New Hampshire Supreme Court Rejects Emergency Appeal On School Budget Cap Vote Denial

By Staff Report, InDepth NH

CONCORD, NH — Two parents whose request to block the school budget cap question from appearing on the November ballot that was shot down by Judge Dan St. Hilaire filed an emergency appeal to the state Supreme Court Wednesday, but that too was quickly denied.

On Thursday, state Supreme Court Justice Bryan Gould wrote a one sentence denial without explanation: “David Bates and Kelly Wieser’s emergency motion for temporary restraining order is denied.”

Bates and Wieser had argued unsuccessfully in Merrimack County Superior Court for a preliminary injunction to block the school budget cap question from appearing on the ballot.

St. Hilaire said they failed to prove they would succeed on the merits, which is needed for a temporary injunction, and failed to prove there would be irreparable harm if the question went forward to be decided in November.

A three-fifths vote is necessary to institute a cap.

“The Court concludes that Plaintiffs have not demonstrated ‘an immediate danger of irreparable harm’ and the absence of an ‘adequate remedy at law’ as to this aspect of their claim,” St. Hilaire wrote in his decision issued Wednesday afternoon.

The question will ask voters to cap school budgets to the rate of inflation plus new construction, to cap school administrative budget increases to six percent of the district’s budget, and to exclude capital costs from the calculations.

The controversial House Bill 1300 passed the legislature with almost all Republican support and was signed into law by GOP Gov. Kelly Ayotte in June.

Although New Hampshire is not a referendum state, the back-door attempt at that comes after almost all school districts who had budget cap proposals on their warrants this spring and last year saw them defeated. One school district voted to study a budget cap last year.

Chairman of the House Election Law Committee Rep. Ross Berry, R-Weare, released the following statement after Democrats filed the emergency appeal to remove the ballot question on capping property taxes prior to the November General Election.

“Democrats already lost in court, and they are now appealing that decision in another attempt to block voters from having the final say on property tax increases. Democrats can keep fighting this from courtroom to courtroom in an attempt to keep raising property taxes, but they will eventually have to face the voters,” Berry said.

This story was originally published by InDepth NH.