Letters to the Editor

The “don’t rock the boat” strategy (we will work it out over time) is a failed strategy! This suggested strategy smacks of politics and passivism

The whole practice doesn’t benefit the public; long-term it results in taxpayers footing the cost of increased pension benefits that the chief will receive for detail work and any impact on increasing workers comp premiums.

The Town of Hampton lost two wonderful citizens in Sandy Buck and Arthur Moody. These two dedicated Hampton citizens will be missed.

Either the policy was a draft, which it clearly is not, or a fast one was being pulled by the Town Manager. There is some explaining to do.

Doing more and more of the Town’s business behind closed doors opens it up for more inefficiency, less checks and balances, more cronyism and potentially corruption. We strongly suggest that the Selectmen and Town Manager ...

“It was determined that one ballot which was counted as a blank by the Accuvote machine was deemed that the voter’s intent was a yes vote thereby adding one vote yes to the total tally creating .....

We see this as yet another example of back room dealings that set a bad precedent and represent the unacceptable role that cronyism is playing in the management of Town affairs.

The cost of the renovation and expansion adds $4,000 to $5,000 a year, each year, for the next 25 years to the per pupil cost of educating a Hampton Academy student; this is excessive and insensitive to taxpayers.

In 2013, NESDEC enrollment projections were used as supporting information for the $588,000 expansion of Center School. However, actual enrollments have declined even faster than those projections and school administrators are planning to use vacant space at Center School to temporarily house the SAU90 Administrative offices.

On a financial level, since 2001 the SAU90 cost per pupil has more than doubled from $7,342 to $15,769 in 2016, way beyond general inflation. This is based on information published by the State of NH Department of Education. If the Academy renovation and expansion is approved

Hampton’s long term debt will more than double

As we get closer to the March election there are several warrant articles that Rational Taxpayers of Hampton are vehemently opposed to. After factoring in the interest expense associated with proposed bonds, the overall request is to authorize $50 million of additional spending for 2017. This amount of new spending is incomprehensible to us given that this is essentially equal to Hampton’s total property taxes collected last year. To be clear, property taxes will not double in 2017, but Hampton’s long term debt will more than double.