From the Union Leader…
MANCHESTER – Wall Street’s opinion on a spending cap is expected to be available today, one of the key pieces of information demanded Tuesday night by Democratic aldermen as they pushed to delay a referendum on the proposed cap.
City Finance Director William Sanders said yesterday he expects to have letters in hand today from the city’s financial analyst, Boston-based The PFM Group, and the city’s bond counsel — the Newark, N.J., firm of Hawkins, Delafield and Wood.
Once he receives them, he will distribute them to aldermen and the public, Sanders said.
About a day later — at 4 p.m. tomorrow — aldermen are expected to reconvene a high-stakes political bout that will determine when Manchester residents will vote on the spending cap.
Mayor Frank Guinta and six aldermen favor Nov. 4, general election day, when turnout is expected to be high as voters decide numerous contests ranging from president to register of deeds. Democrats, led by Alderman at-large Mike Lopez, favor a special election sometime later. A special election could cost as much as $40,000.
Lopez yesterday said the issue is too important to be rushed onto the November ballot, where it would be lost among the other races. He said the city needs more information from legal, bond, municipal, county and state officials on the potential fiscal ramifications of the cap.
“There’s a lot of unanswered questions that need to be really scrutinized,” Lopez said. “Nobody’s against putting it on the ballot; it’s about putting the correct information on the ballot.”
To meet deadlines, aldermen must vote tomorrow at the latest to put the referendum on the November ballot. State law gives them until next Tuesday to set a date for a special election sometime after Nov. 4.
The spending cap would tie the rate of spending to inflation plus population growth. A two-thirds vote of the governing body could override it.
Somersworth and Franklin have scheduled a spending-cap referendum for Nov. 4.
Concord officials were meeting last night to schedule that city’s referendum, according to Mike Biundo, chairman of the New Hampshire Advantage Coalition.
Two nights ago, Manchester aldermen rejected a Nov. 4 referendum by an 8-6 vote.
“They made it clear that instead of the highest turnout possible for this vital issue, they want to see the lowest turnout,” Guinta said in a statement issued yesterday.
“Mike Lopez and his ‘gang of eight’ think they know better than the people of Manchester,” Biundo said. “We can pick a president in 60 days but we can’t educate the voters of Manchester? The voters of Manchester are smarter than that.”
But in a release yesterday, Granite State Progress said aldermen are making sure that all questions about the cap are answered before voters weigh in on it.
“The reality right now is that no one can even provide an accurate picture for voters of how this would affect Manchester overall,” said Zandra Rice Hawkins, executive director of Granite State Progress, in a statement.
On Tuesday, Biundo said he hopes at least one of the eight aldermen will have a change of heart. But it’s questionable how much furor actually exists. Ward 7 Alderman Bill Shea yesterday said he’s had two people talk to him about Tuesday’s vote. One person lived outside his ward and worked on the petition drive, Shea said. Another was a constituent who gave him words of encouragement.
“The people I’m relating to … do not want to vote for something and not know what’s going on,” Shea said.
Tuesday night’s vote broke down as follows:
Against the Nov. 4 referendum date: Mike Lopez, Bill Shea, Betsi DeVries, George Smith, Russ Ouellette, Mark Roy, Jim Roy and Dan O’Neil.
Favoring the Nov. 4 referendum: Mike Garrity, Kelleigh Domaingue, Ted Gatsas, Peter Sullivan, Ed Osborne and Real Pinard.
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Some comments from this article’s readers:
“The reality right now” is that the aldermen who are opposed to the spending cap are trying to spitefully waste $40,000 of the taxpayers’ money in an attempt to scuttle the ballot initiative. They have plenty of information on how such a spending cap would affect a city: Not only do several cities in New Hampshire have a spending cap in place, with no ill effects, but Ken Merrifield, the mayor of Franklin, actually came to the 2008-09-02 public hearing and testified in its favor. Ryan Marvin, a resident of Manchester who also spoke at the meeting, explained to the aldermen that no city that has ever implemented a spending cap like this has ever subsequently voted it down. According to Merrifield, spending caps force city governments to become “creative” in finding ways to fund projects—oh, no! You mean our aldermen might have to actually THINK before they spend the people’s money?
– Jeremy J. Olson, Manchester (Ward 3), NH
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Demonstration planned for Friday 9/5 3p
Proponents of putting this spending cap issue on the November ballot…have scheduled a demonstration against the big-spender faction. It will be at 3:00 PM Friday outside city hall. An hour later, the hearing begins, so you can attend both in one trip.
Details are at http://www.nhliberty.org/forum/index.php?topic=1087.0
Remember…if they don’t put it on the November ballot it will end up in a costly special election at your expense. They are trying to hurt taxpayers now so they can preserve their ability to…hurt taxpayers.
– Dave Ridley, Manchester