Legislative Updates by Rep. Maureen Mooney for May, 2025

Greetings!

On everyone’s mind is: what is being done to lower property taxes? This is a very important and complex question but one thing is clear – property taxes are too high. Here are some thoughts:

• The Republican candidates for the NH House released a “Contract with New Hampshire” before the elections last fall. Priority #1 is to: “Expand Housing & Lower Property Taxes.” See here: https://www.nhhousegop.com/press-releases/contract/

• To accomplish this goal, we are guided by what former New Hampshire Governor Meldrim Thomson said, “Low taxes are the result of low spending."

• An important part of keeping property taxes low is to keep a watchful eye on school district and town funding. Local spending directly impacts local property taxes. And, remember what former NH Governor Meldrim Thomson said: “Low taxes are the result of low spending.”

• The state can only spend what it takes in in revenue – this is state law RSA 9:8-b. When the state budget arrived at the NH House there was an approx. $700 million shortfall between expenses and budget numbers. The House worked very hard to close this gap to reduce government spending. The legislature continues to work on a balanced budget for FY26-FY27 so as to not overspend and strain the taxpayer. It is a delicate balance as government has an obligation to many citizens and entities.

• Here are the numbers, descriptions, links to full text, and current statuses of bills this session to lower property taxes (NOTE: “enabling legislation” means it is lawful to do something that otherwise would not be lawful; or up to the municipality to enact):
  • HB 675-FN-A-Local - An Act limiting the authority of school districts to make certain appropriations - is still in the House Finance Committee. Here is a detailed description of what the bill can do: “This bill is a multi-faceted bill that raises the statewide education property tax (SWEPT), requires municipalities to remit excess SWEPT, increases base adequacy payments to schools, and limits growth in school operating budgets. The committee’s amendment simplifies the bill to just be the spending cap, slightly modified to smooth changes over five years instead of three. The bill allows operating budgets to increase with student population and they are never required to shrink. The limitations can be overridden with a two-thirds vote. School budgets, and thus property taxes, have been growing way out of proportion. Over the last 30 years, while the public school student population in the state has declined 11%, the number of school staff has increased 55% (primarily non-teachers). Over the last ten years, spending per pupil is up 58%, easily topping the 35% inflation. This bill, as amended, is a modest bill to let property taxpayers catch their breath while giving school districts that really want to increase spending an avenue to do so.” See House Calendar Vol 47, No. 15, page 15: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WqJ76WrQUoN1atAWAPkDZx8GbcFOgct9/view?usp=sharing
  • SB 105 - An Act enabling towns to adopt budget caps - has been amended and passed in both the NH House and NH Senate; pending whether the NH Senate will agree with House amendments. Here is a detailed description of what the bill can do: “This bill is enabling legislation that allows the voters of a town to adopt an optional town budget cap which establishes an annual cap on spending proposed by the selectboard and an official budget committee, similar to spending caps currently available to cities and school districts. The town budget cap is based on a current per resident expenditure multiplied by the town population, as calculated and reported annually by the Department of Business and Economic Affairs. The current per resident expenditure is adjusted annually based on one of the following factors: a fixed percentage, a selected inflation index from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, or the Municipal Cost Index (MCI) published by American City and County. Significantly, the town budget cap is adopted or rescinded by a 3/5 supermajority vote; and each year the town budget cap can be overridden by a 3/5 supermajority vote of the legislative body. Notably, this legislation is similar to RSA 32:5-e, School District Budget Cap. The amendment makes several important clarifications to the bill language, including several important statutory references, and also adds language to include the provisions for an existing town budget cap to be modified by a 3/5 supermajority vote of the legislative body without the need to first rescind the existing budget cap and adopt a modified version with a new formula. Importantly, this bill provides Granite State taxpayers the ability to adopt a budget cap in their town to more effectively manage town budgets in a fiscally responsible and sustainable manner.” See House Calendar Vol. 47, No. 23, page 15: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UPQcMG-AQszTOl-BwN656RJBqJyKlymx/view?usp=sharing
  • HB 99 – An Act relative to a waiver from property taxes for disabled veterans – this bill passed both the NH House and NH Senate and is currently headed to the Governor’s desk. Here is a detailed description of what the bill can do: “The bill as referred to the committee increases the maximum optional tax credit under RSA 72:35 I-a from $4,000 to 100% of the property tax. The bill is a re-filing of 2024 HB 1258-LOCAL which was recommended Inexpedient to Legislate, 19-0, by the committee. The committee acknowledges that specifying a percentage for tax credits and exemptions is unworkable and unable to be administered. Furthermore, the bill as written has the potential to significantly shift the local property tax burden from a class of taxpayers to all other taxpayers if 100% of the property tax were adopted by a municipality. The bill as amended clarifies eligibility criteria and increases the maximum optional tax credit under RSA 72:35 I-a, the optional tax credit for