Question: Thank-you, Tom Keane for bringing my attention to this wonderful website. I am thrilled with what this website is doing and I especially like the interactive nature of the website.
My question:
In our local paper there was a front page article about Governor Lynch’s huge cut in state budget because of the downturn in the NH economy. With that in mind, I heard that Town Manager James Pitts submitted to the Bow Selectmen a budget with an increase of more than 25% and that this budget was being chopped up into warrant articles to make it look like less of an increase. If this is true how can the Town Manager justify his job? Anyone with a 6th grade education can just turn around what the department heads submit. There real work is to whittle down what is needed and what is not, Pitts is not whittling but diddling with taxpayers hard earned money and I think he should be fired for even attempting to take us down this path in tough economic times. What is he thinking? Just because he is not accountable to the voters of Bow doesn’t mean that he can take them to the cleaners.
Can you confirm Pitts’ huge budget proposal and big price tag warrant article proposals?
BCC Answer: Yes, BCC can confirm that Town Manager Jim Pitts’ original proposal represented an increase larger than 25% from last year’s budget. Your information about big price tag proposed warrant articles is also accurate. The town budget is still in the early stage of budget preparation but people like you watching the process is a big help. Please encourage others to watch both the town and school budget processes and watch for the dates of these meetings on our website. This website is dedicated to FACTS, so as to your questions about the Town Manager’s job performance we will let everyone draw their own conclusions to that question. Also, we cannot vouch for the accuracy of any information printed in newspapers, only what we know to be true ourselves.