This will be my last report before the November 4 election. Yes, it has been two years since the voters of Merrimack District 1 — Andover, Danbury, and Salisbury — did me the honor of electing me to the New Hampshire legislature. I want to thank all who wrote letters endorsing my re-election; your support is what makes it all worthwhile.
On the budget: We came out of 2014 with a $20 million surplus for 2015.
The surplus, while a good thing, did fall short by about $8 million, and some departments may have overspent. This means difficult decisions await us for 2015, but I have no doubt that we will find a way to balance our budget in the next year.
In the past two years, I have kept my focus on our three towns. Whether it was going after flood control money for Salisbury, making sure Concord knew that Danbury did not want a wind farm, and lobying the DOT to make sure that the Green Crow bridge and Highway 127 were taken care of, I have tried to keep our three towns on the map.
Being only one of 400, I could not have done this without the help of my buddies, David Karrick and Andrew Hosmer. Both had my back, and we made a good team. I would urge everyone to keep this team intact in the November election. I found that state representatives and senators have an immediate and positive impact on constituent services, being “embedded,” as it were, within our population.
In the next two years, I intend to bring to the fore what I believe is the single most important issue facing our towns and constituents: our ever-rising property taxes. This is the elephant in the room that both parties have ignored.
Because of budget constraints, both parties have had to eliminate revenue sharing to our towns. This simply cannot go on. For all our residents, especially young families starting out and the elderly on a fixed income, this has become an intolerable burden. This a fight I am ready to take on.
I respectfully ask for everyone’s vote on Tuesday, November 4. I am always available at 735-5440 or at MarioRatzki@nullgmail.com.