Quote:
Originally Posted by fatlazyless
Hey Skip, there was a front page article earlier this week, like maybe on Tuesday, in the Laconia Daily Sun which talked about the Meredith $350,000 short by the state. It seemed to make it clear that the governor can decide to change the local distribution money-sharing rate of the 8% meals & lodging tax and did not mention that it required an act by the legislature. Judging from the comments of the selectmen, in reaction to a new $350,000 shortage, it sure sounded like a done deal.
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The Governor has proposed, through his annual budget request, to have the State retain all revenues generated from the 8% roomms & meals tax and further to increase the tax from it's current 8% to a new level of 8.75%.
The Governor in this State has virtually no independent powers, having almost all of his executive actions requiring ratification from the Executive Council and his budgetary requests must be passed into law by the legislature.
No, the governor cannot arbitrarily raise the romms & meals tax, nor can he re-direct those revenues without authorization from the legislature.
There have been many articles in the past few weeks discussing the Governor's wish to keep all rooms & meals tax money in Concord, and no longer share this revenue directly with local communities. Many of these same communities are deep into their budget process and hence are concerned about this potential loss of revenue, and are adjusting their budget requests accordingly. In none of the articles I have read, including the one you cite, have I seen anyone declaring this change has taken place or that the Governor can implement such a change by himself.