On this basis alone I could not cast my ballot for either woman. I do commend them for stepping forward but if you are truly interested in occupying a seat on any board in town please do your homework. Come and sit through some of the 4-hour or all day long sessions we have during the select board and budget committee process.

Robert Louf and Jim Hoffman have done just that. Louf and Hoffman have been to many of the selectman and budget committee meetings. They have shared ideas and given input at these meetings and have tried in many ways to find solutions through critical thinking and can speak their own minds. Hoffman brings with him the knowledge of what the retired folks in town are dealing with and listens to them and translates that to the board. Louf is involved in town, he volunteers on Little League and is a member of Rotary. He is out in the community and accessible to listen to townspeople and gathers opinions in this manner to base his voting decisions on the select board.

I urge you to vote for these two men who have shown interest and have already put their time in to hit the ground running when they are rewarded with the budget committee and selectman’s seat they so deserve.

In addition, Tom Keane and Rick Hiland are two gentlemen who have proven track records of understanding the town and where it needs improvement and change. Hiland is a businessman and lives in Bow so he pays not only personal property taxes but business taxes in Bow and has an ear to the business people in town. Tom Keane spends countless hours finding solutions to better the town and the schools as he sits not only on the select board but the school board also. I have personally seen him at numerous budget committee meetings and planning board meetings.

I urge you to vote for the candidates who are fiscally responsible and have put the time in to hit the ground running and who fully understand the workings of the town; Louf Hoffman, Keane and Hiland.

Incumbent Steve Elgert was defeated by tax-fighter Tom Keane by a 54-46 despite the huge amount of money to keep the incumbent in office.

Budget Committee

Fellow tax-fighter Cindy Martin held her seat.

Bow School Board showed us just how out of touch they are. They worked the numbers to make it look like a budget reduction, then proceeded to give the administration and the teachers a raise along the way. A raise? Seriously? Yep to the tune of 3.64%!

Do they not know that the economy is in the toilet? Bow Taxpayers are hurting and this is how they react. Throw a dose of salt on the wound!

We taxpayers in Bow have historically been very generous. Would it kill them to give tax relief during an economic crisis?

It is your duty as a taxpayer to be educated and I hope all of you have done your homework and are prepared to come out Friday, March 13 and vote NO to increased taxes.

Please consider the Bow families who have been here for centuries and are living on a fixed income or the young couples who have 3 small children at home who are struggling to buy baby formula, or the middle aged couples who are near retirement and have found their investments have dwindled and now have to work for more years than they expected.

Don’t they all deserve a break this year?

Vote NO, it’s that simple.

In the Bunker,
Cindy Martin

What is the point? Why is it so important to see the votes of your elected officials? Simple, if the vote was close that tells you there must be a good reason for that and you should question the board and ask why the warrant was close to not being recommended. Ask to hear from the dissenting voter on the board or committee. On the flip side if the board votes unanimously every time you should be questioning why?? Warren Fargo, Bow School Board member could not have asked the question better during the last school board meeting. Fargo asked how many dissenting votes have there been in the past 5 years on the school board?

Trust me, his question was never answered. Not because anyone in the room did not have the answer, but because they did not want to admit the answer. There have been little to no dissenting votes! What does this mean?

As a whole the School Board all thinks alike. That is not how I want any board in town to operate. That tells me that not all residents views are being represented. The School Board members went on to say that they come with different views but once they debate and discuss they all come to the same consensus?? What does that mean? No one has an independent view and can stand up for that view? That the members can all be persuaded to think whatever other board members want them to think?

It is high time we clean house on the School Board and have members that represent the diverse schools of thought that make up our community. It is good to see dissenting votes that tells me that all views are at least being put on the table and some serious debate on the issues of the town and schools  are happening.

Lastly, I want to send out a huge thank you to all who came out on Wednesday, Feb. 11, to the budget hearing. The room was filled, I applaud all who came and educated themselves on the upcoming school budget. It was great to hear so many questions and comments.

Mark your calendar! Friday, March 13th for the Annual School Meeting at BHS at 7:00 PM.

