These are comments from Sandown residents who took the time to write notes of appreciation to my husband and me for our efforts at Deliberative. We are most grateful for the support and continued encouragement. I’m sharing them so the world can see the depth of concern in our community.
- Thank you for all your hard work. It is too bad so many don’t see the truth. I pay over $5,000 in real estate taxes but have no vote in Sandown because we no longer live there. I have rented my house because I was unable to sell it for $175,000 when we paid over $244,000 for it. Please keep up the fight for the town. Your dedication is greatly appreciated.
- Not only is it harder to pay these outrageous increases – but if you want to move – good luck selling. The first question people ask is “How are the schools?” followed by “What is the tax rate?”
- I wanted to thank and applaud the efforts you and Arthur put forth-strong work->VERY strong and courageous work. You spoke respectfully and were incredibly well prepared. And I do believe, even though we got beat back somewhat last night, you have opened many eyes. Please keep up the good work. (our taxes went up 38% last year)
- I want to thank you and Arthur for all the work you put into your presentation last night. You fought a good fight and I hope that the “for the children” crowd will not deter you from continuing to educate those of us that are not dialed in so we can spread the word and try to end the culture of endless money and bloated administrations.
- I would like to work on this to understand how to redirect the costs and get control as a community. We are in a dire situation. Our property values will continue to fall, we have one of the worst markets in Rockingham county. Still no rebound, still lots of foreclosures and this will continue and drive down values.
- We want to take this time to thank you for efforts on behalf of the tax payers of Sandown, they were greatly appreciated. It was dishearting that more people from Sandown did not show up to support your effort. Perhaps after another tax increase they will finally get it.
And this note before Deliberative:
- Thank you for standing up for the residents of Sandown. Taxes are out of control and I watched the [budget committee] meeting and nobody cared at all about being fiscally conservative at all, except for you. They just keep giving you the runaround. It was sickening to watch. Typical big government tactics. Keep up the pressure. Wish we had a lot more like you!
THANK YOU ALL! These are serious issues that can be tackled if we work together. Our strong showing at Deliberative was heard by the administration.
For those who would like to see my presentation from Deliberative, here it is:deliberative slideshow rev feb 6
timberlaneandsandown 
Thank you for your presentation at the deliberative session. I wanted to make a comment but had not prepared one ahead of time. Can you tell me how the division of taxes is allocated among the 4 school districts? I was really appalled by the lack of parity between and felt that the people from Plaistow and Atkinson might have had a different perspective if their taxes were impacted the same way. For example if my taxes had gone up $100, I would not have been there, out taxes went up $800 and probably will be another $500 next year. I would like to understand if the educational tax burden is driven by head count or just divided across the 4 towns? Does industry in those other communities help to keep their tax rates lower?
Hello Fred,
The operating budget is divided among the four towns based essentially on head count. Once divided the amount of state aid is subtracted and the remainder is divided by the valuation of the town to determine the tax rate. The larger the valuation the smaller the tax rate and yes, Atkinson and Plaistow have larger valuations (tax bases) dampening the impact on tax rates caused by an increase in the amount required to pay Timberlane.
As you can see there are 2 variables that can impact our tax rates significantly, head count and state aid. In Sandown head count was up and state aid was down and as a result your rates increased greater than the other three towns. What also did not help was the revaluation this year. If you’ve been enjoying an assessment lower than actual value for years you were caught up and your rate increased more than 8%, sounds like this was your scenario. Some in Sandown had much lower than an 8% increase because their assessment had been too high for the previous years (i’ve heard some increases in the 4% range). The Green’s increased just over 11% (they’ve been enjoying being under valued for years), close to your 12.32% increase.
In case you’re wondering how I know anyone can search this information here: http://gis.vgsi.com/SandownNH/Search.aspx
I hope this helps.
Rob