The three incumbent Republicans representing Sullivan House District 3 are being challenged in the Nov. 3 election by Democrats making their first run for statewide office.
Republicans Steve Smith and Walter Spilsbury of Charlestown and Skip Rollins of Newport will look to retain their seats against Democrats Jeff Kessler of Newport and Lisa DeBartolomao and Timothy Fitzpatrick of Charlestown. The district also includes Unity.
Kessler, 72, has served on the Newport Selectboard for 20 years, is on the Zoning Board of Adjustment and served on the School Board in the 1990s. He is semi-retired, working part-time for a medical device manufacturer.
“The reason I’m running is property taxes,” Kessler said in a phone interview. “On the selectboard we have basically reached the limit of what we can ask people to pay.”
Last May, Newport residents rejected a budget with an 18 cents per $1,000 tax increase because they were upset about paying more in taxes, and with the cost of most everything else increasing, this is the one place they could say no, Kessler said.
“Concord has downshifted a lot of their cost responsibilities to communities for at least the last decade,” he said. “So I hope I can join with other Democrats and a Democratic majority to look at how we can recover some of the revenue they have let slip away and redirect it to the communities.”
One example Kessler said he would be willing to consider is reinstating the interest and dividends tax that was eliminated two years ago. He said in its last year it brought in $180 million.
“It was cut, and no replacement source was ever found. I would not mind looking at bringing it back,” he said.
Cuts to the Business Enterprise and Business Profits taxes have resulted in an estimated loss of revenue of between $800 million and $1.2 billion, Kessler said, citing a study by the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute. Supporters claim the cuts resulted in increased business activity, but Kessler said not enough to make up for lost revenue from taxation.
Regarding HB 1300, the school spending cap that will appear on all ballots in New Hampshire, Kessler said it will not do anything to reduce property taxes and will only force districts into a corner because many of the cost increases, such as health insurance and diesel fuel, they can’t control.
On the issue of Education Freedom Accounts or private school vouchers, Kessler would like the income eligibility cap restored to make sure the money goes to “public school students who need assistance with a voucher. That was the targeted group.”
Kessler said the state’s Housing Champions Program, which benefited Newport, should again receive funding to increase the housing stock.
On data centers, Kessler said they consume a lot of power and water, and create noise but don’t require many workers, so the community would not benefit.
“I am not sure New Hampshire is a good place to site a data center because of the cost of electricity,” he said.
Going back to his main reason for running, Kessler said the property tax problem can be solved by the state meeting its obligations.
“It would be nice to see something that provides a more equitable school funding system across the state,” he said.
Smith, 62, is the Deputy Speaker of the House and is seeking his ninth two-year term.
As he urged two years ago, Smith wants the Legislature to start over when it comes to an education funding formula
“I am trying to convince people how ridiculously convoluted the education funding formula is,” Smith said in a phone interview. “It needs to be thrown in the trash and we start with a blank page.”
Smith said every two years lawmakers set a base adequacy grant amount, then proceed to fight over the rest of the formula. While he said some of his colleagues tell him they agree with his idea, they don’t have the political will to commit to a new approach.
“Everyone seems committed to holding this thing together with duct tape and baling wire and tweak it,” Smith said.
He agrees the goal should be to direct more aid to towns like Charlestown, Newport and Claremont, which don’t have a large property value base.
“I’m going to take a harder swing at this formula” if re-elected, Smith said.
Smith said criticism by Democrats that Education Freedom Accounts take money from public schools is inaccurate.
“Education Freedom Accounts amount to 1.3% of education spending and the money does not come out of the Education Trust Fund,” Smith said. “It is a drop in the bucket of the more than a billion dollars we are spending on education.”
Regarding the school spending cap, Smith said his vote was not whether he was for or against it but whether citizens should be given the opportunity to decide on the measure. “That is a hard thing to say no to,” he said.
If approved by a town, the impact would not lead to lower property taxes, he said, as increases in school spending can be equal to the inflation rate, which is about 4%.
“It slows the increase in spending. That is all,” Smith said. “School taxes are still going up.”
Before the state creates new legislative rules on housing for municipalities, Smith said he thinks the first step should be to find out why it is so expensive to build in New Hampshire. He would like to see the legislature emphasize the need to shorten the permitting time for developers and keep ordinances consistent.
“I don’t think we have done enough to clear those barriers,” he said, adding that once a project receives financing, the developer incurs holding costs and those expenses increase the longer it takes to start a project.
Data centers should be a community’s call, Smith said.
