At the City Council meeting we started out with the annual presentation of the Deborah Bienarz Award. This award is in memoriam to Laconia Police Officer Bienarz, who showed an extreme dedication to helping the youth of Laconia.

We had several nominees for this award and a committee of a City Councilor, a Police Officer and a School Board Member review the nominations to choose the award recipient. It says a lot for our community that we have so many people working with the youth of our city and this year Bill Salta was selected.

Bill has been involved in Laconia Little League for over 2 decades and is an integral part of that organizations efforts. He is also involved with the youth basketball and soccer programs too. Having sat on the committee this year it was a difficult decision to make but all of the members on the committee felt that Bill is deserving of this recognition.

Congratulations Bill.

In other business...

During the City Council meeting there was some discussion about the proposed Methadone Clinic in the Industrial Park. It is amazing how many of you don't realize that this is something that can happen without any say from the public or council.

Jonathan and Carolyn Muller from Old North Main Street was busy from Sunday evening through Monday evening and gathered 72 signatures on a petition, which was presented to the Council and several other residents in the area spoke about their concerns.

Prior to the regular Council meeting we met with our Attorney to discuss what options are available. It is clear that the all of the Councilors, Mayor, City Manager and Planning Director are opposed to this "Change of Use" permit being approved. Unfortunately the law is clear on this that if they meet the requirements of the zoning ordinances then this must be approved. One of our ordinances allows a "Medical Clinic" to be located in the Commercial/Industrial zone.

If Shanna Saunders is backed into a corner and required to approve the change of use there is legal option available to the "abutters that can be affected by this decision", which is everyone living in the North Main Street near Lexington Drive; Old North Main Street; Lexington Drive; Shore Drive; Lynnwood Drive areas. Shanna has determined that this facility meets the definition of a Medical Clinic but upon review it appears that this facility would fit into the classification of a Pharmacy, which is not permitted in the Commercial/Industrial zone.

There will be a Public Hearing and Information Session held during the next regular Council meeting. I encourage everyone to attend and voice their opinions. You should also write letters to the editor in both papers and I would encourage/support anyone that wants to hold a Public Forum to help get the word out.

As always, Please contact me with your comments and we, together can organize against this clinic and hopefully create an atmosphere that the clinic decides not to do business in Laconia.

Now it’s “Where’s the Answers?”

At the Laconia City Council meeting on Monday, March 10^th during the City Manager’s Report item on the agenda there was more discussion about the Belknap County budget and the Public Hearing. This was reported in both the Citizen of Laconia and the Laconia Daily Sun. (click this link to view the March 11^th edition)

If you read these articles you can easily see that nobody on the council feels we received adequate answers to our questions about why the revenues are so short. It is getting quite frustrating for us and, I imagine for others in the county.

If you have read any of the blog debate (Post 1 and Post 2) I am having with Skip Murphy at Granitegrok.com or any of my previous posts or responses (Post 1, Post 2, Response 1, Response 2) on this subject you will know that this is a subject very dear to my heart. The TAXPAYERS can’t afford double digit increases in their taxes and we in Laconia have let it be known by passing the Spending-Tax-Cap. The problem is that this increase at the county level still affects us because even though this increase will not be passed onto the property taxes raised, the city still has to pay the county. This reduces the funds available for operating the city and schools. The county increase (10.417%) is greater than the reported CPI-Urban rate of inflation increase (2.9%) by over 3 ½ times.

My friend Skip has concentrated a lot of his effort on the expenditure side of the equation and I don’t disagree with his assertion that the county expenses should be trimmed and kept in check. My issue is that this problem was stacked on the revenue side of the equation and a lot of the blame has been indirectly placed on HB2.

The reason I see the revenue side of the equation as the most important part of the county budget is that the spending on Medicaid/Medicare programs, especially the Nursing Home, will far outpace any other spending going on in the county budget. These programs are set up as a Federal Cost-Sharing plan requiring either the state or local government to pay 50% of the costs. Skip argues that this is only “account transfer” that is paid by the taxpayers, which is true. The problem is this is the program we were dealt by the feds and the feds don’t care who pays the non-federal share. Thus HB2 comes into play.

Councilor Lipman predicted that in coming years, care for the elderly is not going to carry an annual inflationary factor of less than high single digits. The entire council agreed the city cannot handle those kinds of numbers and stay within the local property tax cap without significantly impacting city services, including schools. Mayor Matt Lahey said “At some point it’s going to go beyond our ability to absorb it,” which I think hits the nail on the head.

As Ed Engler reported in the Laconia Daily Sun:

“The tax cap covers everything passed on through property taxes, including the city’s share of running Belknap County government in general and the Belknap County Nursing Home in particular. And the city’s 20-percent share of that bill for 2008 is going up $164,000 more than is being allowed, proportionally, under the cap. The difference will have to me made up, for fiscal year 2008-2009, out of city and school spending plans and City Manager Eileen Cabanel indicated she will recommend that additional burden be split 50-50 with the School District.”

City Manager Eileen Cabanel stated “We seem to be getting different answers from different people on HB-2” and Mayor Lahey added “We really couldn’t get an answer” to any of the questions we were asking.

The Mayor has spoken with Senator Kathleen Sgambati about this and she volunteered to come to a council meeting to explain the way the bill is supposed to work. Mayor Lahey is going to ask Sen. Sgambati to attend the next council meeting on Monday, March 24^th at 7:30 PM. She will also bring Senator Lou D’Allesandro (D-Manchester) and at least one official for the state Department of Health and Human Services with her.

I would everyone to attend this meeting to show support for our position that costs are being unfairly passed on to the property taxpayers. My feeling is that Mayor Matt Lahey will allow some questions from the public during this debate. If you are unable to attend then I would encourage you to forward any questions you may have to myself, the Mayor or one of the other council members.

LET’S GET THE ANSWERS WE DESERVE!!

Saturday evening I attended the Lou Athanas Free-Throw Fundraising Event at MMS and it was a blast.

We had a good turn-out even though we were missing a few Councilors and School Board members. Margie Kerns from the School Board was the big winner in the challenge. She and Joe Cormier made 29 free-throws out of 50 and Joe asked for a "shoot-out" to determine the overall winner. They each took another 5 shots and, while Joe missed all of his shots Margie made three more.

This is an annual event and I am looking forward to next year's challenge. I will be practicing my shot so I can get better than 50% next time.