State: Revenues off $38m so far

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This is no suprise to anyone that's not in a political office. Raise, raise raise, taxes, when you don't raise taxes, let's make new ones or new fees. This year, I sold my 30ft camper, sold my mustang convertible, did not register my my motorcycle or my 1 ton truck. I did register my lincoln with vanity plates. I hope the increase to my one car's plate, offsets the loss of the 4 others.
- Craig McIntosh, Allenstown

Any surprise?

Remember last spring when "financial genius" Kevin Clougherty (DRA) came out and adjusted revenue projections upward and said that the budget would now be balanced.

Manchester got rid of this guy and now the whole state is stuck with him. When is HE going to come out and admit he was wrong and apologize to the taxpayers?
- Bill, Bedford NH

What I fore see them doing is a sales tax and state income tax. You all wanted change. Your reps never lied they held up their end, with big spending change.

You all wanted to jump on the change bandwagon, and got the change(big spending).

The difference between me and them is "I promise change, without the spending".
- JamesWebb4stateRep(Republican), Manchester

Jay Collins, Laconia, if you can do better, run for Guv then.
- The Other Jake, Manchester

It's common knowledge to non-Democrats that higher prices lead to fewer purchases. That applies to government services as well. Why get EZ Pass without the discount? I'm not going to renew my vanity next year either.

The only people shocked by this are the power-drunk Dems in Concord who think we like giving them our hard-earned money.
- CDR, Lebanon

Well, I did not renew 2 vehicles, ditched the vanity plates on 3 of them, did not renew the boat and registered the car trailers through Maine with 12 year semi-perm registrations instead of in NH. You Dems...just keep it up and continue to devestate the economy. I cannot wait until 2012. No Dems will get my vote.
- Jim, Nashua

Let me take the time to say. We have to balance the budget and cut taxes before it to late. That mean STOP PORK SPENDING NOW! We the people and govt. need a open door policy that keep everyone working for the same goal. Balance Budget and cutting taxes. No pork spending ament!!!Without this our taxes will keep going up and NH will go broke.Pray for God help in our time of need. Let also pray to stop greed.
- mo, plymouth

Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, D-Manchester, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, argued the state is better off than any surrounding states.

"Once we get this state employees contract under control and get a decision from the Supreme Court, we'll move forward and manage this budget in a proper manner," he said.

So are you saying the contract was allowed to be out of control? Why does it have to be held under control now when it was never considered out of control before?

Also John Sununu said, "Bloated estimates and reckless spending have forced New Hampshire into a fiscal crisis." This is correct in the sense that everyone has been reckless in spending. When you had years of people over indulging with mansion type houses & expensive cars, etc. Now these same people can't pay what they did before, where the state & towns are falling back on long time state & local employees to foot the bill. It never got really better especially for local employees when times were good. You don't see local employees who are millionaires do you.....
- Dave, Manchester

Hey Concord, believe it or not, we citizens of the state can still control some of our spending and choose to send a message by not spending so freely and filling the state coffers. When my income drops, I cut spending; it's time the state does the same.
- Matt F, Center Barnstead

Do I smell another tobacco tax increase? Gas tax increase? Rooms and Meals tax increase? NH nailed the smokers in January 2009 with a tax increase then the US Government followed suit in June 2009 with an across the board increase in tobacco tax. NH is so smart (sarcastic) in raising those taxes that it has forced some to quit smoking, driving for leisure and dining out and they wonder why revenues are down in October? Gimmie a break! Build the Casino and they will come with all their money! Who knows – maybe even other nearby states will bus their residents to OUR casino!
- Karen B., Manchester

"Once we get this state employees contract under control and get a decision from the Supreme Court, we'll move forward and manage this budget in a proper manner," he said.

So is Lou admitting that they have not been managing the budget in a proper manner? What a buffoon! I have said it before, Liberals are their own worst enemies...Open mouth, insert foot! 2010 can't come quick enough. How about a tax cap for the entire state?
- Kyle, Bedford

Shocking.
The state raises the budget by nearly 30% in the last two legislative sessions, creates dozens of new fees and taxes as well as increasing many existing ones and then they wonder why they're not coming close on the revenue. I'm not registering my extra car (a 1995 ford aspire) because I don't use it often and it costs another 35$. I'm not eating out as much because the tax is now nearly 10% on prepared foods. I didn't register my snowmobile because it went up to nearly 100$. I didn't register my motorcycle because it went up 30$. Cigarette smokers are cutting back because the taxes went up. Out of state pistol permits are down because the fee went up 500%. The list goes on and on. Stop spending money. Businesses should be providing "services", not the state!
- Jeremy, Concord

Concord has spent more than they have brought in ! I`m shocked. Here is a simple formula. Figure out what you have first, then do your budget. Of course the libs spend first, then go after us for the money. Our elite moonbats claim my way is too simple and things can`t be done that way. There is only one problem with their claim. As anyone who has to balance a household budget knows, my method works! Can the liberal moonbats make the same claim? Judging by their track record, I think not.
Looking forward to 2010!
- Vic, Derry