In the Bunker,
Cindy Martin

As you well know the School Board is the only entity in town that can reduce a line item but here are a few ideas of where those reductions could be:

1) Reduce one 1st and one 2nd grade teacher
2) Reduce one Assistant Principal from the Elementary and Memorial School
3) Do not add the new Stipend positions – these include: Destination Imagination Coaches, Woodworking Club, NH First

Why reduce in the 1st and 2nd grade? The enrollment numbers show we can do this and still stay within the NH Department of Education guidelines of no more than 25 students in a classroom.

Same for the Assistant Principal, we have a rapidly declining enrollment in the Elementary school. We have highly qualified Principals in both the Elementary and Memorial School who can handle the operations at their given school. They can share the assistant between the schools.

The stipends are not necessary for co-curricular in the economy we are presently in. I am by no means discrediting these programs. They are valuable programs, but to have the taxpayers pay for them is just wrong. We started paying for these programs and the list is just increasing, yet there are programs that are staffed by teachers that are totally volunteer. Such as the Chess Club. How long until that club is also looking to pay a stipend to the teacher? Some of the Destination Imagination coaches are parents, so in reality we are paying our parents to be volunteers for their own children. My proposal would be to lower the budget by $400,000.

Looking at this in a macro sense, the school budget has historically been overestimated on the expense side and underestimated on the revenue side.

Here is an example: The Medicaid line in the revenue side is  grossly underestimated. The 2007-08 estimate was $70,000 when the actual reimbursement was $136,786. The 2008-09 estimate was $70,000 we are still in this year so the actual figure is not yet available. But the estimate for the 2009-10 proposed is for $80,000??

On the expense side the Health Insurance budgeted figure was $2,928,132 and we saw a turn back of $311,804 a 9.62% overestimated figure! Yes this is great news – but keep the following in mind… This leaves a large undesignated fund balance at the end of the year. Did you know that all of the fund could be spent if the school board chose to? We can only control the bottom line. If we give them the money they have every right to spend it. And they do spend some of that money, that is what we call Christmas in June!

Bottom line and one thing to keep in mind at all times when the budget is mentioned. Increased spending equals higher taxes!!

In the Bunker,
Cindy Martin

With that being said I would like to tackle an interesting concept concerning the recent bus warrant article.

The School Board never had any intention of implementing the decrease of two buses in Bow.

This was all a ploy to get parents upset concerning the budget. A redherring if you will.

The next step in their ill thought out process will be to say that if the operating budget is lowered then the first thing the School Board will have to cut is the buses. There’s the “gotcha”.

Why do I consider the bus warrant an ill thought out proposition? How could they have not taken into consideration putting children on the road walking up to a quarter mile to a bus stop in 15-degree weather when the school policy states that there will be no outdoor recess if the temperature is below 20 degrees? And the ages of these children could range from 5 on up. I ask you who now allows their 5-year old to walk a quarter mile from their home unescorted? At this time of year, the high snow banks and the height of these children puts them in direct danger on the road would it make sense to you to put these children on the road? Or course not. But I defer to the so-called experts (The School Board) that thought this would be the best way to save you the taxpayer $40,000! Exactly as I said, they never intended to implement this ill thought out decision.

I warn you, do not have tunnel vision. We can lower the presented budget and still operate with the buses as they are now and keep athletics. It’s politics in Bow as usual, why would you be surprised?

They have held our tax dollars hostage along with our children for years. Game on! How many times have we heard the same old song and dance. Last year it was the athletics that would have to be cut if the budget were reduced. Yes that is our friendly School Board directing a sucker punch right at you! To paraphrase President Obama in his inauguration speech. “It is time to make unpleasant decisions”. With a declining enrollment in our schools how can the cost of operation still be climbing? Over 70% of the cost of operating our schools is tied into personnel. So simple logic dictates that personnel needs to be reduced. And where exactly should the decreases be?

Stay tuned for the column next week to answer that question. Remember if they can’t discredit the message they will attack the messenger.

In the Bunker, Cindy Martin