Candidates – Library Trustee: Janet Moore

Candidates – Library Trustee: Janet Moore

I hope to continue as a Library Trustee for at least another three years. My work in a high school library has certainly prepared me, as have years of teaching English and reading voraciously, for promoting all that is wonderful about public libraries. The Andover community has increased its usage of both libraries in the […]

Andover Town Report 2012 Available Online

Andover Town Report 2012 Available Online

The Andover Town Report 2012 is now available online. Town Reports will not be mailed this year (except by special request to 735-5332), so read it online here or pick one up when the printed copies are available after Friday, February 22, at the Town Hall, the post offices, the libraries, AE/MS, or the Transfer Station.

Warrant Article Proposes Increased Elderly Tax Exemptions

By Jim Danforth, Board of Selectmen

New Hampshire statute RSA 72:39a sets forth a procedure for establishing qualifications, procedures, and amounts of property tax exemptions for residents 65 and older. At Town Meeting on Tuesday, March 12, attendees will be asked if they wish to adjust the income eligibility requirements. These exemptions were last adjusted at Town Meeting in 2006. Currently, […]

Proposed Budgets Up Over 4% for 2013

Loss of surpluses and other offsets mean tax rates could rise 9%

By Ed Hiller, for the Beacon

The Andover Budget Committee has finalized its recommended 2013 budgets. The committee members worked hard to balance requests for increased funding for the School and the Town with the desire to keep the growth in property taxes within manageable limits. The budgets they are recommending are the results of these difficult compromises. The recommended 2013 […]

A Revolutionary School Improvement Program

By By Christine Barry, Asst. Superintendent, Merrimack Valley and Andover School Districts

Over the past few years, we have seen many new programs introduced in our public schools across the country. Many of these programs, including No Child Left Behind (NCLB), required more accountability for student learning, yet the definition of what students were expected to learn was never well defined. In fact, there continues to be […]

On The Ballot – March 12, 2013

The Beacon asked every candidate running for a local office to submit 250 words and a picture. Board of Selectmen Duncan Coolidge Howard Wilson Library Trustee Janet Moore Order of Candidates on the Ballot New Hampshire RSA 656:5-a defines the order in which candidates’ names will appear on the ballots. For the sake of consistency […]

Winter Beauty In Andover

By Jay Fitzpatrick
Winter Beauty In Andover

Since the last snow storm, I had been thinking about photographing the reflections of snow-covered evergreens in a slow-moving river. On January 16 we got about six inches of new snow and when I woke up the following morning, I could see the sun was coming out. Morning sun, a new blanket of snow, all […]

Homeland Security Urges Residents To Prepare For Storm

Homeland Security press release

The New Hampshire Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management is encouraging state residents and visitors to take precautions in advance of a major winter storm that is expected to strike New England beginning tomorrow. “There is still uncertainty about the exact track of this storm, but it seems certain that New Hampshire will experience […]

Proctor is Latest Area School to Add Solar

“Substantially more cost effective” than fossil fuel

By Kenston Dearborn for the Beacon
Proctor is Latest Area School to Add Solar

Two local schools have seen the value in making a commitment to harnessing solar energy. Both Colby-Sawyer College in New London and Proctor Academy in Andover are prime displays of harnessing the sun’s abundant energy while not spewing waste into the atmosphere or into the environment. You can see Proctor’s solar array when you drive […]

Town Minutes For January 2013

Here are the minutes for Town committee meetings that took place in January 2013. Board of Selectmen: January 7 January 21 Planning Board: January 8 January 22 Zoning Board of Adjustment: January 15 Recreation Committee: January 8 Conservation Commission: January 9 School Board: January 8