Is becoming a city the answer in Derry? Will property taxes finally start to come down in doing so? Some say "Yes" and others are saying they are not so sure.
For years the discussions around the water bubblier was that maybe if we could become a city, taxes would be kept in line because the schools portion of the tax bill would have to fall under the "tax cap" that the town presently has.
For those of you who may not know how the Town works presently, here is the scoop.
Only the town side of your tax bill has a tax cap, which ties into the national CPI and which has averaged about 3% a year over the last 10 years. Never has a council spent up to the maximum allowed in any year. Last year, We were allowed to add an additional .22 cents/1000 of home value and we spent .18 cents.
The rest of your tax bill includes the following: School, State and County. These four categories make up your total bill. Only the town side portion has the tax cap.
The idea in becoming a city would allow you to include the school portion under the cap. The school portion is the largest of the four in taxes.
Another reason to become a city is that cities have different grant monies from the feds than a town would. We may have more opportunities to get more grant money.
At the last council meeting, Councilor Coyle introduced a motion for the establishment of a charter commission so that the elected commission members could look into the possibilities of becoming a city and to study the idea in more detail.
The council will have a public hearing in Jan to get the public reaction to establishing the committee. What are your thoughts? Is it time to become a City?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
23 comments:
BC,
Do you realy think becoming a city will curb spending?
Do you realy think the town side of taxes will ever be under control?
Do you realy think dept heads will ever stop wanting to spend the taxpayers money like kids at the arcade at hampton beach?
Here is an idea. Start out the new year by having people that work for the town ,move to this town and just like employee pricing they will pay what we pay.
But if people are willing to go the city route .Hire a mayor from the city of Derry with some guts and will be in his office when taxpayers need him or her to stop the give away of taxes Foolishly. Thats one answer.
Researching the idea and reporting the pro's and con's is a great idea.
Once we know the facts, we can make an informed decision.
I hope we get: the facts, opinions, and analysis.
I would also like to know how power and decisions would be split between the Council and the Mayor.
So, I am in favor of: researching the idea, reporting the facts, and gathering opinions from experts.
Nick Arancio
Another way to curb the big spending is to stop all the section 8 housing in town. Let another town take care of the single mother of 4 that has her boyfriend and father of her children living with her off the public til. Naturally she wants the gold special ed for her kids so we the taxpayers get stuck paying the bill so her kids can have a special ed teacher aide follow them around all day. 34% of your actual tax bill goes to the town and the rest is the schools, county, and state. You want to see where you are getting hosed look at the schools. Don't worry about a vote for Derry to become a city ever passing. The teachers will beat the drum for the parents to vote against it. The school board will never want to have to come under the tax cap. Between the state and the schools you will never have to worry about your tax bill staying the same or going down.
To Anon 3:16 - The time hack of your post is interesting. However, you have only revealed yourself to be an extraordinarily selfish and cruel person. I would be very interested to weigh options regarding city vs. town. How anyone can take the discussion from city vs. town to a ridiculous stereotype with no relevance to Derry is beyond me. Be careful not to choke on your bile.
This is a bit off topic but I wanted to update a situation that some of you thought was so ridiculous I had to be making it up.
I'm the one who's son was taken by Derry Fire ambulance to Parkland back in 2003 in which we were charged $525 for the 3.5 mile ride. No medical treatment was given during that ride, just transportation. My insurance paid about $450.
For the people who did not believe me, this is where it stands. The Town of Derry filed a small claims complaint against me in Derry District Court for $50 with the threat of having to pay the $60 court cost also. I requested a hearing so I may state my case to a judge. The court date is in May of 2009. Can you believe 7 months before a case can be heard? I only wish it was sooner so I can get it over with.
I believe I have an open and shut case to defend myself and I intend on winning. I can almost guarantee it! And when I do win, the Town of Derry will not only be out the $50 they think I should pay them, they will be out the $60 court filing fee. I still can't understand why the Town insists on going through the hassle of collecting such a small amount of money after they got so much from my insurance and taxes. So again, I say we do away with the Fire Department ambulance and use a private ambulance.
I'll update again sometime in May 09. And to those who thought this whole mess was so stupid I had to be making it up, guess again. Maybe you should think the Town is stupid now. Flame me all you want, but making the taxpayers pay for the ambulance then to charge for using it is wrong.
Its something to look into at least
1:40
This is something that sticks in my craw too.
So far I have not needed an ambulance but if I do, I will be in court with Derry over charging me for something I already paid for in taxes.
If we need the police, they do not charge us nor does the town public works, school dept etc.
They only bill us for ambulance because most people have insurance and insurance pays.
Don't get me wrong, I just as soon not be taxed for anything and just pay as I go but this will never happen.
I am rooting for yah!
Anon 1:40
The taxpayers wouldn't have to pay so much money if people like you would pay their bill.
Oh and another thing, someone chose to call for an ambulance and chose to allow your son to be transported; therefore accepting the responsibility to pay that bill.
It is too bad that the town hasn't added late fees to the $50 since the debt has been outstanding for 5 years now. If in fact the EMT's did nothing to your son on the trip to the hospital, I understand that they do bill by the mile for the trip there. I had a situation myself where I called for an ambulance and as it turns out the issue was minor and I was given the choice of being transported or transporting myself to the hospital. There is a misconception that if one takes an ambulance to the hospital that they will be seen faster by a doctor which isn't always the case. Yes, we pay for the ambulance service through our taxes but the use of that service falls on the individual using it. If it were a free service people would be using it as a taxi and not for emergency purposes.
1:24
I never heard of an option regarding the fire department coming to put out a fire or the police on the scene due to an accident. We are not billed for those services, why only the ambulance?
anon 1:40
I guess you're right. If I would have paid the $50, your taxes would be much lower.
Did you know the Fire Department just ordered a brand new state of the art ambulance?? Paid for by who I wonder?
If the Fire Department didn't buy that new ambulance and used a private company I bet your taxes would go down much more than if I paid that $50.
And think, if the town got out of the ambulance business, they wouldn't have to sue people like me. Saving you even more money.
The costs of the personnel, vehicles, and equipment I would assume is what we are paying for in taxes. The excess costs I would think would be drugs used, items that are one time use stuff, and mileage to the hospital. I doubt everyone goes to Parkland. Why should the rest of the taxpayers get stuck with the bill if someone wants to go to a Manchester hospital? I bet a $550 dollar bill from the town of Derry would be about three times that from a private service that is only out to make money.
anon 1:24
They only bill you because they know they can get money from insurance companies. If you don't have insurance and can't pay, they have a "hardship committee" that will look at your personal finances and decide how much you should pay, if any.
If the town used a private ambulance company, the town would not lose any money due to peoples 'hardships'- and anon 1:40 wouldn't have to worry about people like me. Now that the council just raised the rates for ambulance calls, I bet more people will have "hardships".
Anon 3:14
I was in an accident once in Mass but I was uninjured(thank God for that). The ambulance showed up but I didn't need to go to the hospital so I did not receive a bill. It is my understanding that you can choose NOT to go if you want.
Maybe the rules are different in NH, I'm not sure. But I can't imagine that anyone has to be taken to the hospital if they don't want to go.
Remember if the town goes to Private ambulance service the company is not going to come into town with a fleet of trucks and a boat load of man power. They will probley have one maybe or two ambulances parked at parkland.One of them will probley be staffed with a paramedic. The first ambulance would used be for 911 calls and the second one would be a back up for 911 when avialble or when they are not doing NON emergency transport. No Private ambulance company out there makes there money on 911 emergency calls, they make money transporting back and forth to nursing facilities. They call them NON EMERGENCY Transfers. so here is a thought, the 1st ambulance does a 911 call and the patient request a hospital out of Derry it is possible that you would lose that ambulance for 2-3 hrs until they are back in town. The second ambulance is tied up on NON emergency transfers so the next ambulance that this Private company dispatches could be 20, 30 +/- minuets away. I dont know about you but I cant hold my breath that long. The other factor is that they will probley charge alot more for services than the derry ambulance does. I live in this town and pay these taxes for these reasons: Great police, Great Fire protection, great Ambulance Service, Great Schools, Great DPW. People living in some of these neighboring towns get terriable srvices for the same amount of taxes. Be careful what you wish for when you say Privatize the Ambulance Service. More cities and towns across the country are switching from private services to Fire department ambulance services because the residents are suffering high cost and long responce times.
I live in Derry. Called 911 once, all the Derry ambulances were busy. Windham sent one of theirs instead and I never got a bill. Based on an earlier post, Derry's ambulance must be no better than a private one.
Off topic from the original post, but an interesting article given the discussion on ambulance service.
http://www.eagletribune.com/punewsnh/local_story_346040748.html
Let me be sure I understand this.
Towns around us have no tax payer ambulance service as a sub-service of the FD.
They have private companies pick up sick people and transport the. The sick people get billed, this seems fair.
Now Derry has town owned and paid for by taxpayers ambulance service and double dips by making taxpayers pay again if they use this service they already paid for.
Can you imagine what the NH Attorney General's office would do if a private entity did this?
One more try!!
Read article here.
BC
Sorry to highjack your blog, but some people questioned the validity of my claim earlier this year and I just wanted to set the record straight and let them know where it stands now.
anon 2:28
You are absolutely correct. In my case, my insurance paid 90% of the bill and now the Town of Derry is suing me for $50. Shouldn't the town be happy I had insurance and got $450 and just wrote off the $50since I'm a taxpayer? Mr. Stenhouse signed the small claims complaint himself. I sure hope he's the person that shows up at court, but he'll probably be out of town on that day too.
anon 4:30
Thanks for the article. Makes me wonder how much money the town loses by providing ambulance service. If I'm correct, Derry isn't the only town that the Derry ambulance covers(Chester, Hampstead, etc?). That must be why they charge so much, to make up for the loses from the people who claim "hardships". That article just proves why Derry should get out of the ambulance business, it's a money loser.
If the town really wants to make some money they need can make a boat load of money by patroling the local schools when parents are dropping off and picking up their kids. School Zones are 20 MPH 1/2 hr before school goes and until a 1/2 hr after school lets out. Parents drop off or pick up their kids and fly out of the area exceeding the post speed limit. Start giving tickets for the safety of the children and to boost the income of the town. Maybe people will slow down.
A private ambulance service would charge you about the same as Derry charges for the same service or less.
The reason I say this is that I setup all the fee's for a major Boston hospital and all the fee's we charge are based on RVU's and everyone in the industry is doing the same to stay competitive.
My fee's are set at 100* the RVU, most hospitals , doctor office etc .... are doing the same.
17/12/08 10:39 AM
and yet we pay for it with our taxes and the same user fees as if it were a private service... way to go derry
Post a Comment