Project on Local Government

  Shifting the Load: Cost, Effects, and the Potential Impact of Property-Tax Relief for New Hampshire's Seniors - February 2005 

This report examines programs, implemented locally, to reduce property taxes on low-to-moderate income senior citizens.  Statewide, more than 11,000 households received these tax exemptions in 2003 at a cost of more than $16 million—a cost shifted onto the other property-tax payers in the state.  The cost for the 2004 tax year is likely to be at least $17.6 million. State law requires towns to provide small exemptions, and most towns have voted to extend much more generous tax breaks.  The paper includes a table showing each town’s exemption levels, the number of exemptions claimed in each town, and the impact on each town’s property tax.  The paper concludes that intergenerational tax equity issues are likely to grow more contentious as the size of the state’s senior population grows by 91 percent in the next 10 years.  

  SB2 Adoption and Rescission Votes, 1996-2003 - February 2004  

This paper lists all towns and school districts that have voted to adopt and/or rescind SB2 (actually RSA 40:13) as their form of local governance from 1996 through 2003. This is an update to a portion of the information presented in our prior reports on SB2. The information presented is based on records obtained from the NH Department of Revenue Administration. 

SB2 at 5: Bonds, Ballots, and the "Deliberative Session" - March 2002

This paper reviews the first five years of experience with RSA 40:13, the official-ballot-meeting form of town government known popularly as “SB2,” which is short for Senate Bill 2, the legislation that authorized it.  The paper compares SB2 and traditional-meeting jurisdictions’ approval of bond articles and voter participation rates, updating information contained in the papers the Center published on this topic in 2000 and 2001. The paper identifies problems with the “deliberative session” as defined by SB2 and recommends that communities considering moving to an official-ballot form of government use the state’s charter provisions to avoid those problems.  The report recommends that the legislature amend SB2 to provide more options to communities.

A New Hampshire Public Radio news interview regarding the report is available.

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Bonds and Ballots: Four Years Experience with 'SB2" in New Hampshire - March 2001  

This paper reviews recent years' experience regarding consideration of bond articles in towns and school districts.  It investigates the relationship between bond approval by voters and the type of local governance (traditional and official ballot), local tax rates, and size of community. It also describes the effect of 1999 legislation that changed the majority required to approve bond articles in official ballot jurisdictions.

The Effect of the Official Ballot Referendum Form of Meeting on the Towns and School Districts of New Hampshire - February 2000 - This report presents the findings of a two year study on the impact of RSA 40:13 (Senate Bill 2). It analyzes differences in voter participation and budget decisions made in 220 towns and 167 school districts of New Hampshire in 1997 and 1998 based on their form of local governance. It places those findings in an historical context and recommends actions to improve local governance.