HAMPSTEAD — An organization calling itself HATS — Hampstead Accountability on Taxation and Spending — is accusing town officials of hatching a plan to build a new police station with federal stimulus dollars.
The police station project is not on the ballot this March. But in an e-mail circulated to state officials and lawmakers on Monday, HATS claimed the selectmen want to move ahead with the police station even though Town Meeting has twice rejected the project.
There were no names in the e-mail and an e-mail request to the address was not answered.
Moreover, HATS claims, the construction would "create zero jobs" and would hurt taxpayers, who would ultimately foot the bills for a bigger building, more officers and more cruisers.
But Rep. Don Van Patten, R-Hampstead, said no decisions have been made about which projects would be funded.
Gov. John Lynch has named Orville "Bud" Fitch as head of the state Economic Stimulus Office, which will dole out federal economic stimulus money.
Van Patten, whose name was on the list of e-mail recipients, initially replied to HATS to ask for proof the $2.6 million police station was on Hampstead's list of "shovel-ready" projects. If so, he said, he would join the fight to stop a project voters rejected. But in a telephone interview yesterday, Van Patten said Hampstead's situation is more complicated than the e-mail author suggested.
"It's not that clear a picture," he said, because the majority of voters actually have supported a new police station.
The "no means no" law bans local governments from launching projects which voters have rejected within the past year. But the police station bond was defeated only because it fell short of the 662âÑ3 percentage needed to pass. A majority of Hampstead voters did support the project.
"It's hard for any town to get that extra percentage," police Chief Joseph Beaudoin said.
New Hampshire is expected to receive $860 million from the stimulus package, according to Alex Reese, press secretary for U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.
Asked if the e-mail could sabotage Hampstead's chances of obtaining stimulus money, Van Patten said he hopes the state would allocate the money to do the most good.
Selectman Priscilla Lindquist said she saw the e-mail, although it was not sent to her. She said the personal accusations in the e-mail were false and the rest of the allegations didn't make any sense.
"If we could get the station for nothing, why would we turn it down?" she said.
Lindquist said voters had, in fact, supported the police station — by 57 percent one year and by 54 percent the other year.
"The funding failed," she said, but the point would be moot if the stimulus money paid for the construction.
But Lindquist also said the selectmen have never officially voted to use stimulus money for the police construction project.
The board was asked to provide the state with a list of "shovel-ready" projects, she said, and they provided two, the police station construction and road work on Brown Hill Road.
Previously, Sally Theriault, the selectmen's administrative assistant, estimated the cost of the two jobs at $2.6 million for the police station and $242,000 for the road work.
"I've never heard of this group," Lindquist said. "Do you know who they are?"
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