Small margin of people making decisions for Meredith
Editor, The Citizen: In Meredith approximately 4% of the voters control $33 million of the town's finances.
In attendance at Meredith's Annual Town Meeting to vote for the 9,000-foot addition to the fire station were 385 voters who voted 285 for and 73 against. 7.5% of the voters showed up to vote for the $2.5m fire station addition. That was at the start of the meeting at 7 p.m. and at 8 p.m. a vote was called for after an hour-long color screen presentation on the need for the expenditure and the future need for a full-time fire department. Get ready for some financial contingency planning on this one. Another hour was consumed by a screen presentation on purchasing Page Pond. No color screen presentation with slides explaining the abbreviated, one-page $13m budget was made by the Selectmen at 11 p.m. If we had 200 voters left at 11:30 p.m. to vote on the $13m budget, we were lucky. Two ladies sitting next to me got up and walked out prior to the long diatribe by the police and public employees. One lady said to me, "I don't want to get into this conflict." And it turned into a dispute-ridden atmosphere.
Barely 4.2% of the voters approved the $13m Town Budget, which was about the percentage of voters that approved the $20m school budget. Only 250 voters determined the Town's Budget. There are 4,754 registered voters.
So we have approximately 4% of the voters controlling the town's finances of $33m.
This is a "potentially damaging concentration of power". It is preposterous that so few can control so much of the taxpayers' dollars. This small group can undermine the planned fiscal tightening that Selectmen Worsemen advocates. She is boxed in when she does not get public support. This vote was an economic setback for the fiscal conservatives. If the spenders continue, the town's finances are going to be in a mess. If we continue to borrow in the present national and world economic climate, our public finances become extremely vulnerable to an economic setback.
At the town elections on Tuesday the March 11, 1,072 voters attended. That is nearly three times the number that showed up at either the School Board or the Town Meeting on March 12. 22.5% of the electorate voted for selectmen and nearly passed SB-2, with 616 voting 'yes' against 456 'no' — 2.5% shy of the required 60 percent needed or 30 votes shy of winning. Every vote does count and we thank those that made the effort to come out and vote. It was a vital opportunity to regain lost ground.
Many voters tell me they are furious by the results of all the elections. Many Meredith voters are rattled by the national economy as well. Yet our selectmen continue to borrow at a hectic rate. They borrowed for a community center, opulent police station, new running track and fire station. Soon they will ask for a water station, public works building, full-time fire department and a bigger office for the Town Manager. How long can tax payers sustain this spending? They spend amid the tax payers' worries about rising inflation and fuel and gas bills and unaffordable housing. Our serious public borrowing has increased tremendously. It is ironic that we preach fiscal conservatism but fall victim to spending and borrowing. This endless borrowing and rising tax increases will backfire on us. We need to transform the voting process.
We see absolutely no aggressive outreach to those that can least sustain increases in taxes. The big spenders want a commemorative, tarnished bronze plaque in the fire station with their name on it to show their tenure and how they dominated tax increases. After a property assessment they see an abundance of dollars and, to our peril, they fall on this property value and impose new taxes. They have no financial interest in the little guy. They rebel at any attempt to reign in their ravenous spending and borrowing. They have overspent and must eventually pay a heavy political penalty. Vote YES FOR SB-2.
Richard G. Juve
Meredith
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Town meeting is minority rule legitimized by history.
Town Meeting has become the haven for special interests to impose minority positions under the cover of the legitimacy of the Town meeting.
Many people who are actively engaged in the issues of our times will not come to Town meetings to wrestle in the mud with their neighbors over contentious issues or to be called names and scorned for voicing; in any other forum a majority opinions.
It is time to change to a form of government which is more conducive to modern life styles, that is SB2— debate in the style of the Town meeting, voting by ballot after deliberation and more participation from the citizens. A win win win!