What to do with your tax savings this year should be an easy question to answer. Believe it or not, some do not even know that we have a tax break this year. Did I say tax break? Can you image those two words together? Tax break and Derry. What is wrong with this world anyway. We all know that Derry residents never get a tax break. Well it happened folks! Spend it wisely too.
I know what your going to say next.
Tax break, I don't see a tax break or even better I don't feel a tax break.
Well that's because it is .10Cents /per 1000 valuation on a home.
Average $250,000 home will get tax relief of $25.00 and lets remember that the taxpayers have paid upfront their April to July bill at 22.15/1000 and so we get a rebate for those 3 months so add an additional $8.00 to the $25 and
Whamo! you get an additional $33 dollars to spend on whatever your little heart desires.
Spend on extra food. Great I can get a couple more boxes of cereal. How about putting an extra 12 gallons of gasoline in my vehicle- Nice a trip to Boston and Back should cover that.
Maybe put it in my retirement plan and watch it take off. with the way the dollar is going right now who knows it may grow 10 fold in 20 years or so. Good think social security will have my back!
But seriously folks, at least it did not go up- our taxes that is.
And with all the talk about bike paths at 400K and a in house attorney fees possibly going up and additions to Pinkerton and the bus drivers joining the teamsters union and health care increases and well you get it!
Enjoy your tax break this years and lets hope to see more in our lifetimes!
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24 comments:
I appreciate the blog Brian. I am a business owner, with 40 employees, based in Boston. I enjoy living in Derry but have no plan for relocating my business here. The commute is worth it to me and my family due to the quality of life we have here. I believe we are missing the point in our discussions about attracting business to Derry. We need to celebrate the quality of living and recreating here. In order to maximize our fulfillment, we need lifestyle business', etc. The bike path, improved parks, adult education, and entertainment is what we should be seeking. Forget about the big box stores, and medical facilities. lets not waste our time chasing our tails, Lets put the money and effort into improving our quality of life in Derry.
One other observation: I am not a member of the DEDC, but I respect the wotk that they do. Al Dimock's tirade against them at the workshop this week was embarrassing. Do not underestimate the work done by the DEDC on a shoestring budget. They should be encouraged, instead of being ridiculed by uninformed, well intentioned citizens.
Not to rain on your parade but I heard that our "tax break" was caused by the school district applying proceeds from bonds to their annual budget. Do you know if there is any truth to this rumor? I'd love to hear that it is not true, that taxpayers 15 years from now will not be still paying for the grade school education of kids long graduated from college. Please help squash this rumor if I was told incorrect information.
anon 1:43,
Thanks for the response. I agree with you that quality of life is important to focus on and that we have some of these things already. The bike path is a good idea although I think private money should be looked at in getting this done. I believe that 22.05/1000 is too high a tax rate and if we could shave $2.00/1000 we all could be happier. Not giving up needed services but taking out waste will go along way. And I was not at the last meeting due to sickness however I did see the tv coverage and i will agree that Mr Dimmock tirade is getting very old. Mr Bulkley gave the public a chance to chime in to contribute in a positive fashion and Al choose to be his old negative self once again. Time to move on AL. It would be nice to see some positive ideas coming from the public.
anon 6:44,
The tax savings are mostly becasue of the schools. The town side increased however only by 1.9%. Under inflation rate of 3.3%. Thats incredible considering the health care increases and cost of living increases for personel. The schools got additional state monies and realized savings because of enrollment declines. As far as bonding- I'm not sure about that howver Pinkerton will be bonding this upcoming year.
Since this thread is about taxes, I guess my comment will be on topic. Doug Newells column today provokes a number of thoughts:
He's obviously running for council.
At it's base, he is proposing very liberal ideas - tax increases (for non-seniors), social engineering and re-distribution of income by taking money from non-seniors and giving it to seniors. He is not shy in suggesting that this will result in fewer families burdening our schools and such.
He is also approaching the age of being on of those "seniors" his proposal would favor. Self serving?
I favor his idea - I am a 40 something LIBERAL mother.
Come on Doug....say it with me!!!!..."I believe in social engineering and re-distribution of income because I am a liberal"!!!
You can say it, Doug, I KNOW you can! Kumbaya, my lord, kumbaya....
Brian,
It is my understanding that the step raises personnel are entitled to were not budgeted for.
Also, the healthcare costs for Derry's employees actually went down this year, not up. Yet the Town is still charging it's employees the higher co-payment rate because the employees are operating under their expired contracts.
Anon 1:43 I agree that if want to "Forget about the big box stores, and medical facilities" you have picked the right horse when you back the DEDC.
