RAYMOND – I’ve seen a lot of turkeys around Rockingham County the last couple of years. I’m talking about the wild bird type. Some really large flocks at a couple locations in Raymond. But the other day I had the funniest thing happen to me. I was heading home to pick something up, as I crossed the bridge on Prescott Rd., there on the bridge I counted 19 turkeys just walking around like they were waiting for a bus. I slowed down to about 2 mph and as I started to cross the bridge, they just kind of walked out of my way. I went on home and came back across the bridge again about 15 minutes later, and had the same experience, this time counting 23 birds. They just looked at me and went about their business, not at all afraid. What a beautiful sight. Another reason I live in Raymond.
I haven’t talked about the State’s revenues in a while. The figures keep getting worse and worse. The signs I have been getting and the figures show that for the past 7 months we were only receiving about 87% of the estimated monthly revenue figures. Each month so far this year, the percentage of collected revenue has dropped about 0.1%. When you are talking millions, that’s a lot. If this trend continues through June 30, the end of the year, it now looks like the revenue shortfall will be around $325-350M dollars, plus the over $16M dollars in the highway fund for a total of up to $365M dollars short.
Although very busy in committee work, The State House has gotten off to a slow start session wise. January 28th was scheduled for the first session with bills for this year, but was cancelled due to the snow storm. On February 4th , we met with only 14 bills on the consent calendar and 3 on the regular calendar.
HB-30 requiring operating budget reductions for fiscal year 2009 was the big bill of the day. This bill was a step to help ensure that the state ends the current fiscal year with a balanced budget. The bill has 8 sections which total $16-1/4M dollar savings to the general fund. HB-30 came out of the Finance Committee on a vote of 25-0. While the bill does not go far enough in dealing with the deficit, it is a step in the right direction. One thing that was a bump in the bill to me was returning the $175M dollars that was transferred from the General Fund to the Highway Fund. This loss in the Highway Fund will cause less pothole repairs. Another is an additional Judicial Branch reduction in spending of $441K dollars. This will cost the County more, upping our County Tax.
The Chairman of the Rockingham County Convention held a Public Hearing on January 29th on the Commissioners Proposed 2009 Budget and Emergency Expenditures for Generator Fuel and Related Expenses due to the December 2008 ice storm power outage. The County complex was without power for 5 days. The proposed budget, after a lot of tweaking, came in at only 1% higher than the 2008. There was a tremendous amount of work put into getting this budget to be only that 1% increase. A lot of “Thanks” goes out to the commissioners, the Department Heads, and all those involved in making it happen. As required, the State Representatives serving as County Delegates, had previously gone through the complete budget line item by line item, looking for any possible extra savings.
The Executive Committee will meet just prior to the Full Delegation meeting on February 17th to finalize any unfinished business. Then the Convention will meet to adopt the County Budget for 2009.
(Editor’s Note: NH State Representative Mike Kappler can be reached at l.mikekappler@comcast.net)
Going Green
February 12, 2009
My Opinion: Feb. 12
- Going Green
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The king of two courts
Brooks' Skinner finds stardom on hard courts, hardwood
Continued ... -
Very Superstitious
From tailgating in the same parking space all season, to making sure their jerseys remain unwashed, local fans of the New England Patriots have some quirky superstitions and routines, which they are convinced have helped their team win.
Continued ... - Blowout City
- Early morning fire hits downtown condos
- Wednesday, November 7, 2007
- Family will try to 'go green'
- Green light to a big adventure
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The king of two courts
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