January 7,
2010
GUEST EDITORIAL
Goffstown spending: Keeping it in check
By NEW HAMPSHIRE
UNION LEADER, Tuesday, January 4, 2011
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The Goffstown Budget Committee has recently done what elected officials elsewhere have been very reluctant to do: make significant cuts to public budgets.
The committee cut the proposed school budget by $2.3 million and the proposed town budget by $1.8 million.
These were not easy moves. For instance, the committee eliminated $860,000 from the Goffstown High School budget.
To get to that number, the committee removed three custodian positions and cut the heating oil budget by 30 percent.
The board of selectmen proposed a 3 percent spending increase.
The budget committee turned that into a 7.5 percent budget cut.
Budget committee members had to know they would take heat for their proposed reductions, and they have.
But they had the guts to do them anyway in an effort to keep tax rates down, which is more than can be said for a lot of public officials at any level.
On top of that, budget committee member Guy Caron has created a website,
www.goffstownbudgets.com, to better inform the public about town spending.
Talk about being public-spirited.
Other New Hampshire municipalities should take note. In Goffstown, at least some officials are putting the taxpayers first.
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