Hopkinton Spending Hurts

 Hopkinton has been front and center in the assessment bad news game these days. Pity the poor people who have seen their taxes double and triple. Like you couldn't see it coming.

What you can see coming as well is the “we need an income tax” opinion pieces and letters to the editor from the same old crowd. Nice try.

Hopkinton is one of the wealthiest towns in NH. About 50% of its residents have a bachelors degree. These people are not stupid. They are all about their portfolios. The more land you lock up in conservation, the more the land leftover is worth and the more exclusive the stratified community becomes. The bigger library you build, the bigger the community center you have, the more you spend on schools - the more value you get for your tax-and-spend buck. Chip and Buffy (the environmentalists) sell their home to an even more affluent couple and the cycle continues.

So an income tax, sales tax, vat tax, gambling, you name it, no broad-based tax will ever stop the haves in Hopkinton from spending and zoning the middle-class out of THEIR town.

The technique is called “gentrification,” or better yet, by the term that best describes it, “ethnic cleansing.”

Oh the Planning Board will make sure there will be enough “workforce housing units” to satisfy the “community needs”. Once enough portfolio voters have taken charge it is only a matter of time until the locals will be forced to move on.

Hollis has been at this for years. This year they raised money at the town meeting for a study to see why people can not pay their property taxes. Sweet. More taxes and a lame attempt at covering up what is really going on.

Read the tea leaves in Hanover's 2006 zoning amendments. Anybody out there with enough cash for ten acres in Hanover? An income tax won't stop this.

Full Text of Article 17: Amendment No. 16 Article by Petition:

To remove Planned Residential Developments from the Rural Residential (RR) District.

Full Text of Article 19: Amendment No. 18 Article by Petition:

Requiring a Minimum Lot Size of 10 Acres for Major Subdivisions in the Rural Residential (RR)

District.

There may be time for moderate income and fixed income Hopkinton residents to take their town back from the portfolio voters. To do it they must expose the tax and spenders scheme not fall into the trap of asking Concord for help.

Comments

[Nate D.]

This is a good point. I live in Canaan, NH, in fact I just built a house there. Two years ago my wife and I bought land there, where thanks to no zoning, we were able to afford it. At the time of the land purchase we were living in Lyme, which is a beautiful town but is exactly what you describe. Everyone that lives there is rich and from out-of- state. They all move in and pass zoning ordinances that require minimum lot sizes, and worse, minimum road set backs of 100 feet. Having just installed a 350 foot driveway I can tell you that long driveways are expensive. That combined with minimum lot sizes of 10 acres ensures that working class people like myself will never be able to afford to buy or build a house there.

The land in canaan was and still is (relative to Hanover or Lyme) inexpensive. Developement has also increased because people that work in the Upper Valley and are in the middle class need places to live. Canaan fills that need. Now however, people are also starting to move into town and are demanding a zoning ordinance. If I weren't principled I would surely support this because, as you said, my property values will dramatically increase as locals eventually find it harder to afford to live there. I am principled however and view zoning ordinances as government taking of private property. I urge anyone reading this who lives out my way to attend the public hearings and oppose these zoning ordinances.

If it wasn't for Canaan's lack of zoning, my wife and I would never have been able to afford a new house and acreage on which to start a family.

[Proud of NH]

Hopkinton is reaping what it has sowed. For a small town they spend way too much money.

They spent nearly $400,000 on lawyers to put their largest industrial taxpayer out-of-business. That makes no sense to me since they are hard-up for the revenue.

Add to that the fact that they are taxing and zoning working class folks out of town - Hopkinton's selectmen are moving that town in the wrong direction. They need a lession in sorces and uses of revenue.

[Ed Naile]

Nate and Proud of NH:

Careful, careful, boys! Aren't we getting a little toooo insider here.

Oh well, since we came this far............. let me confess.

Every night before I lay my over-sized head down on my little burlap pillow I start to dream:

of a town where we vote to zone areas “No McMansions”

of a town where everyone is allowed to have a “parts car” for every registered car, tractor, or snowmobile they own

of a town where Boca Code is known as the “b” word

of a town where the minimum lot size is anywhere you can build a home or sugar-house, and the maximum lot size yuppies can own is nothing above 10 acres you can't actively farm yourself, excluding show horses

of a town where the local police are not allowed to have radar so they get something done that has meaning

of a town that has as more voters show up at the annual meeting than there are town employees and teachers

of a town where you walk over to your neighbor and say “Sure I would like to target practice with ya” and all the other neighbors who hear gunshots then bring ammo and join in

of a town where the loudest tax-and-spend liberals just can't seem to find anyone to mow their lawn, split their wood, or watch their house while they are in Cabo

of a town where most folks don't automatically wrench up their guts at something trivial or not politically correct their neighbor does, then try to draft a law to stop it.

we could name that town Heaven