Our Turn: Price of Bow project is no myth
by Chuck Douglas and Bryan Gould
March 12, 2014
Four of the five Bow selectmen wrote a column in Saturday’s Monitor that purported to identify and dispel 15 myths about the proposed public safety complex that they have endorsed. We take them at their word when they say that they have heard the 15 “myths” around town. It’s crucial, however, to recognize what the four selectmen haven’t dismissed as mythical.
There is a bit of sleight of hand when the selectmen say it is a myth that taxes will increase if their proposed bond issue passes. As they originally proposed the bond issue, taxes would indeed have increased before the high school bond had been paid off. It wasn’t until their Feb. 25 meeting that the selectmen decided to defer the tax impact of the new bonds until the high school bond is paid in full. Bow residents could be forgiven for not yet being aware of the selectmen’s last-minute change to the terms of the bond.
Lost in the selectmen’s eagerness to assure us that there will be no tax increase is the fact that after 20 years of paying off a very expensive high school, taxpayers were going to see substantial tax relief in 2017. What the selectmen are proposing, though, is that taxpayers continue to pay the same amount for bonded indebtedness as they have since 1997. Instead of paying for a high school, we will be paying for the public safety complex for another 20 years. We are already paying some of the highest taxes in the state, and we should be looking to reduce our tax burden rather than getting into the habit of borrowing and spending at current levels.
Conspicuously absent from the selectmen’s list of myths is the fact that, at $7 million, the proposed safety complex would cost two to three times what similarly sized New Hampshire communities have spent or approved for public safety facilities over the past few years. The Concerned Taxpayers of Bow website has provided multiple examples of far less expensive facilities throughout the state for weeks now.
Even if it were a fair analogy to compare the Bow community building and fire station to a car whose “brakes are worn out, the ball joints shot, and the catalytic converter is finished,” as the selectmen have said, that doesn’t justify entering into debt to buy a Bentley. Yet that is exactly the false choice the selectmen have presented to the town.
No responsible person is suggesting that anyone should use a building that is unsafe, and it is beneath the selectmen to make such a charge.
It is perfectly reasonable for those who are being asked to foot the tab for replacing the building to question exactly what conditions are unsafe. We have spoken directly with the state fire marshal and the town manager about the deficiencies in the building and the cost to repair them. It was based on those discussions that we proposed a petitioned warrant article to repair the wiring at a cost of $225,000 or less. That was the sole remaining deficiency in the building according to the fire marshal. To borrow the selectmen’s analogy again, where the engine and transmission are sound, the frugal owner repairs his car if possible.
It is disappointing that 80 percent of the Bow selectmen are so intent on getting their way that they would nonchalantly dismiss legitimate reservations about the extravagance of their proposal and disparage the motives of those who raise those reservations. That may play in Washington, D.C., but here in Bow it’s just bad manners.
Chuck Douglas is chairman and Bryan Gould is a member of Concerned Taxpayers of Bow. Both live in Bow and practice law in Concord.
This was submitted to the Concord Monitor
