitment to pay pensions for retiring teachers.
Our state representatives, Ken Wells and David Karrick, voted in favor of the House budget that was passed in 2019 returning $51,000 to Andover in 2020, $70,000 to Danbury in 2020, and $21,000 to Salisbury in 2020. The same budget promises $115,000 to Andover in 2021, $106,000 to Danbury in 2021, and $96,000 to Salisbury in 2021.
Residents can trust incumbent Ken Wells and Faith Minton, who is running to fill David Karrick’s position, to continue representing our interest in the House if we give them our vote in November.
PECCO BEAUFAYS
Andover