service-connected total disability. First, language is added to align the optional tax credit with the eligibility criteria of permanent and total disability specified under RSA 72:35 I, the standard yearly tax credit for service-connected total disability. Second, the maximum allowed optional tax credit is increased from $4,000 to $5,000 adjusting for inflation based on the CPI-U index. In January 2019, this maximum had been increased from $2,000 to $4,000. Third, the amended bill language states that adoption of the optional tax credit under RSA 72:35 I-a shall replace the 72:28 Standard and Optional Veterans’ Tax Credit, 72:28-b All Veterans’ Tax Credit, 72:28-c Optional Tax Credit for Combat Service, and 72:36-a Certain Disabled Veterans in its entirety and shall not be in addition to. This provision prevents the “stacking” of other tax credits for which a veteran may qualify potentially resulting in a negative property tax bill. The committee unanimously supports these reasonable changes to the bill in support of veterans, who have a service-connected disability, and their surviving spouses, in manner that is both fair and balanced for all taxpayers in a municipality.” See House Calendar Vol 47, No. 10, page 5: https://drive.google.com/file/d/130txBeHCTOrn61lmVCsP8CgnzKrGCtpV/view?usp=sharing
  • HB 200 – An Act relative to the procedure for overriding a local tax cap – this bill has been amended and passed in both the NH House and NH Senate; pending whether the NH House will agree with Senate amendments. Here is a detailed description of what the bill can do: “The bill as amended modifies the method of overriding a local tax cap adopted under RSA 32:5-b. Current statute enables the voters of a town, village district, or school district to adopt a local tax cap by a 3/5 majority vote and further allows the legislative body to override the tax cap by a simple majority vote. Therefore, at present, a tax cap serves simply to limit the total appropriations proposed by the governing body or official budget committee and presented to the voters at an annual meeting. The bill modifies the current method of overriding a local tax cap to require a 3/5 majority vote, by ballot, to approve any appropriation that would exceed the tax cap. This is same override method currently used in the school district budget cap under RSA 32:5-e. By requiring a 3/5 majority vote instead of a simple majority to override the tax cap, this ensures that any approved appropriations above the tax cap are well supported by local taxpayers. Furthermore, it is logical that a local tax cap that was adopted by a 3/5 majority vote shall require the same vote threshold for the tax cap to be overridden. Additionally, the bill aligns the override procedure for a town, village district, or school district tax cap with the supermajority override vote threshold for a city and municipal charter tax cap under RSA 49-C:33, providing consistency in the application of the tax cap override provision across political subdivisions. Importantly, this bill upholds local control by providing flexibility in spending while at the same time maintaining fiscal responsibility for towns, village districts, or school districts that have adopted a local tax cap.” See House Calendar Vol 47, No. 17, page 62: https://drive.google.com/file/...
  • HB 374 – An Act relative to local tax cap and budget laws – this bill has been amended and passed in both the NH House and NH Senate; pending whether the NH House will agree with Senate amendments. Here is a detailed description of what the bill can do: “The bill as amended is house-keeping legislation for 2024 SB 383, to clarify the local tax cap and its adoption pursuant to RSA 32:5-b and 32:5-c and the new school district budget cap and its adoption pursuant to RSA 32:5-e and 32:5-f. Statutory language is updated to correct paragraph and definition references in several RSAs, to provide more clear definitions of school attendance and town population including important statutory references, as well as, to clarify the definition of “last year’s base” and “this year’s base” pertaining to local tax caps. The bill also adds missing statutory wording for the question to adopt a local tax cap using the inflation and attendance method for school districts or the population method for towns. Additionally, for both the local tax cap and school district budget cap, the annual date of the inflation index is changed from January 1 to October 1 to ensure that the reported figure for the inflation index is available for the annual budgeting season. Lastly, the updated language in the bill clarifies that an adjustment to an existing local tax cap or school district budget cap may be made by a vote of the legislative body without requiring that the cap be first rescinded and subsequently re-adopted with the proposed change. Importantly, these statutory modifications ensure clarity and consistency in both the adoption and application of local tax caps and school district budget caps across the state.” See House Calendar Vol 47, No. 17, page 64: https://drive.google.com/file/...
  • HB 475 – An Act relative to the reductions from the default budget for official ballot town meetings – this bill passed the NH House and is now in the NH Senate. Here is a detailed description of what the bill can do: “Default budgets are currently required for towns, village districts, and school districts that have adopted the official ballot referenda form of town meeting under RSA 40:13, commonly referred to as SB2. The legislative intent of a default operating budget is to provide an alternative operating budget to voters free of excess and unnecessary appropriations providing a minimal level of spending in order to maintain existing operations and services. Unfortunately, the current statutory language in RSA 40:13 IX(b) has been found to be vague and inexact. As a result, default budgets improperly include excess spending and unnecessary appropriations. The bill with amendment addresses these important issues. First, the