This article contains the September 13th, 2019 interview with State Rep. Matt Towne.
BARRINGTON, N.H. – We interviewed State Representative Matt Towne on September 13th, 2019 about the current news regarding the State Legislature in Concord, NH. He said, “Everything is always more complicated than the sound bites you hear.” Representative Towne, who is a freshman legislator, said he’s booking the Early Childhood Learning Center (ECLC) monthly starting in November to discuss issues and bills with Barrington residents. He said he enjoys being in the legislature, despite only being paid $87/year. It’s not about the money – it’s about serving the people of Barrington, New Hampshire and making sure that everyone has what they need to be successful in their own lives.
Education Funding
Due to decreases in business excise tax revenue at the State of New Hampshire, and a Republican budget that is now heading into its third level of drops in the business excise tax rate, the Democratic legislature has passed a budget bill that would halt the third drop of business taxes. This impacts how much towns get for Education funding and depending upon where the residents live, the property tax rate can vary considerably to make up for what the state doesn’t fund for Education.
Currently, the State gives $4400 per student to the towns, yet the town spends around $15,000 per student in public schools, which the towns make up for in property taxes. Property taxes are quite aggressive, according to Representative Towne, and the elderly can’t afford to pay the high property taxes in towns like Farmington and Barrington. Matt said that the State should have different sources of revenue, so when the economy changes, expenses can still be offset. He said that some voters have been responsive to a general tax, which could be an income or sales tax, or a combination of both. It’s hard for us to imagine this ever passing in the “Live Free or Die” state of New Hampshire, that have never had these types of taxes before.
Something needs to be done because, in towns like Barrington, we don’t have the property to afford us lower property taxes. Matt explained that when the property values are high in a town or city, the property tax rates can be lower because there is more property to tax. In Barrington, the Town must keep raising the property taxes to make up for the loss of State funding so that our students can still make it through school. But the high property taxes hurt homes and businesses, and they can’t sustain the high costs of education. “Whatever the legislature doesn’t fund, you have to raise in property taxes.” Said Representative Towne.
The bill that passed the House and Senate cancels further drops in the business excise tax, but Governor Sununu vetoed the bill, and it’s unlikely that the legislature has the votes to overturn his veto. If the legislature doesn’t pass another Continuing Resolution by October 1st, 2019, the State government may shut down, because the Governor has been unwilling to negotiate on the budget that Democrats passed in Concord. Matt said that Governor Sununu isn’t negotiating in good faith regarding the budget.
If the State government were to shut down, all non-essential services would shut down. The Democrats gave the Republican Governor a workable budget, and it would have likely caused property taxes to go down in Barrington, by capping the decrease in the business excise tax. Matt Towne said, “People should call the Governor and call their elected representatives!” He gave an example of the illogical thinking that he says is currently taking place by Republicans – in Farmington, they have lower property values than Barrington, yet they have elected Republicans that have acted against their own interests, resulting in even higher property taxes than Barrington to make up for their education expenses. Matt said, “People need to demand that the Governor sign the budget.”
Matt said that they must suspend the rules in the legislature to do a continuing resolution, and they may not have the votes to do it. He said other states have income and sales taxes that help support education, although we must note he didn’t specifically endorse the concept of creating an income or sales tax in New Hampshire. It’s going to be up to the voters as to whether the State needs to raise additional funds to pay for education, or if we’re just going to keep using the vicious cycle of increasing local town property taxes to make up the difference.
On the topic of individuals that pay taxes for education expenses, despite not having kids, Representative Towne said, “Some parents pay property taxes and send their kids to private schools, with no benefit from the taxes.” Some people paid for my children to go to school and it is a societal responsibility. He said that all people benefit from the students being educated, because of the community benefits. The kids go to work in our communities – they become doctors, and nurses, and other types of skilled laborers. We wouldn’t have those individuals serving in our communities without public education. Without public education, the kids would likely be getting into trouble, and we’d be spending a lot more on law enforcement and incarcerating kids that would have normally been success stories in the public education system.
