Dover: Dave Scott tax cap fails

[KBCraig]

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Tax+cap+petition+foiled+by+technicalities&articleId=ce1d2170-6e1b-4d4e-994b-a66c4cb8907a

Tax cap petition foiled by technicalities

By CLYNTON NAMUO
New Hampshire Union Leader Correspondent

Dover – The future of a petition to institute a tax cap in Dover has been put in jeopardy after city officials rejected it on the grounds that City Councilor David Scott failed to follow proper procedures before organizing the signature drive.

The petition was rejected for four reasons, according to a letter signed by Interim City Clerk Valerie French and dated July 27.

The petition did not have a "petitioners committee" filed for it, there was no affidavit with the petition that included five registered Dover voters and their names and addresses, the petitions were not printed by the city clerk's office and, because of that, the clerk's office did not note when the petitions were distributed, the letter said. Each of the four stipulations is required by state law.

The petition asks to amend the city charter to limit city and school spending and, therefore, taxes, by keeping their budgets in line with the growth in the national Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation.

The charter amendment would also allow the city council to override the spending cap with a two-thirds vote. The amendment is nearly identical to one passed in Laconia in 2005.

The rejection means that for the petition to get on the November ballot, Scott and his supporters will either have to collect signatures a second time -- they had 1,200 when the petition was turned in last Monday -- or they will have to go through the city council.

But the petition must be turned in at least 60 days prior to the election on Nov. 6 and there must be enough time for the city council to hold a hearing on it, giving Scott and his supporters a short window to act.

Also, Scott said at the time he turned in the petition that he was going that route because he didn't believe the city council would pass a tax cap.

Scott was on vacation yesterday and won't be back in Dover until the middle of this month. Before leaving, he said he planned to get the signatures again if necessary.

His friend and supporter Don Medbery, who helped get signatures for the petition, said yesterday he believed city officials were using technicalities to kill the petition and noted that the city did not voice any concerns about the signatures themselves.

"I think that they do that because it's intimidation and when they do that they're trying to limit our abilities to free speech," Medbery said. "What the hell difference does the paper a petition is printed on make as long as it's correct?" Medbery said that with all the attention surrounding the tax cap petition, it will be easy to get the signatures again and supporters are ready to do so, but it remains to be seen whether they will do that or go through the city council.

The council would either have to allow the petition through despite its deficiencies, even though its unclear whether they can even do that, or pass the charter amendment itself.

Mayor Scot Myers said yesterday the council will have to review the tax cap if it makes it that far. He said he has concerns over the amendment's provision to limit spending, which could be a problem if the city had a big bump in revenue in order to meet new spending needs, such as if the state cut funding to city programs but gave the city more money to cover those cuts.

"Under the cap, you cannot count the revenue, you can only count the expenditures," he said, adding "I could certainly work under a cap, but would it be in the best long term interest of the city? Maybe not."

[dawn]

This is ridiculous! Follow all our nitpicky rules or we may just decide to disqualify all your hard work! If the laws are indeed so narrow as to allow such abuses by the gov't officials to happen, I'd say it's high time the law was changed.

[Fluff and Stuff]

More than likely he tried to find the rules and the government would not help him.  The only way to find out the rules was to do it the wrong way.  But now he can do it and get it passed.

[CNHT]

More than likely it's because he's exposed MANY past government scams in his hometown so now he's a target to them and a hero to CNHT.
It's probably that they knew the rules and just did not tell him, on purpose.


See: www.dovertaxpayers.org