House Releases HB1, HB2 NH Budget Document

It’s spring in the middle of the biennium and that means that the political rhetoric is flying fast and furious around Concord and Granite State political circles, especially when it pertains to next year’s fiscal budget.

One side thinks that the $11.5 billion budget proposed by Gov. Maggie Hassan, D-Exeter, should be approved and funded completely. Another side thinks that the House Finance Committee budget of about $11.2 billion is the way to go. Liberal activists, social service advocates, and others are attacking it as full of “draconian budget cuts.” Conservatives, on the other hand, are attacking both the House Finance Committee budget and the governor’s budget as too expensive and full of too many taxes and fees.

The current budget, about $10.5 billion, was determined by the governor to be “a fiscally responsible balanced budget – without a sales or income tax – that lives within our means while protecting New Hampshire’s priorities,” according to a statement at the time, so one has to wonder how $700 million in new spending is considered draconian.

Residents of New Hampshire can move beyond the rhetoric and take a look at the latest budget briefing released by the House online. Jim Rivers, the director of House Communications/Policy, sent out a 35-page PDF link to the House of Representative’s site outlining what numbers leaders are working with. The link is here.

“In the interest of transparency in government it is important that we make these documents available so that the public can see exactly what the House members are looking at in making their decisions on the budget,” Rivers said in a statement. “We also made the budget briefings available live on our website and they will be available in the archives.”

Also, here is a link to the governor’s budget proposal from February 2015, so you can compare for yourself.

What do you think? Leave a note in the comment section below.