By GARRY RAYNO, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD — Laura Lavalley of Meredith asked the House Finance Committee Wednesday if they were listening to the people who turned out to testify on the two-bill biennial budget package before the committee.
“Drastic times call for drastic changes,” she said. “I ask, are you listening, have you listened to us, have you listened to all of these people. You can’t continue to make cuts to revenues.”
Like many other people testifying during the public hearing she called on lawmakers to live up to its constitutional obligation and fully fund an adequate education for every child in the state and not Education Freedom Accounts or its expansion.
The committee chair expressed his frustration with the number of school officials who testified about school funding.
“We’ve heard a lot about school funding,” said Rep. Kenneth Weyler, R-Kingston, “we know it is a problem, we don’t need to hear it 50 times.”
But Lavalley wondered if lawmakers were really listening.
“The state is not doing its job for the actions that are needed for the people of this state,” Lavalley said. “You are kicking the can down the road to property taxpayers that can no longer afford that while you cut taxes to the wealthiest and send EFAs to the wealthy.
“I hope you truly listen to what everybody here is telling you,” she said.
The committee was given a letter signed by 241 town and school officials from 88 municipalities and 67 school districts urging the state to finally fix the education funding system that they said is inequitable and unfair to both students and taxpayers.
“The current budget process presents a new opportunity for the Governor and Legislature to work together on finding a solution to the funding challenges faced by so many communities in our state. A school funding solution ensures every student, no matter where they live, has access to the best possible public education, while also creating real relief for taxpayers,” according to the letter. “Doing nothing, while not only violating the New Hampshire Constitution, will only serve to exacerbate the existing disparities that exist in our state, driving local property taxes higher and keeping opportunities away from our students. The future of our state, and our communities, depends on the State contributing to a well-funded public education system.”
Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s proposed budget did not include any additional funding to address the two recent lawsuits that require the state to change the system and increase state aid.
Public schools and special education services were not the only issue for those attending the public hearings, as citizens turned out to advocate for mental health services, developmental disabilities care, Medicaid services, fixing the Group II retirement benefits, home and community-based care, meals and wheels, child care and housing programs that were not funded in the governor’s proposed two-year budget, restoring state aid to the University System of New Hampshire, shoring up the community mental health and healthcare systems and ending emergency room boarding for those in mental health crisis.
Joanne Wilhelm of Moultonborough noted when lawmakers eliminated the interest and dividends tax, they created a budget problem in the state, while cutting services to the most vulnerable is not a solution, but devastating to the state’s way of life.
“The governor’s proposed budget makes deep and harmful cuts to Medicaid, affordable childcare, and housing—services that thousands of Granite Staters rely on,” she said. “These cuts will directly harm low-income families, seniors, and individuals with disabilities, leaving them without the support they need to survive and thrive.”
At the same time, Wilhelm noted, the budget allocates millions of taxpayer dollars to fund private school vouchers that primarily benefit the wealthy who can afford to send their children to private schools.
“This is an irresponsible use of public funds, diverting resources away from the public schools and services that the vast majority of our residents depend on,” she said.
Rep. Wendy Thomas, D-Merrimack, urged the committee not to raid the state renewable energy fund to pay for general fund appropriations.
She noted last year private investment was nine dollars for every one dollar of money from the fund which allowed more than 60 projects to be completed.
Draining the fund will also cost good paying jobs and money will leave the state to pay for out-of-state fuel, she said.
“You are taking jobs and business opportunities away from New Hampshire residents,” Thomas said. “There was a legislative agreement with taxpayers that this money would be exclusively used for renewable energy. This is an erosion of the public’s confidence in the government’s fiscal responsibility.”
Sue Vacnick of Madison criticized Ayotte’s budget for a 3 percent cut to the Medicaid program, the state-federal health insurance for the poor and disabled, with the largest group children.
Everyone needs healthcare, she said, but when you cut Medicaid, it really impacts children as it does when you cut childcare services and housing programs.
Childcare and housing is investing in New Hampshire, Vacnick said. “This (budget) is impacting the children of New Hampshire.”
Along with the 3 percent cut, the governor’s budget also would begin charging some participants a premium and a co-pay for the drug program.
One person called her proposal balancing the budget on the backs of the state’s most vulnerable.
Students and faculty from Plymouth State University turned out to oppose the $16.5 million reduction in state aid to the University System of New Hampshire.
Ethan Dupuis, a student member of USNH Board of Trustees, noted the reduction in aid has put two programs he needs for his major at risk of being eliminated, while an instructor at the college said reductions in state aid will “budget Plymouth State College out of existence in the next 15 years.”
Ayotte’s proposed budget spends a total of $16.5 billion over the next two fiscal years, a 6 percent increase, and spends $6.7 billion in general funds, a 5 percent increase over the current biennium.
Revenue projections are almost identical to the current $6.4 billion estimated for the current biennium and Ayotte’s budget projects a surplus of $14 million at the end of the next biennium June 30, 2027, but would draw about $100 million from the state’s rainy day fund.
House revenue estimates are about $530 less than Ayotte’s over the next two fiscal years.
Her budget proposal increases aid for special education, adds $10 million more for the community mental health centers, and increases services for people with developmental disabilities to maintain services with no wait list.
She also adds about $40 million in the second year of the biennium to the Education Freedom Account or the state’s voucher program in order to remove the salary cap of 350 percent of the federal poverty limit, but maintains the current cap the first year. Once the salary cap is removed, students would need to spend the entire previous school year in a traditional public school to be eligible.
The House will vote tomorrow on a different plan that would raise the salary cap to 400 percent of poverty next fiscal year and lift the cap in the second year without students having to attend public school.
Ayotte also proposes $33 million in additional money to change the Group II (first responders) retirement system benefit formula to adjust for changes made in the last system reform in 2011.
She also includes more money to deal with the state’s growing homeless population.
Her budget proposal reduces funding for community and home-based care for the elderly and disabled and payments to hospitals for uncompensated care.
Ayotte’s budget package does not include the $75 million lawmakers promised last year to raise annually for the Youth Development Center Settlement Fund to address over 1,000 claims by former detainees of sexual or physical abuse at the hands of state workers.
Nor does her budget include $50 million to set aside for what is expected to be a new $500 million state prison for men, nor does it include any money to deal with two education funding lawsuits that have ordered the state to change the system and increase state aid to reduce property taxes which now pay 70 percent of the cost of public education K to 12th grade.
Her budget includes additional revenue raised through converting video terminals now used for historic horse racing at charity gaming facilities to video slot machines and from charging those on Medicaid premiums and copays.
Her budget does not address potential changes in Medicaid requirements at the federal level which could end the state’s expanded Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act called the Granite Advantage Plan or that reduces the federal government’s share of the costs from the current 50 percent level.
Ayotte’s budget package includes a plan to reform the state’s bail system which she believes is too lenient, allowing dangerous criminals back on the streets soon after their arrests.
Her proposed budget also includes a moratorium on landfill applications.
Declining revenues and the phaseout of billions of dollars of federal COVID rescue and relief money that both earned interest and fueled the economy raising business tax revenues make it difficult for budget writers to craft a balanced budget without cutting some essential services.
The House has until April 3 to pass a budget and the Senate’s deadline is June 5. The current operating budget ends June 30.
Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com.