In Allenstown, moving back to traditional town meetings, limiting property tax increases dominates discussion
Published: 02-01-2025 5:34 PM
Modified: 02-02-2025 9:21 AM |
In 2022, after more than two decades behind the moderator’s podium, Dennis Fowler retired from overseeing Allenstown’s deliberative sessions. As he approached the microphone on Saturday, he was free to slough off the obligatory cloak of impartiality that came with the position.
Facing the board of selectmen in the gym of the Allenstown Community School on Saturday morning, he stated his name and his address, then he spoke his mind.
“We have very small deliberative sessions that define what the ballot is going to look like in March,” he said, articulating fervent support for a warrant article that would allow Allenstown to revert back to a traditional form of self-governance. “I cannot tell you how many times people would come in to vote who had not heard any of the important discussions.”
The last article on town warrant — Article 11, an option to move away from a split form town meeting where residents deliberate on one day and vote on another, often referred to as SB 2 — drew the most intrigue. The town operating budget and sewer budget were minimally discussed, and all articles were approved as written, successfully landing on the final warrant presented to voters on March 11, voting day.
Polls will remain open to all registered voters residing in Allenstown at Allenstown Elementary School from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. The town and school warrant can be viewed at AllenstownNH.gov.
As far as returning to a tradition town meeting format was concerned, Fowler argued his support from a place of nostalgia. A retired civil engineer with the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, Fowler sat for years on Allenstown’s board of selectmen and planning board. He said when town meetings were the norm, voters turned out in droves and left the building having made informed decisions at the ballot box that very same day.
Of course, town meetings can be inefficient, long, and chaotic. “Some people just want to go in, vote and leave,” Fowler conceded. Still, he believes that, by forfeiting its SB2 status, Allenstown could boost civic engagement.
Selectman Scott McDonald, for one, puts stock in Fowler’s prophecy.
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“For years, we were just a truck stop for people going up north to get beer and Doritos. Now, the town is moving up,” McDonald said, nodding to the Community School’s new construction. He lamented, though, a potential roadblock in the path of his town’s meteoric growth, a hurdle that cast a long shadow over the rows of folding chairs gathered in the school gym: increasing property taxes.
The windfall of civic engagement that could result from traditional town meetings makes McDonald optimistic about Allenstown’s ability to push back against downshifting measures that force towns to increase property taxes in order to maintain quality public services. Town meetings, he advocated, could act as kindling for a local mobilization.
“Our friends in Concord are not really our friends. The next few years, we’re looking at serious increases we can’t control,” McDonald said. “We need a lot more public involvement.”
In Allenstown, the proposed town budget of $6.2 million exceeds last year’s budget by upwards of $600,000, a 10.6% in crease. The proposed school budget of $13.9 million represents a 2% increase over the current budget and would have a tax impact of nine cents per $1,000 of property valuation.
If voters reject the proposed budgets in March, the town will move forward with a $5.5 million default budget, which is about the same as last year. The default school budget is $14 million, slightly higher than the proposed budget.
Some of the school budget increases are, as described by school board member Keith Klawes, “untouchable.” These are expenses like board services, school board member stipends and special education programming. Other increases are up for voter approval, although Klawes said they aren’t any less essential.
Allenstown’s K-8 classes have only seen a four-student increase, but to account for large class sizes in middle school, the district plans to hire an additional teacher. “It’s really imperative to add that extra teacher to keep class sizes down. The more kids in a classroom, the harder it is for students to go ahead and learn,” Klawes said.
The school’s septic tank needs to be pumped every three to five years, for example. So, while Klawes acknowledged the “Well and Septic costs are a little high,” the board’s intention is to avoid “a big spike” when the tank needs to be serviced in the future. Other articles on the school warrant include approvals for the district to purchase a new school bus and to sell both Allenstown Elementary and Armand R. Dupont schools to the town.
Klawes addressed concerns that the state’s voucher program, called Education Freedom Accounts, is siphoning funding from schools.
“The problem with school choice is that the tax dollars are going to end up going to those schools. From the school board standpoint, from a taxpayer standpoint, we still have to educate our students,” he said.
He concluded his presentation by urging voters to contact their state representatives.