Category Archives: Article Archive

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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Bow Doesn’t Need a $7 Million Firehouse
By Chuck Douglas
Monday, February 10, 2014 

The Bow Fire Department does a great job because last year there were 12 structure fires (same as 2012) with a total loss of only $2,650. Yet in hopes of getting a new $7 million firehouse the fire chief invited the fire marshal to come in last year to write the building up. The fire marshal never goes into a town to inspect its fire facility unless the town asks him to do so. To see the fire marshal letter go to bowtaxpayers.org. That is like asking the IRS to come audit your business.

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Do we need a $316,000 traffic circle? Warrant article 10 provides:

10. To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $316,000 to complete the construction of a roundabout at the intersection of Knox Road, White Rock Hill Hill Road and Logging Hill Road, originally approved at the 2010 Town Meeting, and to authorize the withdrawal of up to $316,000 from the Highway Construction Capital Reserve Fund for this purpose.

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Unnecessary Spending in Bow
Monday, January 27, 2014

My family moved to Concord in 1964, and we lived on South Street, a stone’s throw from the Bow town line. I can remember my father lamenting how close he was to the enviable low tax rate paid by those who lived in Bow compared to his in Concord.

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