No point trying to balance the tax base, we will just watch as the fleeing taxpayers cause a downward spiral of ever higher taxes. Will the last one out please turn off the lights?
anon 5:00,
I'm going to have to verify that info. I was under the impression that the previous contract is what we go by when we can not come to terms with a new one. You may be correct but i know COLA's were budgeted. ( Cost of living increases ) Also we estimate the heath costs upfront and budget for those, if the bill comes in for less it should be the taxpayers that get back the $$$$. What ever co costs employees pay are what have been negotiated in their contracts between town and unions. So your last sentence leads one to believe that because the taxpayers saved $$- Agreed co-payments should be lowered???? Not sure i subscribe to that thinking.
My only point was that the step increases were not budgeted, but will be paid.
The health costs are based on percentages. Because the rates went down, the employees should be paying a lower rate, but you're right, they are not because they are following expired contracts. When the contracts do finally get signed, the Town will owe that money to its employees retroactively. Also, the COLA's were not paid in July because there is no current contract, meaning those too will be paid retroactively at some point.
All of this leads to the following... tieing up the Towns resources to compute months, or years, worth of earnings that owed to its employees.
Dear anon 12:29 I will make an exception to my policy not to get into this blog because you are clearly in need of guidance. I believe you when you say that you are a liberal (in the modern meaning of the term). I am not.
Clearly you missed the point of the column. Retaining the elderly does not raise taxes for the rest of us. It lowers them, probably in the relatively near term and most certainly over a longer term. This is very much like an investment in infrastructure to encourage commercial development. There are solutions which yield benefit to all parties involved. Retaining Derry’s elderly as an important part of this community is one of those solutions.
Redistribution of income? Hardly. More like a very free market solution. It is a pricing structure that relates the prices to the cost of serving the customer. The elderly consume few town services and are quite capable of moving to towns that offer them a better deal. That list of towns would include Newmarket, Portsmouth, Londonderry, Nashua, Chester, Windham, Manchester, Salem, Hudson, and Bedford. All of these towns beat our deal for the elderly in one respect or another. We must compete (yes, free market competition, you may hate it, I love it) to keep our seniors.
As for this proposal being self serving, no I am nowhere near age 65 and will not be for many years. My age is a matter of public record (voter lists) if you had cared to investigate before you made that accusation. Please be more careful of my reputation in the future.
I’m delighted that you favor this proposal. Do you really think I should run for council? If I do I hope I could count on your vote. I would continue to look for solutions that benefit the entire community.
Regards,
Doug Newell
The state Adequacy Aid that the district received was less than the original number. Expecting this, the district limited their purchasing to only items that were critical to operation. They also received additional revenue from Catastrophic aid and medicaid than initially anticipated which was returned to the town. The district also turned back money that was earned from the interest on the bond from their building project.
BC - your comment about in-house attorney's fees suggests that that equals increased spending. As a councilor you must have access to information as to how much the town is spending on our out-house attorneys. Care to share that with us? Might we save money switching to in-house? What are the facts?
Hi Doug,
Though I was born correctly-minded, I imagine COMING OUT as a liberal can be a stressful time in one's life. It's OK - it really is - I will help you work through it. I assure you, in the end you will feel totally liberated!
First we must rid your soul of denial.
The fact is by offering a tax break to seniors, you will be asking non-seniors for more tax money - that is redistribution of income.
Another fact is that your goal of a greater percentage of seniors in Derry is plainly social engineering.
As such, you are supporting much of the foundation of liberalism. Welcome to our club, but no I will not vote for you - I am convinced you will have a relapse.
It sure is comforting to know that all these years after founding the Alliance of Derry Taxpayers that Mr. Newell has found a financial incentive to keep our elderly in their homes. We certainly wouldn’t have wanted him to support them just because it’s the right thing to do.
It’s equally gratifying to see that going into their 4th year as Derry’s state representatives that fellow ADT execs Howie Lund and Paul Hopfgarten are going to “do their best” as Mr. Newell puts it, to do something or other at the state house for the elderly tax exemption (just don’t ask for specifics). Is there a reason they’ve been sitting on there hands on this issue for the past 3+ years in office?
And is it just coincidence that the ADT’s vague “Campaign for Derry’s Elderly” campaign is being rolled out just in advance of Mr. Newell’s and likely Mr. Hopfgarten’s town council bids? Just enough time not to have to show any results but plenty of time to talk a good game about something they all could’ve all tried to tackle long ago.
If any of these guys can show a REAL plan to make a REAL difference for the tax bills of Derry’s elderly I’d sure like to see it. But given their cumulative track records, I sure wouldn’t bet the pension on it.
Oh, and please spare me Mr. Newell’s creative calculations where “the rest of us” probably save $3300 because of less town service requirements. Besides individual town services being a completely unverifiable number, that would also assume an equal number of taxpayers were eligible for elderly tax exemptions as those who aren’t. Not likely with the age 65 requirement.
Maybe these guys just think it will be easier to fool Derry’s elderly than it was to fool Derry’s kindergarten parents. Good luck with that.