“I’m not there yet on a moratorium. If a community wants one and it doesn’t affect Charlestown, why would I say no?” he said.
Smith said he will continue to oppose an income tax and said cuts to business taxes have proved beneficial to the state with increased revenues. He said former Gov. Maggie Hassan, now a U.S. Senator, vetoed a state budget one year with business tax cuts, claiming it would create a large deficit but instead left a surplus when lawmakers overrode the veto, Smith said. “It is linear thinking that cutting taxes equals less revenue. I have not seen that.”
Fitzpatrick, 27, works part-time with his father in construction contracting and is a student at Keene State College.
“I am hoping to go to Concord and make some meaningful change to do something for working-class people in Sullivan County that the current [Republican] majority seems uninterested in,” Fitzpatrick said.
Property taxes are high on his list of issues he wants to tackle, and one approach would be to change the current Statewide Education Property Tax formula. Instead of towns collecting and keeping the tax revenue based on the rate set by the state, Fitzpatrick would like to see the money collected at the state level and then distributed with wealthier towns contributing more to the Education Trust Fund.
“It would create more equitable funding for taxpayers,” he said.
Fitzpatrick would also look to reinstate the interest and dividends tax, which he said would only affect 10% of residents who can afford to pay.
The school spending cap removes local control in Fitzpatrick’s opinion. Leaving the decision on spending to voters at the annual school meeting keeps the control with residents instead of using the rate of inflation, he said.
Fitzpatrick also said he strongly opposes Education Freedom Accounts.
“There is little data to show it is truly making a difference with working-class constituents, the targeted group,” he said. “There is no clear oversight and no hard requirements for any type of auditing of the program to see how the money is being spent.”
Fitzpatrick prefers a “multi-year” moratorium on large-scale data centers in New Hampshire. He said the technology of artificial intelligence is supposed to make business more efficient by needing fewer workers, but that keeps people out of jobs.
“I don’t support data centers whatsoever,” he said.
If elected, Fitzpatrick will go to Concord and work to lower property taxes and bring in new revenues by collecting more in taxes from the “ultra wealthy” so New Hampshire is no longer a tax haven for those who own three or four homes.
“We need to make New Hampshire more livable for young people and working-class people so they will want to raise a family, start a business, live on their own and have a job here,” Fitzpatrick said.
DeBartolomao, 68, is retired and decided to run for state office primarily as a way to increase state revenues for education and other services and help to lower property taxes. She watched while programs were cut for her grandchildren at Fall Mountain Regional High School, including an agreement with the Springfield, Vermont, technical center.
“I am fed up with the state of the state,” DeBartolomao said in a phone interview. “I think exploring ways to increase state revenue is the best way to lower our property taxes.”
In the last legislative session, DeBartolomao said a bill was introduced to do no more than form a committee to study revenue options for more education funding. HB 1579 was referred to interim study.
“Why wouldn’t you want to form a committee to research ways to raise revenue for your state?” she said. “It doesn’t make sense.”
A few other bills, including one to increase the state’s share of special education funding, also went nowhere, and that needs to change, DeBartolomao said.
Though some Democrats like the idea of reinstating the interest and dividends tax, DeBartolomao wants to be careful because she worries it might affect seniors who depend on the money for living expenses. Instead, closing tax loopholes so the wealthy can’t cut their tax bill to just a few hundred dollars is a better approach, she said.
Legalizing marijuana presents a prime opportunity to raise revenue, DeBartolomao said, citing surrounding states that are bringing in millions in revenue with cannabis sales to many New Hampshire residents.
“Why shouldn’t we profit from that?” she asked.
Another idea DeBartolomao has is to increase the rooms and meals tax on Airbnb rentals by people who live out of state but buy homes in New Hampshire’s tourist area and rent them out.
“I think there should be a way to get a fair piece of that pie,” she said. “Getting more of that tax could help with the income stream.”
DeBartolomao opposes the school spending cap on the ballot, saying it won’t lower property taxes and could box school districts into a corner. If an unexpected major repair is needed, the repair is either put off, which raises the cost, or a program or teaching position is cut.
On Education Freedom Accounts, she would support reinstating an income eligibility cap.
“My goal is to help restore opportunity, affordability and quality of life that once made New Hampshire a place where families could grow and thrive,” DeBartolomao said about her campaign. “I will work across the aisle to support practical, sensible solutions that put families, seniors and local communities first.”
Neither Rollins nor Spilsbury responded to several interview requests.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached a pogclmt@gmail.com.
