Election coverage
Kudos to the Monitor for stories on Concord and local area towns, on spending and governmental matters. One story previewed candidates for the fall City Council and School Board elections. A spirited campaign and debate is expected on past, present and future spending on costly projects for a new middle school, police station and Memorial Field upgrades. Nearly-maxed-out taxpayers and voters can query candidates on their positions on these multimillion dollar projects. Monitor stories should keep the public updated on progress, cost and size. Prior negative community reaction to a proposed $10 million Beaver Meadow golf clubhouse, tripling its size, led to downsizing it to $6 million, a 40% reduction. A new middle school, originally proposed a $80 million, zoomed to $175 million without any reasonable explanation. Lack of any state school building aid, supposedly paying 40%, will probably push this out a few years. Plans to triple the size of existing Concord Police station (sound familiar) will cost $40 million. Expected adverse reaction to this high cost, fueling further tax rate increases, hopefully will lead to a 40% cost reduction into the $25 million range. Fall election campaigns will let voters question candidates on where they stand on these costly projects. That old Concord saying, “If you don’t like what we do, then vote us out” could well apply in 2025. I look for further Monitor coverage of election campaign and these issues.
Charles A. Russell
Concord, NH