The town of Epsom is facing the same pressure every other town in New Hampshire is dealing with: rising taxes.
The tax rate actually dropped in town last year, but only because total property values rose from $522 million to $924 million, a 77% increase, due to a reassessment. The result was a lower rate, but higher bills.
With taxes continually on the rise for Epsom homeowners, a warrant article asks Epsom residents to consider the first steps of implementing a special district to give tax incentives to businesses.
Also called a TIF district, this method would allow new tax revenue be reinvested into a specific area for infrastructure upgrades.
The benefit of a TIF district is it would attract new businesses into the area and therefore broaden the tax base, said Cheryl Gilpatrick, a select board member and representative of the planning board, which has been discussing the effort. The downside is any tax relief for residents comes farther down the road since the new revenue doesn’t immediately go into the town’s general fund.
The board has been considering various incentives for business along the Route 4 and 28 corridors around the traffic circle.
“We hear the same things quite often from a lot of the residents and constituents in Epsom about how great it would be to have a grocery store or get a pharmacy back,” she said. “In our master plan, we talk about trying to get something like that to the circle, because those types of businesses would help with the tax base.”
A warrant article to allow for the development of the tax district was recommended by two out of three select board members. Opposition came from Chair Virginia Drew, who heard residents’ concerns at a public hearing.
“We held a public hearing and had approximately 40 people come and all speak against it,” Drew said. “When people come up, and that’s a large gathering for us, I listened to that.”
During the Jan. 17 hearing, residents said they worried about financial transparency, developers exiting projects early and whether having an increased tax base would even help offset town costs, like police and fire responses.
Gilpatrick and Drew said the passage of the article will not establish a TIF district outright — it will first create a committee to develop the town’s policies and procedures.
“I supported that because this is only the first step in the process,” Gilpatrick said. “We may find out down the road that this is not good for Epsom, but in order for us to at least entertain the idea, we wanted to be able to do this first step.”
Another item before voters is a petitioned warrant article asking state lawmakers to protect taxpayers from the expanded Education Freedom Account program that gives families money to homeschool their children or send them to private school.
“This directs public funds to private education, increasing without reducing the expenses public schools are constitutionally required to cover, increasing pressure on local property taxes,” the warrant article reads.
Last year, the EFA program was expanded when lawmakers eliminated its income restrictions, opening it up to any family in the state. Both Dan and Carol McGuire, Republican state representatives from Epsom, voted in favor of the expansion.
The petition warrant article holds no weight and directs the town to send the results of the election to the Legislature within 30 days of town meeting.
The town will hold its deliberative session on Saturday, Jan. 31 at 9 a.m. at Epsom Central School. The school session will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 3, also at the school.
Voting day will be on Tuesday, March 10 from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Epsom Bible Church.
Rachel Wachman contributed to this report.