New Hampshire News

Negotiators expected to sign off on $13 billion budget

By HOLLY RAMER
Associated Press
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire budget negotiators signed off on a compromised two-year spending plan Thursday that’s likely to be vetoed if it passes the House and Senate next week.

With about half an hour to spare, a committee of lawmakers approved a $13 billion budget that will be voted on by the full Legislature June 27. Members said it addresses the state’s most pressing needs — including the opioid epidemic, child protection and mental health — while providing property tax relief and a boost in education funding. Rep. Mary Jane Wallner, the committee’s chairwoman, said the outcome was better than the earlier budgets backed by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu or the Democratic-led House and Senate.

“I think it brings all of it together,” said Wallner, D-Concord. “I think this budget is an expression of our state’s values and it enables us to continue moving New Hampshire forward. It deserves the full support of the House, the Senate and the governor.”

The proposal essentially eliminates a paid family and medical leave program that would have triggered a veto from Sununu, who opposed it because one of the funding options for businesses was a payroll deduction. But it still includes business tax rates Sununu and other Republicans oppose. Sununu accused Democrats of holding funding for critical programs hostage “in an obsessive and misguided effort to raise taxes.”

“This is irresponsible, and the people of New Hampshire will never support that approach,” he said in a statement.

Senate Republican Leader Chuck Morse, of Salem, said the plan includes unsustainable increases in education funding that will lead to an income tax or capital gains tax.

“The budget being proposed increases business taxes, threatening an economy with the second lowest unemployment rate in the nation and the highest per capita income,” he said. “Promises that have been made by Concord Democrats in this budget cannot be kept and I look forward to supporting Governor Sununu’s veto.”

Senate Democratic Leader Dan Feltes said the Democrats’ plan to halt scheduled business tax breaks amount to $90 million, two-thirds of which benefits out-of-state companies. He called the budget proposal the “Crisis Resolution And Property Tax Relief Act of 2019” and said he hopes Sununu will recognize that no one gets everything they want during the budget process.

“People expect us to work together. People delivered a divided government,” he said. “It’s a series of compromises.”

The plan includes a $138 million increase in education funding, which was less than the House originally proposed and more than what the Senate included in its budget. House negotiators gave up a capital gains tax extension they wanted, and agreed to the Senate’s plan to send $40 million in unrestricted money back to cities and towns in the form of revenue sharing instead of the $12.5 million they had included in their budget.

The revenue sharing provision was one of the objections raised by Sen. John Reagan of Deerfield, the only Republican on the committee. As expected, he was replaced just before the final vote, which must be unanimous in order to send the deal to the full Legislature.

“The towns crying for tax relief are not every town in New Hampshire. Towns expect the state to live within the state’s means,” he said.

Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, who has been in the Legislature since 1972, expressed his pride in the budget by first describing the struggles of his immigrant grandparents — his grandfather died in a mental hospital, leaving behind a pregnant wife and six children.

“To be here with my colleagues on this day when we have crafted a document that means so much to so many people, it’s really an honor,” he said. “What’s the purpose of us being here? It’s to produce a document that benefits the lives of every person in this state. That’s what this document does.”

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