Delivering a Good Budget for New Hampshire

By Senator Ruth Ward
R-STODDARD
One remarkable thing about the two-year budget the state just approved is that it did not go to a Committee of Conference, where the House and Senate work out their differences, but was accepted without further negotiations. That speaks well for the legislators preparing the budget.

According to Senate President Jeb Bradley, a budget needs to meet three fundamental goals. A good budget lives within its means and protects taxpayers. A good budget should be a blueprint for economic prosperity. A good budget should address the needs of people in New Hampshire.

We certainly lived up to the first goal. The budget prepared by the Senate spent less than either the House’s or the governor’s budget. It is balanced and there is no income or sales tax. Additionally, there are a number of provisions designed to lower our property taxes, including increasing infrastructure funding and returning more Room and Meals tax money to the towns. All said, there was an increase of more than $10 million in funds allocated to towns in Senate District 8 for property tax relief.

Our second goal, promoting economic prosperity, is also met. With our current worker shortage, a healthy and safe workforce is the key to expanding our economy. To that end, we made health and public safety our priorities. We extended the NH Granite Advantage Health Care Program that provides access to health care for more than 52,000 low-income residents for the next seven years.

Public safety was addressed by funding $1.4 million for the Northern Border Alliance Program to stop Fentanyl crossing into our state. We also tightened background checks on school transportation monitors, provided monies for prosecuting cybersecurity crimes and enabled schools to better communicate with law enforcement.

We worked tirelessly to improve the lives of all our citizens from young to old.

The goal in education funding is to improve education for ALL students. This budget increased state aid to local school districts by more than $169 million over two years; targeted education aid to towns with the greatest need; developed a new funding formula to make it easier to assess state aid for each child. Districts will now see increased aid for each student plus higher differentiated aid for English language learners, free and reduced-price meals and special education services. The budget also provides $20 million annually for Education Freedom Accounts, provides additional funding for full day kindergarten and provides $10 million in funding for the Public School Infrastructure Fund to ensure safe schools.

For our elderly population, we built upon the existing program to establish a comprehensive and coordinated system of care to ensure that older adults and adults with disabilities have access to timely delivery of supports and services as well as options of services.

The above is only a small sample of what the budget addresses. There is something for everybody.

Something the budget could not anticipate was the recent rain storms that have devastated so many towns, especially on our side of the state. My fellow local legislators and I are working to help individual towns to see what resources are available, where there is money already allocated,and where additional funds can be allocated; for example, by providing gravel and sand to help repair the roads.

Many of our towns have not yet recovered from the 2021 storm. And while we are not out of the woods yet, there is much that we can all do to stay safe. Lake Sunapee is overflowing its docks and shorefront property. If you go boating, please make sure you do not create a wake. I have contacted the appropriate agencies to put out a notice to that effect. If a road has a “No Passing” sign, please respect it. Yesterday, I saw an 18-wheeler stuck on a road. GPS does not know the road conditions in rural New Hampshire. Please stay safe.

Despite the challenges of the recent flooding, our state continues to thrive and our new state budget does much to keep us firmly on the track of prosperity.