The state should not have goals when it comes to taxes. Unless the goal is to lessen or get rid of them entirely.
- DM, Hampton

Just remember what lever you pulled when you voted. Vote for the DEMS you get the screws.
- Pete, Pem-broke nh

If they had been smart and passed the gaming plan, at least there would be a light at the end of the tunnel. Bleak, bleak outlook ahead folks.
- Steve, Manchester

This is not a black and white solution as many are striving or hoping for. Yes, revenues are down. Yes, the budget should be pared to reflect the downturn in revenues. But, there are many cost drivers here that are beyond one Governor’s or one Legislative Session’s (Republican or Democrat) control. One such example is employee costs, especially contractually obligated medical and retiree costs are continuing to rise blind to the economy (whether or not the state should have signed these contracts is a separate issue for the moment). A second such is infrastructure maintenance. The roads and highways of the state have to be maintained (not even talking about expansion, such as I-93) and the older the roads gets without maintenance, the more the costs go up. Where will the money come from?
- Will, Salem NH

State TAX revenues (can this be true in supposedly tax FREE NH?) are off the mark, but that should be no surprise. What are the state's politicians to do? Ah yes, penalize the poor, low waged workers and hire new, private (for profit and greed) sector contractors with political crony (grossly over-paid, extremely under-worked, do nothing productive all day) appointees (foxes) to watch the hen house! Unfortunately, that has all been tried in the past -- without positive results.
- Gary L. Kerr, Chichester

The Dept of Administrative Services is not responsible for collecting "court fines". There is an agency in DAS called the Office of Cost Containment and they collect fees owed to the state for individuals who use public defenders and Guardians ad Litem, as well as other services.

Court fines and public defender fees are two totally different things.
- Jennifer, Hooksett

We all saw this coming. Of course tax revenues are down, people just don't have the disposable income to go out to eat, have vanity plates, buy lottery tickets, etc., etc. Just because the State feels it needs more money doesn't mean we have it to give. Like Jason in Dunbarton said, we can't just ask for more money from our bosses (no raises this year!) so that we can pay more in taxes and fees - instead we have to cut back on unnecessary items. I just don't understand why the officials in Concord don't understand that.
- Molly, Manchester, NH

To paraphrase Lou D'Allesandro, "once the horse is out of the barn, we'll go looking for it."

His comments might be the most irresponsible drivel we've seen in a long time. I understand that neither he nor Gov. Lynch want to send the Supreme Court the impression that they can easily make the cuts to state spending that would damage their case regarding the JUA funds, but it appears that these folks aren't even contemplating beginning the process of looking for cuts.

This is absurd. The $45 million hole in general fund revenues (offset by a $7 million surplus in education funds) gives them all the impetus they should need to begin the process of looking for cuts.

Forget the Supreme Court, start giving the state's residents some reason to think their "leaders" are not asleep at the switch.
- Glen, Manchester, NH

The Department of Administrative Services. How big is this department and how many departments like it do we have now in this state to pay for?

Did anyone in this department notice the layoffs in the millions taking place the past year or so and consider that maybe that alone would mean a revenue shortfall, even as government grew around 3% and raised taxes?

Are people starting to understand the concept of why small government is better yet? Ask yourself how much of every dollar taken by government gets eaten up by administrative costs and red tape. No government can ever compete with Charities; just don’t expect your government to admit it.
- Deb, Derry

Month after month & year after year the NH democratic party shows how useless it is in controlling spending and fashioning a proper budget. This crowd in Concord is by far the worst collection of fools & clowns to ever run NH.
- Jay Collins, Laconia

And this surprises whom, exactly? Oh, right: those who don't understand that when you raise the cost of doing business, you get less business.

When you raise the price of your products, revenues often drop. That's why successful businesses respond to falling revenues by having a sale, not by raising prices.

I know that the revenue from non-resident Revolver & Pistol Licenses wasn't huge, but I'm willing to bet that after raising the price from $20 to $100, the state actually takes in less money at the higher rate. And that's just one example.
- Kevin, Lancaster

Sen. Lou D'Allesandro wants to wait till the supreme court makes decision and they get a new state contract. This is outragous they need to deal with the budget know. The fact that we are better off than states around us is no concern. We have budget problem that needs to be delt with. Vote out the incumbents from both the federal and state that's the best solution.
- Brad, Goffstown

Is this not why those we elected are being silly in deciding how much to spend, then taxing for it rather than deciding how much revenue we have then determine how to best allocate funds?

Imagine if you went to you source of income (your boss), and said, "You have to pay me $250,000, I need to buy a new house." Economics doesn't work that way.

Economics works by saying, "I made/make this much, how much can I spend?"
- Jason, Dunbarton