bill requires that the default budget shall include “obligations previously incurred by law” or “required by law” and eliminates appropriations made “by preference.” Second, the bill clarifies that all salaries and benefits for vacant positions that remain open and unfilled for more than a year shall not be included in the default budget. Testimony provided during the bill hearing indicated that recurrently budget line items for numerous open positions remain in default budgets and are, therefore, raised and appropriated year after year. Due to the fact these positions continue to be unfilled, the governing body will then spend these excess funds for other purposes by transferring these appropriations to other line items in the “bottom-line” budget under RSA 32. Third, the bill ensures that default budget line items for positions filled by new hires before the budget hearing reflect the actual salary and benefits of these positions for the next fiscal year. Fourth, the bill provides that any budget line item in the operating budget authorized for the previous year from which a transfer was made for any one-time expenditure shall be reduced by the amount of the transfer in the default budget. Importantly, this update will ensure that all one-time expenditures are removed, and are not included in the default budget. In summary, the bill with amendment makes important statutory clarifications pertaining to the accounting methods for budget line items in the calculation of the default budget, ensuring that default budgets do not include excess expenditures for the same level of service as the previous year, thereby avoiding the unnecessary over-taxation of hard-working Granite Staters.” See House Calendar Vol 47, No. 17, page 65: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zQ_0lLedJ7OxUSY4K6Zj550Bw6FocSS-/view?usp=sharing
  • HB 557 – An Act relative to the information that appears on the school budget ballot –this bill has been amended and passed in both the NH House and NH Senate; pending whether the NH House will agree with Senate amendments. Here is a detailed description of what the bill can do: “This bill merely increases transparency while simultaneously informing voters on average cost per pupil defined by the average daily enrollment of the preceding year divided by the total expenditure of the district; school district achievement proficiency scores obtained from the Department of Education for the preceding year to be printed as: “ELA Proficiency: X%; Math Proficiency: X%; Science Proficiency: X%.” Voters deserve and should be afforded all information when casting their ballot on school district budgets.” See House Calendar Vol 47, No. 17, page 52: https://drive.google.com/file/...
  • HB 613 – An Act relative to the enabling local political subdivision to vote and set a reduced default budget – this bill passed the NH House and is now in the NH Senate. Here is a detailed description of what the bill can do: “This bill is enabling legislation providing towns, village districts, and school districts that have adopted the official ballot referenda under RSA 40:13, commonly referred to as SB2, an optional provision enabling them the ability to adopt a reduced default budget. The bill provides that a legislative body may adopt, by a 3/5 majority vote, a reduced default budget option which is defined as the default budget reduced by an adopted fixed percentage, R, from 1% to 10%. Once this provision has been adopted, each year the official ballot for the balloting session on town election day will contain two (2) consecutive warrant articles for the operating budget. The first of these articles appearing on the warrant shall be the proposed operating budget determined by the voters at the deliberative session. If the warrant article for the proposed operating budget is defeated, then the subsequent warrant article shall provide voters with the option to adopt either the default budget or the reduced default budget. If a majority of voters vote 'No' on both of these consecutive operating budget warrant articles, then the adopted operating budget shall be the default budget reduced by R percent. The bill also provides that once the optional reduced default budget provision has been adopted by the legislative body, a change to the reduced default budget percentage, R, shall be approved by a 3/5 majority vote of the legislative body without requiring that the reduced default budget provision be first rescinded and subsequently re-adopted with the proposed change. Notably, as with most enabling legislation, there is a provision to rescind the reduced default budget option entirely by a 3/5 majority vote. Importantly, this enabling statute provides an optional local budgetary tool for voters to help to address the monotonically increasing default budgets, which have been found to increase at a rate that is unsustainable for taxpayers across the Granite State.” See House Calendar Vol 47, No. 17, page 66: https://drive.google.com/file/...

• Taxpayers are working hard for the state and local municipalities to pay for expenses. Meanwhile, the state and local municipalities are working within their means to make every dollar count - otherwise, property taxes will continue to climb.

Around Town

It is important to know that that there are property tax exemptions available in Merrimack. They are:

• Elderly Exemption – RSA 72:39-a
• Disabled Exemption – RSA 72:37-b
• Blind Exemption – RSA 72:37
• Solar Exemption – RSA 72:62
• Tax Deferral Program – RSA 72:38-a

To find out more, click here: https://www.merrimacknh.gov/assessing-department/pages/property-tax-exemptions

Also, be sure to watch the championship game on “Granite State Challenge” when Merrimack High School faces Tilton School on May 15, 2025 at 8:30pm on NH PBS. Go Tomahawks!

See you around town!

Rep. Maureen Mooney is in her sixth term as a NH State Representative serving Merrimack. Her website is: www.votemooney.com and Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/maureenmooneynh.