Department of Transportation
Representative Towne said that the gas tax, which pays for DOT operations are falling off the cliff because everyone is buying electric and hybrid vehicles. He said there is a need for a general roads’ usage tax, which would likely tax people for using the roads through their annual vehicle registrations or some other mechanism.
We also discussed the issue, that some local voters describe as “taxation without representation”, with regards to private road taxes, while the State and Town don’t maintain the roads in the same way as public roads. He said, “If you live on a Class 6 road, your property taxes are lower than if your house was on a public street, and you would be taxed more if you were on the public street.” He said the Town can be petitioned to take over the roads if they are brought up to State standards – but taxes for residents living on those once private roads would also go up as a result, plus the large out of pocket expenses of bringing the roads up to State standards.
There’s also a 10-year highway plan in the works, which Matt is working with. Every 10 years, the Department of Transportation submits a plan for highways, road maintenance, and this upcoming decade’s bill includes funding for the engineering of a railway between Concord and Boston, where many Granite Stators work. The plan would take thousands of cars off the roads, and travelers would be able to work on the train while they ride on their way to their job. Matt Towne also said that the average DOT driver is currently 60 years old now. They need a new recruiting program to attract new employees to plow and salt our roads.
Redistricting
Representative Towne said the single most important issue coming up is the redistricting plan, which decides where the lines are drawn in voting districts throughout the State. The last plan was done by Republicans and was gerrymandered, which is how they got into office in the first place. He said it’s likely Democrats will have control over the State of New Hampshire for the next 10 years. They need to be able to override the Governor’s veto to get legislation passed and make the process fair for both parties on a permanent basis going forward
The Environment
Glenwood Nursing Home, which is in the northern part of the State, where there’s no electricity, will eventually be powered by hydroelectric power, offsetting 500 gallons of diesel fuel a day that is currently being trucked in to the site to run their electrical generators. The cost of the fuel to the State is around $500,000 a year, whereas hydroelectric engineering only costs $1.2 Million. Matt said this is taxpayer money well spent because everything after the $1.2M will be residual savings.
On the topic of Global Warming, Rep. Towne said there are a lot of things that we can be doing that we aren’t. He said the Republicans have misused the surtax on energy (RGGI also known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative), which the funding source was meant to go to low-income households that can’t afford to replace windows and weatherproof to seal their homes from the environment. He said that the Republicans have been giving out an energy bill relief, that amounts to around $0.19 back on each New Hampshire resident’s electric bill. He also said that people in low-income housing have seen their electrical energy bills go from $100 a month up to $200 a month, so the funding used in the proper way could make a substantial difference for these low-income households.
Matt said that there’s a lot being done around banning PFAS, or so-called “Forever Chemicals” that are harmful to humans. Also, he said that Coakley Landfill in Rockingham County has been leaking chemicals into local ground water and streams, which has been causing cancer in residents near the facility. He said that the State is starting remediation procedures to deal with the problem.
Gun Control
There were four bills that passed the State House, including Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), or so-called “Red Flag” laws that allow law enforcement to take guns away from a person that is a danger to themselves or others, School Zone Restrictions, that would restrict guns from being carried in school zones, a Mandatory Waiting Period of 3 days before a purchased gun can be released to the customer to allow time for the Mandatory Background Checks bill to verify whether or not the individual should be able to purchase the weapon. All four of these bills were vetoed by Governor Sununu.
We asked Matt Towne if there was a bill banning machine guns, or assault rifles, and he said there was not. We also explained that Neurologists have stated that the human brain doesn’t fully develop until the age of 25. We asked Rep. Towne if he would support raising the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 25, and he said only if also the minimum age to serve in the military were raised to 25 as well. Matt said that Barrington voters should continue to keep bugging their elected officials about gun control issues because it’s a tragedy that we have a mass shooting in America nearly every day now.