From the Concord Monitor…
Efforts to put a tax cap on the ballot in Concord progressed yesterday, when city officials certified that petitioners gathered enough signatures on their second try.
The city council must call a public hearing on the idea – and councilors must do it by Sept. 4 if the tax cap is going to make it onto the ballot in November. If the meeting is after Sept. 4, the city must hold a special election.
State officials must certify that the tax cap’s language conforms with New Hampshire law.
Concord Mayor Jim Bouley said he had asked the city’s attorney whether the public hearing can be held before the language is okayed. “We don’t have the money to spend on a special election,” said Bouley, who does not support the idea of a tax cap. “The irony is that it’s on a tax cap.”
Mike Biundo, chairman of the New Hampshire Advantage Coalition, which has backed tax-cap drives in Manchester and Rochester as well as in Concord, said he did not want a special election. He criticized the pace at which Concord’s city clerk had counted the petitions.
The coalition had to submit at least 1,102 signatures to qualify. With 340 more certified, it reached 1,270 signatures.