From the Concord Monitor…
The push to enact a municipal tax cap in Concord cleared a major hurdle yesterday, when backers submitted petitions that they said contain more than enough signatures to put the cap on the ballot in November.
The measure, which caps tax increases at the rate of inflation, has few fans among Concord’s political leaders so far. Mayor Jim Bouley yesterday called a cap unnecessary, saying that over the past decade, the city’s spending overall has increased less than the rate of inflation. “I just don’t buy the argument that we are spending wildly,” he said. “I don’t think you need an artificial cap when the reality is you can just say no. The reality is, we say no quite often.”
Nonetheless, the chairman of the conservative New Hampshire Advantage Coalition, which is coordinating the tax cap push in cities throughout New Hampshire, telegraphed confidence about its prospects.
“It’s passed in every community so far in the state that has put it up,” said Mike Biundo, who said that 1,240 people signed in Concord, more than the 1,100 needed to get it on the ballot. He said that petitions were also submitted yesterday for a spending cap in Manchester. The organization has already submitted petitions in Rochester and Somersworth, he said, and is still gathering signatures in Londonderry, Bedford, Merrimack and Portsmouth.
The ballot article would amend the city charter to cap the municipal tax rate. According to the language, each year’s budget would have to carry an estimated tax rate no more than the prior year’s adjusted for inflation, measured by the U.S. Consumer Price Index. The county rate increases would also have to fit within the cap, Biundo said. Because Concord’s school budget is separate, schools would not be subject to the cap.
The language allows the city council to override the cap with a two-thirds vote.
The index was 4.1 percent in 2007, 2.5 percent in 2006 and 3.4 percent in 2005. The 2009 Concord budget, which councilors adopted last month, anticipated a 5.4 percent tax increase. The 2008 budget represented a 4.6 percent increase in tax rates; for 2007, it was 3.8 percent.
Although the signatures were submitted yesterday, the measure isn’t yet guaranteed a slot on the ballot. First, the city clerk must certify the validity of the petitions. She has 20 days to do that. Then, the city council will hold a public hearing and have legal authorities certify that the language doesn’t conflict with other laws.
“There’s a lot of hurdles,” Biundo said. But, he said, he believes the city council has no authority to change the petition.
“They have to have a public hearing, and they have to put it on the ballot,” he said.
Signatures have been gathered by two paid staffers in Concord, along with a network of regular volunteers that Biundo estimated at about 15 people. They’ve gone door-to-door and gathered signatures outside City Hall, supermarkets and stores.
“Looking at models like Franklin and other communities that have put these tax caps in place, these caps have worked,” Biundo said.
Still, Concord, with its relatively liberal voters, may be a tougher sell than Franklin, Dover and Laconia, among the places that have already enacted tax caps.
“I don’t want to say it’s going to be tough,” said Tammy Simmons, executive director of the New Hampshire Advantage Coalition. “Concord might be a little challenging, but we’d like to think that voters, regardless of the communities they’re in, would like to see control put on (the budgeting process) . . . because I think too many people’s taxes are increasing faster than their own personal incomes are.”
Yesterday, there was still confusion about the proposal. While the New Hampshire Advantage Coalition has pushed for spending caps in other towns, the Concord proposal refers to the city’s tax rate. In an interview last night, Simmons was not sure why but said it may be that lawyers recommended different language because of Concord’s charter.