Hi anon 1:28,
You seem to attribute the Campaign for the Elderly to me. That is not correct. It is a collaborative effort of the members of the Alliance of Derry Taxpayers. The ADT contains liberals, conservatives, libertarians, and who knows what other political philosophies. We are united in a desire that Derry's government become more efficient. We want to make the best use of each hard earned taxpayer dollar.
I invite you to join us. We meet at the Gerrish Center the second Thursday of each month. Since you support this Campaign for the Elderly, you can help us get it implemented.
Perhaps after seeing this coalition in action your political paradigm may change and you will understand that a one dimensional classification such as liberal/conservative doesn’t work in understanding Derry politics. Where you see inconsistency there is greater complexity than can be accommodated by any simplistic catch phrase. You don’t have to agree with us on everything but if you support this, come see what other ideas we are coming up with.
anon 4:53
You who do nothing are attacking Newell et al who are trying to do something and your avenue of attack is that they did not do this long ago? That's weak. You also have not done this in the past but more importantly you are still not offering solutions. They are.
As for specifics, I think the article said that they are presenting specifics at the council meeting on Tuesday. Let's see, Newell's column on Friday, they give specifics on Tuesday, 96hours that's not too bad.
I don't care what their motivations are. Can they only help the elderly if they first prove to your satisfaction that they are pure of heart?
Finally, by my read of the column, he is not suggesting that the benefit PER TAXPAYER is $3000 but rather for the community. Therefore the relative numbers of taxpayers and elderly exemptions are irrelevant.
A couple of questions from the ADT website - on every issue, they supposedly ask themselves:
Which possible solution has the lowest short term costs to the taxpayer, and which has the lowest long term costs?
ANSWER: PAY CLOSE ATTENTION - THEY WILL BE UNABLE TO PRODUCE ANY CONFIRMABLE AND PROJECTED COSTS FOR THEIR "BUY THE ELDERLY VOTE" PROPOSAL.
Does this action benefit only a few? Should the majority of taxpayers fund this benefit for the few?
AS A PREVIOUS POST ACCURATELY DESCRIBED, SHORT TERM THIS ONLY BENEFITS THE SENIORS. THE ADT CAN'T SAY OTHERWISE WITHOUT BLUSHING. I ALSO HAVE A PROBLEM WITH A DEFINITION OF "SHORT TERM" -MY OWN PERSONAL PROJECTION OF HOW LONG IT WOULD TAKE TO INCREASE OUR SENIOR POPULATION TO BREAK EVEN ON THEIR TAX INCREASE WOULD BE ABOUT 12 TO 15 YEARS. THE ADT HAS NO HARD DATA THAT WOULD SUGGEST A DIFFERENT RETURN ON THAT INVESTMENT. SHOOT, THEY CAN'T EVEN TELL ME WHAT MY INVESTMENT WILL BE.($$REAL HARD EARNED$$)
9:00 AM
Your "PERSONAL PROJECTION OF HOW LONG IT WOULD TAKE TO INCREASE OUR SENIOR POPULATION TO BREAK EVEN ON THEIR TAX INCREASE WOULD BE ABOUT 12 TO 15 YEARS" is impressive given that the details of the proposal have yet to be released.
From Dictionary.com:
Prejudiced:
1. an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.
2. any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable.
3. unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, esp. of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group.
DJN
bc,
was the straightening of broadway and crystal ave part of the dot 10 year plan?
was it cut?
Anon 11:35,
The straightening of Crystal and Broadway is still "on" and is scheduled for work in the spring/summer of 08. You can see markings in the area already. This project is a GO as well as the repair of 3 bridges in town.
As a proud left wing Liberal, I find it amusing when a conservative attacks our beliefs because they cannot use logic and reason to state their position. Liberalism is not a disease, although you die hard right wingers could use a dose of it.
4:45pm
Is this comment in reference to any previous comment or simply something out of the blue?
I don't see anywhere in this string that liberals are being attacked.
Maybe I should go to dictionary.com and find the definition of "paranoia".
WOW!
If Doug Newell is implying that we can significantly increase our senior population in the short term, I gotta put myself in the moving van business!
With all those younger folks being forced out by his higher taxes on them, BC - you're gonna be in Fat City.
Though I hope all the moving vans on Broadway don't add to the traffic problem that Doug doesn't feel is worth addressing (per his previous post).
6:46 Putting aside your sarcasm about traffic through town, the moving van business is not the way to go. The concept is to keep people we already have here in their homes. Therefore no vans would be necessary.
A quick analysis of the voter population of Derry (a reasonable surrogate for the homeowner population) shows that 6.8% of them turn 65 in the next 5 years. If we can keep them here it is a big step toward increasing the total senior population. That is short term. Long term the baby boom hits retirement.
As to "all those younger folks forced out by higher taxes", as with your colleague anon 9am, I am at a loss to understand your ability to analyze the financial impact of a proposal that has yet to be revealed. Please keep an open mind.
DN
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