New Hampshire school-funding bill gets a closer look before House panel
Ways and Means Committee to consider boosting property tax relief
March 2, 2021
The House Ways and Means Committee will be holding a work session on Wednesday to look at a bill that’s an ougtrowth of the Commission to Study School Funding’s recommendations, which sought to craft a plan to provide more equitable opportunity for schoolchildren while more equitable treatment of property taxpayers.
House Bill 504, sponsored by Rep. Dick Ames, a Democrat from Jaffrey who served on the commission, would significantly increase the property tax relief offered to low- and moderate-income homeowners. At the same time, the bill adds to the controversy around so-called “donor towns,” those municipalities where the statewide education property tax, or SWEPT, raises more revenue than needed to fund their schools. Since 2011 they have been allowed to retain the excess.
My Turn: Why isn’t food insecurity among governor’s budget priorities?
Published: 2/18/2021 6:01:32 AM
Last week, Gov. Chris Sununu outlined his proposed budget for fiscal years 2022 and 2023. As I read the transcript, I kept waiting for him to mention the food and nutrition assistance programs that have been so vital to the hundreds of thousands of food-insecure Granite Staters who have weathered all that this pandemic could throw at them.
Reaching the end of Sununu’s speech, I realized that he hadn’t even spoken the word “food,” let alone acknowledged the existence of chronic food insecurity in the state, and the thousands of volunteer hours that people have contributed to hunger prevention efforts this year.
NH Business Review
But amid hopeful forecasts come warnings of inequitable recovery
January 21, 2021
Photo by Paula Tracy/InDepthNH.org
State budget writers heard optimism over future growth from experts, but also concerns low wage growth among the middle and lower classes and housing affordability may slow the expansion.
The members of the state House and Senate Ways and Means Committees heard two days of testimony as they begin determining how much money the state may spend in the next biennium.
The lawmakers heard how the state budget is faring in the current fiscal year; about economic trends, projections and concerns; local business health, and other local and federal impacts influencing state revenue over the next two fiscal years.
Modified: 1/16/2021 9:44:14 PM
WEST LEBANON The minimum wage suddenly looks like it will receive maximum attention.
With the White House and both chambers of Congress all soon to be under control of Democrats for the first time in 10 years, increasing the federal minimum wage which has been set at $7.25 per hour since 2009 is likely to gain traction among lawmakers.
Indeed, President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday tweeted, “It’s long past time to raise the minimum wage, so hardworking people earn at least $15 an hour. I hope that Democratic control of the House and Senate will ensure prompt action to get it done.”
NH s minimum wage stands out as lowest in New England
Ian Lenahan, news@seacoastonline.com
For Javi Kalback, owner of Portsmouth Escape Room, paying her small team of employees above the New Hampshire minimum wage is a reflection of her desire for them to love their job.
“We have an awesome team. I want people to be happy while at work, to enjoy and take pride in their work,” said Kalback, who pays her workers $11 per hour upon their hiring and increases wages after they gain experience.
Kalback is one of many business owners in New Hampshire who pay above the state s $7.25 minimum wage. The state defaults to the federal minimum as it doesn t have its own minimum wage. New Hampshire’s last increase was in 2009 in accordance with the federal minimum wage bump at that time from $6.55 per hour to $7.25. New Hampshire has the lowest minimum pay rate among New England states, each of which passed legislation to increase minimum wages in recent years.