Monthly Archives: February 2014

Cheaper alternatives for Bow public safety building proposed
By ALLIE MORRIS, Monitor staff
February 17, 2014

Upset by costly plans to build a new public safety building, a group of Bow residents has successfully petitioned to put a far less expensive alternative before voters at town meeting.

For the second year in a row, the selectmen support plans to build a new public safety building that would house the fire, emergency management and police departments. Last year, voters narrowly rejected a $7.7 million proposal; since then, selectmen cut nearly $1 million from the project. If it fails again, voters will take up a fallback plan: a $6 million renovation of the existing building.

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Bow is Becoming Unaffordable
Thursday, February 13, 2014

As we are faced with proposals for higher spending and taxes again in Bow this year, we should consider the declining value of the coal-powered power plant.

The valuation of PSNH’s Merrimack Station recently dropped by another $50 million. From 1996 to the present, the assessed value of Merrimack Station has dropped from $303 million to just under $100 million. Because of market conditions and federal policies disfavoring coal as a fuel, Merrimack Station no longer generates power year round. Bow can no longer assume that Merrimack Station will be a substantial contributor to the tax base.

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