Selectmen Bean's statement that “We’ve got guys looking for pay raises that haven’t gotten pay raises in a long time” has been researched by us, Rational Taxpayers of Hampton.

Here is our research findings.

Mr. Griffin’s comparisons to other towns are fantasy.

“While the tax rate has increased, Griffin said it’s important to note that Hampton’s tax rate is still relatively lower than in neighboring towns. I look at what’s going to be happening in Exeter and Newmarket. Hampton’s tax rate is a bargain compared to some towns like Durham,” Griffin said. “Hampton’s tax rate is not going up as fast as the other towns around it.”

Selectmen Griffin's tax comparisions reflect not "relatively lower tax rate", but in fact actual fantasy.

For 2016 the Town Manager has proposed over forty tax impact warrant articles to the Board of Selectmen in addition to the operating budget. Although the 2016 operating budget itself is fairly flat when compared with last year’s budget, the basic ploy here is to have the ...

We are especially concerned that the selectmen need to exercise diligence in their administrative duties. The idea that the Board of Selectmen have given a salary increase in excess of 50 percent or $30,000 to one employee, but have no money for part time employees is blatantly unfair. In addition, the BOS have violated their own purchasing policies by awarding over $2 million in the trash disposal and hauling contracts to designated vendors resulting in a lawsuit that ultimately saved the town several hundred thousand dollars. These are egregious examples of sloppy oversight and/or cronyism. The taxpayers of Hampton can ill afford to have lazy selectmen and weak town administration, if the town expects to have a bright future.

The Town Manager and Board of Selectmen are fast tracking an “emergency request” to the State of New Hampshire Department of Revenue for approval to withdraw funds from the Town’s undesignated fund balance to

The authors of the Yellow Sheet suggested voting no on article 23, requesting $126.8K for capital spending on the air system for the library. While we felt was too much money on the project and we have had little confidence in the administration and transparency of the library’s historical practices. We did receive further information about the project that resulted in our reversal of our position and a support for the article. The capital spending is needed to maintain both a good environment for the books and patron comfort and will result in a reduction of future maintenance costs.

The Town Manager’s comments are so far from the truth that they can accurately be described as pure fantasy and a violation of the public trust.

The facts associated with the budget process, based on the attached document which I believe was distributed by the Finance Director to the Budget Committee, are as follows: