SB2: February 2009 Archives

February 28, 2009

Editor, The Citizen:

The Pemi-Baker School District deserves kudos for demonstrating to voters, once again, just how effective the Official Ballot form of Town and School District meetings can be. Since the adoption of RSA 40:13 by the district, gone are the days of heart-pounding, double-digit increases in the high school budget! Under the bridle of SB2, the P-B School Board has consistently presented a reasonable budget that voters soundly support. In fact, for the third consecutive year, the proposed budget is actually lower than what taxpayers would be required to provide in a default budget (minus warrant articles). Much credit is due board members and the administration for cutting back on increased appropriations and holding off on a much-desired track proposal this year, in light of the uncertainty we face in this ominous economic climate.

SB2 has also had the effect of sharpening the board's efforts to communicate budget proposals and explain the warrant articles to the public. The explanatory materials and documents available at the deliberative session (and from then, until voting day, at school offices) make the budgtet process much easier to understand than years before. District voters who could/did not attend last Tuesday's meeting have the advantage of being able to watch the discussion which took place for several weeks on Channel 3, and may take the opportunity to discuss any concerns/questions you have with board members, administrators and neighbors before casting your vote on March 10.

I hope Plymouth voters will join me in supporting the Official Ballot Bill, RSA 40:13, at the polls this year, for the Plymouth School District and Town of Plymouth ballots. I firmly believe SB2 preserves the best elements of the traditional annual meeting format, and actually prevents control of our budgets by special interests. It is a well established fact that 3-5 times as many people vote at the polls as those who attend annual meetings, and Plymouth voters are very well-informed. Please restore the right to vote, including by absentee ballot, to our absent family members, neighbors and friends who cannot make the annual meetings. Vote yes on RSA 40:13 at the polls on March 10.

Joan Randlett

Plymouth

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Editor, The Citizen: Whether or not you support SB-2 comes down to one basic premise. Do you believe in small groups of individuals having the ability to make the decisions for your town or do you believe that every registered voter should have the right to cast their vote in hopes of affecting those decisions. And please don’t say that they can have their voice heard at town meeting because their voices can be heard in a deliberative session just as easily.
I come from a town that passed SB-2 quite a few years back. I am seeing all of the same arguments for and against the bill today that I saw years ago. Fortunately, the residents of the town in which I lived, finally realized that they wanted their voices to be heard and SB-2 was passed, much to the dismay of a small core of individuals who had a very strong voice in the town, prior to the vote.
I guess, for many people, change is a bit unsettling. But I can tell you, from experience, once SB-2 was passed, the majority of the townspeople were much happier. However, I must admit that those who lost power in pushing their own agendas through are still unhappy about the outcome of that vote. In the past, when special interest groups passed warrant articles that cost the town hundreds of thousands of dollars, many of the townspeople were extremely upset. Now that every voter has a say in what passes and what does not, they are much more accepting of the outcome. Even if the voting doesn’t have the outcome you had hoped for, you can at least justify it by saying that the decision was based on the wishes of majority of the voters. And isn’t that what a democracy is all about?
If you consider the number of people who actually have the ability to attend town meetings versus the number of actual registered voters, you can see that a very small percentage of people are controlling the vote. The world we live in today is not the same as the world even 25 years ago. We have many people who travel a great deal for work, we have many people who head south for the winter, and we have people with children whose bedtimes fall well before the conclusion of town meetings. We also have the elderly who may not find it easy to get out of their homes and we also have many people that just don’t have it in them to sit for hours on end in a town meeting. Do none of these individuals deserve to have a voice in how our town spends our money? And now, be honest with yourselves, for those who have attended town meetings, how many of you actually stay until the bitter end. In my experience, once the vote has taken place for a particular item of interest, those interested parties leave the town meeting. So ask yourself, who is really being represented at these town meetings?
In my experience, I have found that those who greatly oppose SB-2 are either currently in power and do not want to let go of the reins or those special interest groups who see their power to push through their agenda threatened.
Now onto another item that outraged me during the process … the strong opinion that a vote may be cast by an “uninformed” voter. No voter needs to attend a town meeting to be “informed”. With today’s overwhelming access to information via internet, TV, newspapers, mailings, radio, talking to friends and neighbors, etc. everyone has the ability to become informed without attending a town meeting. And I find it an insult to be classified as “uninformed” just because I am not present at one of these meetings.
Please remember, that voting is “a right” and no one should have to justify anything beyond being of legal age and legal residency. If another individual doesn’t vote exactly as you do, then is it fair to say that the individual must have been “uninformed”? Isn’t it possible that they might actually hold an opposing view?
Isn’t it funny how “uninformed” has nothing to do with collecting the property taxes being affected by the outcome of these votes?
With the current economic state of our country, it is also evident that everyone needs to tighten their collective belt. Why do towns then feel that they should be exempt from this? My experience has shown me that any townspeople who oppose a capital expenditure are portrayed as being against the children, firefighters, police officers, elderly or any other group that may benefit from the increased spending?
Why can’t they just be people who believe in living within their means?
If you support SB-2, then you believe that you should have your voice heard in how your town actually spends your hard earned property tax dollars.
If you oppose SB-2, then you believe that special interests should have a more heavily weighted voice in how the town spends your property tax dollars, even if it is in opposition to the wishes of majority of the registered voters.

Jane Elliott
Moultonborough

If you live in Hillsboro and wanted to know your stuff at the SB2 meeting earlier this month, Braiterman's ( Business Administrator for Hillsboro-Deering School District)website was the place to go...Braiterman says that the site makes the school board's life easier and allows voters to head to the polls with more knowledge.

Sunday February 22, 2009

The Concord Monitor by Ray Duckler rduckler@cmonitor.com.

Lisa Braiterman, the business administrator for the Hillsboro-Deering School District, draws you into the annual school budget report with an animated bee buzzing up top. There are also photos of a woman dressed in colonial-style clothing, a court jester and kids fishing.

Then come 66 pages, information about district revenues and expenses, salaries and benefits, enrollment and district staffing trends, not to mention graphs and charts to illustrate and explain the vision for the next school year.

If you live in Hillsboro and wanted to know your stuff at the SB2 meeting earlier this month, Braiterman's website was the place to go.....

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Note from the MCA: The following is from the Town of Wakefield's web site which posts the Town Warrant. As you read the following you will note that it sounds a lot like Traditional Town Meeting ...and that's because it is! With SB2 Town Meeting does not go away. The only thing that changes is when you vote.

2009 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING WARRANT

To the inhabitants of the Town of Wakefield in the State of New Hampshire

qualified to vote in town affairs:

You are hereby notified of the First and Second Session of the 2009 Annual Town

Meeting as follows:

FIRST SESSION

You are notified to meet for the First Session of the Annual Town Meeting, to be

held in the Opera House of the Wakefield Town Hall, 2 High Street, Sanbornville, New

Hampshire, on Saturday, January 31, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. The First Session will consist of

explanation, discussion, and debate of each of the following warrant articles, and will

afford those voters who are present the opportunity to propose, debate, and adopt

amendments to each warrant article, except those articles whose wording is prescribed by

state law.

SECOND SESSION

You are also notified to meet for the Second Session of the Annual Town Meeting

to elect town officers by official ballot and to vote by official ballot on the warrant

articles as they may have been amended at the First Session, to be held at the Opera

House of the Wakefield Town Hall, 2 High Street, Sanbornville, New Hampshire, on

Tuesday, March 10, 2009. Polls for voting by official ballot will open at 8:00 a.m. and

will close at 7:00 p.m., unless the town votes to keep the polls open to a later hour.

 These are the "disenfranchised" currently unable to vote at the Town and School District meetings who would gain their right to vote with SB2:

Those who are serving their country in the military.

Those with no means of transportation.

Those with health conditions that prevent them from attending lengthy meetings.

Those who are parents or single parents with young children.

Those who are sick.

Those students who are studying out-of-state

Those who are incapacitated or hospitalized.

Those retirees (senior citizens) wintering in a warmer climate.

Those emergency service professionals on duty.

Those doctors, nurses and other medical professionals on duty.

Those public employees on duty.

Those working a second job or working the second shift.

Those who are away on business.

Those unable to attend because of personal or professional commitments.

Those intimidated by open voting.

Those who dislike politics (we understand).

Ordinary people from a diversity of backgrounds who all deserve the Right to Vote

Letter to the editor

February 19^th 2009

The Citizen

I understand the concern of those who oppose SB2 for their town. It takes the power away from a few and hands it to the majority.
To suggest that people in the ‘90s did not understand SB2 because it was a new idea, then why haven’t they rescinded SB2 in those towns.
One does not really have to call their friends in SB2 towns – let’s just look at how many efforts there have been to rid that town of SB2.
I can save you some time – only Orange, Dorchester, and Enfield have gone back to the “traditional town meeting.”
In the past two years Epsom and Epping have found the question on the ballot to discontinue SB2. The voters said NO in a big way.
The fear of those who oppose SB2 is that once it is part of the town charter the people like the idea – and it is tough to return to the days of intimidation and allowing only those present to vote.
Sort of like the tax cap in NH cities – once it is part of the charter – the taxpayers feel a lot safer with city officials handling “our money.”

Neil Young
Laconia

There are plenty of arguments for and against SB2. We’re not going to argue that, mostly because so many other people are arguing on both sides. There is one argument against SB2, however, that we find irritatingly patronizing – that a vote under SB2 is not an informed vote. We’re always a bit wary when someone tells us that our vote is uninformed – sometimes it means that that person believes we’re uninformed because we don’t agree. The imagery of a voter confused and alone in the booth, without someone to turn to for answers – give us a break. If someone is “uninformed,” it’s because they’ve made the decision not to pay any attention. New Hampshire voters are entrusted with the first presidential primary. Even if they can’t get to an ice cream social or town hall meeting to hear candidates speak, they generally take their vote extremely seriously, and do the required research. They know their vote counts, and are willing to take the time to find the candidate that they believe will best lead the country. The nice thing about SB2 is that it does give a window of time and opportunity for voters to research the issues on their own, sans impassioned rhetoric. No one has to make a split-second decision while listening to the arguments for and against warrant articles. No one has to decide on the spot whether one side is overstating their case for or against the article. As an aside, not to toot our own horn, but there’s a reason newspapers in New Hampshire are so busy in the weeks leading up to Town Meeting – they’re trying for as much coverage as possible on all the issues. In an SB2 town, there’s time to figure things out before you mark your ballot.

And that, we believe, makes for an informed voter.

The Laconia Daily Sun

Wednesday 2/18/2009

Editor: A letter writer on Tuesday  to your paper wrote that claims in recent letters in support of SB2 were full of “misstatements and half truths”. I would like to say that I too am proud to live in this town along with my “alliance friends”, but that doesn’t preclude us from trying to make it even better. I do agree with one statement the letter writer made which is “to get the facts about SB2 before they vote”.

Well, here are the facts:

•     There are 73 School Districts that are SB2. Since it’s inception in 1996 NOT ONE SINGLE SCHOOL DISTRICT HAS EVER RESCINDED SB2.( Source NH Center for Public Policy)

•     The writer claims most towns with SB2 are very large Towns. No true. 32 of the 63 SB2 Towns (51%) ARE ABOUT THE SAME SIZE OR SMALLER THAN MOULTONBOROUGH. ( Source NH Department of Revenue Administration)

•     The writer said that less than 2 percent of towns per year for the last nine years have opted for SB2. This is FALSE. This past year alone (2008), SB2 Towns INCREASED BY 5% AND SCHOOLS HAVE INCREASED BY 6% ( NH Department of Revenue Administration)

•     She stated that services such as visiting nurses, fire, police and ambulance and road maintenance will be compromised. NOT TRUE. The town must prepare an operating budget and a default operating budget at the same time. The default budget is basically last years operating budget, adding contractual and other recurring expenses and eliminating one time operating expenses. A little bit more complicated, but not much. ALL OTHER APPROPRIATIONS ARE VOTED ON SEPARATELY AND ARE NOT PART OF THE DEFAULT BUDGET. So the “hearts and flowers” appropriations are not suddenly gone. By the way in Moultonborough last year there wer 18 of these Special Articles totaling $70,000 ALL VOTED INDEPENDTLY OF THE OPERATING BUDGET(Source: NH Department of Revenue Administration). She also neglected to mention that default budgets may happen in a town without SB2. That is why we actually vote at Town Meeting on operating budgets.

•     She incorrectly stated that the deliberative session replaces Town Meeting. NOT TRUE. Per the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration the deliberative session is a form of town meeting. The discussions, amendments etc work EXACTLY THE SAME AS TOWN MEETING.

•     She stated that warrant articles (at the deliberative session) “can be drastically changed by a handful of people that are NOT elected who do not have all the information or who have an axe to grind”. So how does that differ from Town Meeting? It doesn’t. People have EXACTLY THE SAME RIGHTS AT BOTH THE DELBERATIVE SESSION AND TRADITIONAL TOWN MEETING except that  SB2 WILL ALLOW ALL VOTERS 30 days to review and understand the articles AND THEN EVERYONE CAN VOTE INCLUDING BY ABSENTEE BALLOT.

We would invite anyone who wants to be better informed about SB2 to visit our website WWW.MoultonboroCitizensAlliance.org or email us at MoultonboroCitizensAlliance@Yahoo.Com. 

Paul Punturieri

Moultonboro Citizens Alliance

Moultonboro, NH

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There is an article in today’s (February 17, 2009) Citizen regarding the Interlakes School District SB2 hearings. The MCA commentary is in blue.

A citizen (from Moultonborough) said “"I was floored, II just walked out of there and I was like 'Wow, my opinion matters, my vote matters.' You wind up in the end with a better product because you know more. That town meeting is part of what makes New Hampshire New Hampshire.". Great. In SB2 Town Meetings (called deliberative sessions,) your opinion also matters, your vote matters and it is a big part of what makes New Hampshire New Hampshire because the rules are exactly the same as Town Meeting.  And we most definitely agree that you wind up with a better product because you know more: with SB2 you will have 30 days to understand and be a better informed voter before voting on all the articles.

A Center Harbor Selectman said, while traveling around the state as part of his job, he has spoken to people in SB2 communities about the process and "nine times out of 10 they'll say it really doesn't work all that well," Really? 9 out of 10? That would be 90%! It only takes 60% to approve or rescind SB2. Then why have no School Districts and only 3 Towns ever rescinded SB2? Two of those 3 Towns by the way are smaller than 400 people. Orange (pop. 300) in 1999 and Dorchester (pop. 353) in 1999.Enfield (pop. 4500) rescinded SB2 in 2001. In the words of a famous cartoon rabbit “That’s all folks”!

"It truly empowers people," said a Center Harbor resident and former school board member “When you leave a school district meeting or a town meeting, you don't feel you're just one 'X' in a box in a voting booth." You will feel the same way after an SB2 Town Meeting. But you know what will be different? Everyone who is registered to vote will get to place an ‘X’ in a box in a voting booth. Can’t do that at Town Meeting. I guess those who don’t get to go to Town Meeting are just not allowed to be empowered.

A resident said that while many people's schedules today are busy, if someone takes enough interest in the (Town) meeting "you're going to make the time to go."  But they don’t because many cannot and do not want to.  In 2006 in Moultonborough a whopping 78 voters (under 2% of registered voters) showed up at the School District annual meeting. 103 showed up in 2007. The town annual meeting was 285 in 2006 and 340 in 2007.
"I felt the people put a trust in me to do (the job) and it's almost as though they're not trusting the people you voted in that position to do the job," a former school board member said. "If you can't make it to the meeting, you can vote for your representatives." Now we get to the heart of the anti SB2 debate. Read the previous statement and then read this one. That’s right. They contradict one another. Make the time to go so your vote will count and then you don’t need to vote, we’ve got you covered. Sorry, I want everyone who is registered to vote to vote, not just a small minority.

Former School Board Member and also Chair said anyone has the opportunity to be informed in the period from when the draft budget is put out and district meeting. He said people can speak opinions, ask questions on the budget and make amendments at the regular school district meeting. It was also said that the budget can be amended and changed any time in the process to the end of district meeting under the current district meeting system. That doesn’t change under SB2. Once the budget makes the warrant it’s off the table for the deliberative session. It can only be voted up or down on ballot day. That’s the same as today except that voting   occurs at Town/School Meeting. This is a common anti SB2 argument that is full of holes.

"To me the great weakness in SB2, you could end up with unintended consequences as the result of an uninformed vote," said a board member saying paying for advertising and mailers on the issues could be too costly and the best way for people to be informed would be to attend the meeting and speak to officials and other board members. Some people do attend all the meetings and workshops. Only some though. In fact, very few.  Sometimes .. really a few… like 2. Has the School Board heard of the internet? There opposition to public access broadcasting school board meetings runs counter to the board members arguments. Being able to watch and re-watch board meetings will get the information out to where it belongs- in public.

"To me, I think democracy isn't just a matter of how many vote," it was stated by an attendee."To  me it's about the quality of that vote."  That’s democratic? I thought all votes were equal. Voting is a privilege.  Limiting that privilege is wrong and not  democracy, it’s preventing taxpayers from having a say in their local government.

MCA

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Response to letter from Ringelsteins

Editor, The Citizen

I would like to respond to a letter by Todd and Sandra Ringelstein in Tuesday's paper. I know the Ringelsteins and they are good people and wonderful parents as well as long time residents. Their children, as well as mine, have been the beneficiary of the Moultonborough School District. As a 62 year old native, I can tell you that making my decision to support SB2 changing from the old outdated town meeting method of voting was initially difficult for me.....

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Editor, The Citizen Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Moultonborough will be having a "Meet the Candidates Night" at the former Lions Club property on Old Route 109 Sunday the 15th. There will also be a discussion on SB2. Mel Borrin will be moderating.

Most of you are familiar with SB2, the voting initiative, but at the risk of boring some I will remind everyone what SB2 does (and doesn't) do. Also, to keep the rest of you folks awake, I will take this opportunity for a bit of disclosure: I am a supporter of SB2. I have not always been so; however, for two and a half years I researched it from both sides and found three major arguments to support it. Also in the disclosure department; Mel Borrin intensely opposes SB2 (unless he changed position in the past few months).....

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The Citizen

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

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