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The Meredith News March 19, 2009

Editorial

At almost every town meeting we covered this year, there were debates about whether town employees and/ortown officials should get raises. The results were mixed.In Tilton, an amendment to cut the 3.5-percent raises allocated to all town employees – a total of more than $14,000 – was voted down. An amendment in Moultonboro that would have nixed 2.5-percent raises, plus step increases, for town employees was defeated. On the flip side, two towns’ residents voted down raises of much smaller doses. In Northfield, the only article that didn’t pass would have given a $300 raise to each of the town's selectmen. Residents cited concerns with the economy and mentioned that few people they knew were getting or expecting raises at this time. In Sandwich, there was an amendment to tack on an additional 1.5 percent to the 1.5 percent salary increases recommended by the selectmen for town employees. After much debate, the amendment was voted down, with the majority agreeing that now is not the time to be giving excessive raises. Residents took the middle road, and town employees got the recommended 1.5 percent. We agree with the residents of Northfield and Sandwich, though we particularly like Sandwich’s approach. No, it’s not the time for the typical 3-percent raise, because times aren’t typical, and Sandwich selectmen and residents agreed with that. However, the townspeople felt obligated to give their employees some sort of monetary recognition and so compromised by meeting them halfway. We have to wonder if the Tilton and Moultonboro votes would have gone the same way if they were done by secret ballot. If we lived in all these towns and could have voted, we sure would have wanted to say “nay” to any and all raises, not because the employees don’t deserve it, but because desperate times call for desperate measures. The argument that these towns risk losing valuable employees is null and void this year, we think, because no one in their right mind is going to quit a good job in this economy. However, would we have wanted to stand up among our neighbors and the people who work for us to say that? Probably not. Taking away money from neighbors or perhaps even friends is not the PC thing to do. So it comes down to,would you rather save $14,000 or save face? A ballot vote could have done both.

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The New Hampshire Local Government Center published a survey of municipalities in New Hampshire for 2007. It is based upon population. Of the approximately 57 towns with a population of between 2000 -4999 ( of which Moultonboro fits) the following is where Moultonboro ranks in all categories surveyed: