Grade your councilors

Time again to grade your councilors for the second quarter of this year. How do you think the current council is doing?
How can the council do better?
What issues do you want your councilors to deal with and are you more apt to participate in your town government.

With two council seats coming up in March, who do you think will step up to the plate and put their names in the "ring"

Also I would like to know what the current council has done that you consider to be a good thing for the community.
Lets hear it!

Downtown Hauntings?

Folks, On Saturday Oct 27th from 12:30-3:30 is a chance to come out and walk the downtown with the kids and visit our local businesses for the annual "trick or treat" in the downtown. The kids will have fun! You get to see the many different businesses we have and get a first hand opportunity to support our local businesses for the up-coming holidays.

The businesses in the downtown and up Crystal Ave to Hood Commons have treats ready for the visiting goblins.

If this is your first time walking the downtown, you will be pleasantly surprised at the different kinds of stores and the different kinds of products they sell. You may even get some future gift ideas that will save you time, money and gasoline and hopefully the weather will be great as well.

PS.... tell all your friends, bring all your friends. Get out and visit our downtown!!

91A skinny

Alright, Here's what i have found out about the 91A requests.

Since July 1st 2007. There have been six requests. Staff time to comply with these requests has totaled more than 50 hours, including 14 hours for the most recent.

Another request involving the sale of the former town hall is at 30 hours and still open.

What could someone possibly want with information from over 7 years ago? We will probably find out in some media outlet I guess.

And we find out we are averaging more than 1 per month.

80 hours of research at what cost per/hr?

Maybe the law should also consider charging the cost of the man-hours it takes to fulfill these requests.

After all it is your tax payers monies that are being used here.

Now, I'm not saying that citizens do not have a right to get information- they certainly do.
However you would probably agree that this could also be mis-used as some political posturing.

What are your thoughts?

Lets go Red Sox!

Council and Patrolman's Union come to agreement!

A very light meeting on the 16th. where we had 1 item on the agenda. The agreement between the patrolman's union and the town. I would first like to say thanks to both sides for working diligently to keep the talks going. It's one thing to "draw a line in the sand" and another to carefully listen to each other's positions and to come to an agreement.

The patrolman will get an increase of 2.5%

They will have to pay in contributions for their heath care from 12% to 14%

These are the major components to the agreement.

The rest of the meeting? Click on the council link on the top right to get a viewing of the meeting.

Derry's 2007 tax rate set!

Well we have some good news to report. The Towns 2007 tax rate has been set by the state of New Hampshire's DRA (dept of revenue administration) and it's LOWER than the previous years! Last year the rate was $22.15 and this year it will be $22.05. 11 cents less/per 1000 of assessed value on our homes.

I know, Once you do the math you realise that it does not add up to "tons of money" however just the facts that we see the words lower taxes and Derry together is something we are not use to.

Some of the contributing factors are:

1) The town did not spend up to the allowed amount that is determined by the town side tax cap. The town council choose to leave .10cents which could of been used, back in the hands of the taxpayers. Not bad considering that we ( town side) is mostly personal costs and have increases in salaries, heath care costs and retirement funds that increase on a yearly basis.
It will be $7.64 and last year was $7.50. ( an increase of 1.9%)

2) The school rate went down .24 cents to 11.08 from 11.32. The reduction was due to the application of additional funds of 2.5 million to actually reduce that rate. Bonds from capital projects were closed out, lower enrollments and lower special ed costs at PA. higher budget interest and rental income and the work of school board to make cuts.

3) The state Ed tax actually went up 3 cents from 2.41 to 2.44

4) County Rate went down 4 cents to .89 from .93.

So, even though it is not a huge difference than last years, WE are going in the right direction!!

Derry loses a town treasure.

It is with great sadness that we learn that a great town treasure has passed. Mr Albert Doolittle has passed away. At age 93, Mr Doolittle has taught many of us some of life lessons. His commitment and dedication to the town was very inspiring and he will be missed by many.

if anyone has any great stories to share about Albert- Please share!

Blogging gaining popularity!

Many thanks to all of the Derry NH Politics blog readers out there. It has been 7 months of Postings and comments from a lot of you readers and I do appreciate all the comments, input, feedback and constructive criticism.
I hope to make this better as time goes on and really like the fact the people are talking about the issues that effect them most

Just some stats to share with you

Since last March, This blog has had 7,606 visits
This blog averages 61 visitors a day
and the average time reading the posts is 4:24 while on this blog.

Please spread the word about the blog and have more people make comments and share views. The success is because of you! I remain committed to bringing another avenue for people to speak their minds and share ideas.
Keep up the input and..
Thank you for caring.

Is it time for an Animal Control Ordinance?

Discussions will be underway tomorrow evening about the possibilities of creating an Animal Control Ordinance for the town of Derry.
Other towns have such laws that regulate the amount of land a land owner must have in order to own such animals as horses, goats, pigs, and chickens.
The questions will be just how much land is needed to own lets say a horse? Is it 1 acre, 2 or 3 acres? What should that requirement be and should the same land threshold apply to chickens that horses should require? These can be some complicated matters to "iron out"
We have heard stories of multiple horses on a 3/4 acre parcel- heck I've even seen horse on properties right off By-Pass 28. Is this cruel or unusual? Good questions! Who will determine the laws? what will the penalties be? Will we be meddling with Land owners rights? Will the town be challenged?
I certainly understand that anyone that would treat animals in a cruel way should be prosecuted to the fullest under the state laws we have today. The story a couple weeks back of the Salem women that had hundreds of dogs living in squalid conditions is a very sick and cruel person who should be taken to court and prosecuted! No doubts.
I will see what the discussion brings, however my first thoughts are with land owner rights and unless arguments are shown that Derry needs new laws to protect animals is necessary,I will side on proceeding slowly. After all we do have state laws in place already, do we need more stringent laws locally? Stay tuned- It will be a very interesting discussion. What are your thoughts???