Approximately 500 of the ~6,000 Bow voters voted for the Bow school board’s budget. Most voters were not at all interested in a 15% cut in the school budget, some showed interested in Selectman Tom Keane’s modest $300,000 reduction but most voters in the end went with the school board’s budget.
Were the people influenced by the school board’s presentation, or the Bow High School Kids with large signs surrounding the voters saying “Support Education In Bow and Keep Classrooms Small” or did they come with fear that a possible 15% cut was on the horizon? No one will know for sure. All we now know is that the cries for fiscal restraint were not on the agenda of the majority of those who turned out tonight, Friday the 13th.
Many might say that if the voters will vote for higher spending in a near depression they will always vote for higher spending but we can’t say that. The reason why we can’t say that is because less than 90% of Bow voters did not come out to vote. Would that change have changed the vote, if 60% or more of the voters came out? Perhaps it would have changed it dramatically.
For those who are losing hope in their beloved Bow there is hope and that is SB2. SB2 will bring the change we need to bring back hope that tax reductions can be part of the Bow’s future and skyrocketing taxes a part of the past.
Change isn’t easy, if people really want change they have to work for it. Letting only a handful of people carry the banner of change won’t get us change but more of the same.. Yes we can accomplish change if the silent majority works together to get SB2 passed. Our turn will come.
Time for a budget review in Bow
Thursday, March 12th, 2009To: Town of Bow Budget Committee, Bow Area District School Board, Bow Board of
Selectmen (names)
From: G. James (Jim) Hoffman, Bow Citizen
Subject: CURRENT SCHOOL BUDGET UNDER REVIEW 2009/2010
Dear Chair Persons and Members of the Town Budget Committee, Bow Area District School Board and Board of Selectmen respectively:
Please take into account the Nation’s current catastrophic economic and financial circumstances and the Township of Bow’s directly related decline in economic well being, to include real estate values:
- Millions of Americans out of work – Bow is included
- Millions of retirees’ lifetime savings/retirement portfolios reduced by > 40%
- NH real estate values declined 15%, better than many areas, but still < 15%
- Uncertain economic recovery prospects/timetable.
In your budgeting this year, please do not consider this business as usual. Specifically, I request that you add a proven tops-down budget analysis methodology to your well documented and well represented bottoms-up methodology.
When other enterprises face challenging times like the potentially disastrous ones we now face, they do a bottoms-up budget like the $24 million school budget one that is apparently about to be recommended by the budget committee, and then they do a tops-down review working from their limited available funds. In this case, I recommend that we take the $14,000,000 + proposed school revenue budget and reduce it by 15% to $11,900,000 reflecting the degree of economic hard time currently facing Bow property taxpayers.
Prior to our March, the 13th meeting I urge you to prepare and approve the following amended budget submission:
- Withdraw the $24,000 budget predicated on what might have been a full
$14,000,000 in Revenue line #1122
- Instead submit a $20,400,000 amended budget predicated upon a reduced
$11,900,000 Revenue line #1122 to be available.
- Carefully reconcile the individual budget line items to arrive at the new
constrained budget.
- The citizens of the Town of Bow need the $2,100,000 reduction in school
revenues returned to them in a school tax mill rate reduction.
Once an economic recovery occurs, taxpayers will agree to share the recovery too.
Posted in Action Needed, Your Comments | 1 Comment »