Reminder
Epsom Old Home Day August 8
Come out and show your town spirit by participating in this year’s Parade to
kick off Epsom Old Home Day 2009!
For more information and
pre-registration, call Scott at 736-9735 or e-mail
[email protected].
The Epsom Town Band will present its first concert on Friday, July
10th, at 7:30 p.m. It will be held at Webster Park on Route 28. The
band will perform a variety of music from marches to show tunes.
Additional concerts are scheduled for July 17th, July 31st, and on
Old Home Day, August 8th.
For more information, please contact Penny Graham at 736-9044. Invite your
friends and family and come enjoy an old-fashioned concert in the park!
“Smoke Free Me” a tobacco cessation program is being offered to area
residents this July. Participants will learn about which cessation
products are most effective. They will receive information and
support to help them gain freedom from smoking and chew tobacco.
“Smoke Free Me” is a Concord Hospital Center for Health Promotion
Program. We meet Tuesday evenings July 7th, 14th, 21st. from
6:30-7:30 pm at the Epsom Public Library on Rte. 4, Epsom. There is
no cost to attend. Please call 230-7300 to register.
Letter
The budget season for the 2010 fiscal year is already underway. I encourage
you to attend meetings of the Budget Committee, BCEP, School Board, Water
District, and Board of Selectmen. During these tough times, we all need to
make sure we understand where our hard earned money is going and that it is
not being wasted.
There is one area that will be addressed this year and is already being
discussed. The Epsom Town Offices are located in a rented space that costs
you and me $24,000 per year. Our current lease expires in June of
2010. We will be faced with a decision as to whether we would like to sign
another lease for five years, purchase an existing building, or build onto
the Meeting House. There is a Town Office Building Committee that will be
making a final recommendation to the Board of Selectmen sometime this fall.
We will make our final bond payment for the library this year and will be
debt free as a town (most towns cannot say that). An investment will need to
be made, no matter which way we go. We can make it now and save ourselves
hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next twenty years, or we can wait
another five years and spend another $120,000 in rent, only to be right back
where we are now. This is not only a fiscal decision, it is a logistical
one, as our offices are busting at the seams for storage and work space.
Understandably, this is an area of priority for the Town.
If you would like to assist the Town Office Building Committee by
volunteering your time and talents, please call the Town Office at 736-9002.
All feedback is welcomed and appreciated.
Joanne Randall
Selectman, Epsom, NH
Local Students Named To Dean’s List At Saint Anselm College
Rev. Augustine Kelly, O.S.B., Dean of the College, announced that the
following local students were named to the Dean’s List for the second
semester at Saint Anselm College, Manchester, NH:
Benjamin W. Carozza, Deerfield; Heather L. Jones of Epsom; Samantha L.
Bagley, Pembroke; William J. Nunnally, Jr., Pembroke.
To be eligible for this honor, a student must compile a grade point average
of 3.0 or better.
Letter
Doom To The 40 Cluster Housing Development
The snail’s pace at which this flawed project is moving tells me that the
developer is confused due to the many limitations and restrictions that he
faces. Shall we put the garages beside the homes or in the under ground,
which direction should the driveways be facing are just a few examples of
the unknowns. There will be one entrance which is also the exit to the
proposed development. As I look at it I see a probable violation to RSA
674:17 Purposes of Zoning Ordinances-Sec. (a) To lessen congestion in
the streets. All of the homeowners with cars will be dumping on to
only one street like the Milk Street Boston parking garages. I don’t see any
reasonable consideration to the character of the area. Roger Bennett’s
letter in the June 24, 2009, issue of S.V.S. should be ample enough to blow
this proposal into space. Excellent, Roger!
Jim Breagy
Epsom, NH
Letter
To my constituents in Allenstown, Epsom, & Pittsfield:
This week in the State House we dealt with the budget. The Committee of
Conference resulted in what was, to me, a very unacceptable result. After
all the off-budget spending was reconciled, spending was up almost 8%. No
significant programs were cut, and the state bureaucracy remained intact.
Even closing the Laconia prison was less of a saving than originally
thought, as the guards were reassigned to other prisons and many of the
other personnel were retained. State employees are worried about layoffs
from a $25 million cut in personnel funding – but just a rollback of the
5.5% raise they got in January would yield $40 million!
To pay for all this, the budget writers used over $400 million in one time
money, mostly in Federal stimulus funds. The medical malpractice reserve was
drained of $110 million, the “rainy day” fund was tapped, as were several
smaller funds. School building aid was included in the budget, but paid with
borrowing. Fees were increased, most notably the car registration fee, which
almost doubled.
Finally, taxes were raised: tobacco tax up 45 cents per pack, now applying
to cheap cigars; the room and meals tax went from 8% to 9%, now including
campsite rentals. A new 10% tax was imposed on gambling winnings, if enough
to require a federal form W2G. A new tax on LLC distributions, deeming them
dividends, will affect most small business owners in the state.
As expected, the budget passed on a party line vote, with nearly all
Democrats and three Republicans voting for it. I was the only Representative
from this district to vote against the spending and the taxes. A motion to
delete the campground tax failed to get the necessary 2/3 to act after the
budget passed.
I’m out of room, so I’ll save the impacts for next week.
Representative Carol McGuire
[email protected]
782-4918
Letter
To Our Constituents,
The 2009 legislative session concluded on June 24 with votes on the biennial
state budget for 2010-2011. The budgeting process began last November before
the session even began. For the past 3 ˝ months Governor Lynch and
committees of the House and Senate continued the process of crafting HB 1
(expenditures), HB 2 (revenues), and HB 25 (the capital budget for
infrastructure.) Here are some points to consider:
The independent, non-partisan NH Center for Public Policy Studies’ analysis
states that general fund spending declines by 1% and the budget represents
“a real effort to reduce the size of state government.” Overall state
expenditures decline by 3.5% (LBAO). Unlike many states, ours enters the
next biennium with a balanced budget, without proposed new taxes opposed by
our constituents, but by traditional modes of taxation at increased levels
and through closing certain loopholes.
In a historic achievement, this budget fully funds educational adequacy. For
us this was a priority, as 2 of our 3 district towns (Pittsfield and
Allenstown) were Claremont lawsuit plaintiffs.
Despite regrettable hardships imposed on certain groups and cuts to programs
and services, this budget preserves the social safety net increasingly
required by our neediest citizens in this and every district.
Not passing this budget by the deadline would have exploded the deficit by
$35-$45 million and jeopardized federal education grants and the federal
stimulus monies for job protection or creation. Property tax payers and our
valued state employees would have suffered greatly.
It is our great privilege to responsibly represent our district in the
General Court. Be assured it’s one we take quite seriously. We appreciate
the input and perspectives our constituents shared with us throughout this
session.
Rep. Carole Brown
Rep. Margaret Porter
Rep. Charles Yeaton
Epsom Citizen of the Year Nominations
The Friends of Webster Park is now accepting your nomination for “CITIZEN OF
THE YEAR” for 2009. The Friends of Webster Park is asking that your
nomination be an individual that displays some or all of the following
qualities:
• Outstanding citizenship
• Commitment to the community
• Extraordinary community service
• Leadership
• Positive influence on others
Please submit a short essay, describing your nomination and the reasons that
this individual should be CITIZEN OF THE YEAR. Please include information
about a lifetime achievement, a major achievement reached recently, or an
achievement that is still in the making. If you have nominated someone in
the past and they were not selected, please do not hesitate to nominate that
person again. All entries must be submitted by Friday July 26, 2009 and
should be mailed to:
Citizen of the Year Nomination
C/O Richard Verville, Friends of Webster Park
449 New Orchard Road
EPSOM, NH 03234
Summer Carnival
The Friends of Webster Park is currently seeking sponsors and contributions
for this year’s Old Home Day event scheduled for August 8, 2009. Your
support is what will make the Epsom Old Home Day a success.
All sponsors will be recognized during their sponsored event, and in the Old
Home Day Program. Any and all donations are greatly appreciated. Without
your contributions the Old Home Day event would not be possible. Attached is
a list of proposed activities for the event.
This is the first year that the Friends of Webster Park is hosting this
event and we are starting with very minimal funds from our account. The
Friends of Webster Park is a 501-C-3 Non-Profit Organization registered with
the State of New Hampshire, Secretary of State. Our purpose is to support
the betterment of our Town Park for the enjoyment of all generations. All
your contributions are tax deductible.
Please make Tax Deductible Contributions payable to:
Friends of Webster Park
190 North Road
Epsom, NH 03234
If you have any questions, please call 496-7485. Thank you for your support!
