LONDONDERRY — Londonderry residents could soon join Derry and a handful of other New Hampshire communities that set a limit on local tax increases.

Rep. Al Baldasaro, R-Londonderry, has sent a citizen's petition to Town Hall asking town officials to put the question on the November ballot. If his petition makes it to the ballot and voters pass it, the next town budget would be tied to the Consumer Price Index, long used as a measure of inflation.

The tax cap is not a new idea, according to Manchester's Mike Biundo, president of the New Hampshire Tax Advantage Coalition.

Franklin was the first New Hampshire town to cap taxes 20 years ago, he said. Locally, Derry's tax cap is almost that old. Nashua also has a cap, as do Laconia and Dover. But tax caps are receiving renewed interest this year because of the state's financial woes, he said.

Other organizations, such as the Granite State Fair Tax Coalition, are advocating for new broad-based taxes to trim the deficit, but Biundo's group opposes those measures.

"We're of firm belief the way to lower taxes is to lower spending," he said.

Although a recent poll of New Hampshire residents suggested that most people still believe the state's finances are in good shape, those who tend to see the glass as half-empty are getting behind a push to tighten the purse strings at all levels of state government.

Biundo said tax caps are also on the table in Manchester, Concord, Rochester, Somersworth and Merrimack. He said he also expects supporters to file petitions in Bedford, Keene and Portsmouth.

Derry's tax cap has been very successful, according to Town Councilor Kevin Coyle.

"My personal opinion is it works very well," he said. "It keeps spending in check and forces us to live within our means and the means of people living in town."

Baldasaro said the Londonderry Budget Committee and the Town Council did a great job of holding down spending this year, but he believes there is trouble coming in the future. He cited the $14 million that taxpayers are expected to pony up to build roads and infrastructure for 1,000 acres of private development near the airport. Plus, the community is still liable for a share of the Interstate 93 Exit 4A project, he said.

He said Town Meeting has become a spending spree, more like a Kmart blue light special than a government proceeding. Although 15,000 people are registered to vote, only 300 typically attend Town Meeting and vote on spending.

"It's out of control," Baldasaro said. "Taxes are just getting out of control."

But Town Councilor Kathy Wagner said she doesn't think a tax cap is the right solution for Londonderry.

"I guess Al is trying to do what's right for taxpayers of the great state of New Hampshire, but this petition isn't probably the right way to go," she said. "It's a political action group trying to make a statement or plot a course that they don't need to get involved in."

Wagner said she's comfortable with the citizens making the spending decisions at Town Meeting. As for the fairness of having 300 people make the town's spending decisions, she said she isn't convinced that a ballot vote would be any more representative. She said voter turnout at the polls "are just as disgraceful" as the Town Meeting attendance.

"Yes, Al is right, there are (only) 300 people showing up for Town Meeting," she said. "But they are 300 people that care, are informed, are educated, are vested, and are sitting back and making a decision the way it's been done for over 299 years in the community of Londonderry. And they have done a hell of a job."