Shep Brown's

[tis]

Originally Posted by tummyman

Remember the Boston Tea Party.....taxation without representation? It is high time for lakefront property owners to all organize and press for towns to have a separate voting list to allow all property owners the opportunity to vote on TOWN budgets and TOWN elected officials. There is no reason why all taxpayers cannot vote on local items...other than the fact that the "residents" would never open up their closed process.

But you can't vote in two places. There is no law that says you can't make yourself be heard at the selectmen's meetings. But it would have to be a group for them to pay attention. They will ignore one or two people.

[webmaster]

Originally Posted by tis

But you can't vote in two places.

I thought I had heard of areas that allowed non-resident property owners to vote on local issues and apparently it is becoming more common:

...in a growing number of states, local governments are free to enact ordinances permitting nonresidents to vote in some elections such as bond and tax elections ...This law has been invoked by resort towns and villages in Colorado such as the Town of Mountain Village near Telluride in the southern part of the state to give owners of real property the right to vote provided they have held at least a 50% ownership interest (fee title) in the property for a specified period of time.

https://www.ncsl.org/research/electi...elections.aspx

[rick35]

Who would vote that in? The same people who vote in everything except anything for summer residents? There would have to be something in it for the town that they don’t already have. In those cases it would be celebrities and their money.

[bilproject]

Originally Posted by rick35

Who would vote that in? The same people who vote in everything except anything for summer residents? There would have to be something in it for the town that they don’t already have. In those cases it would be celebrities and their money.

Only 2 states at this time allow voting by non-residents, Connecticut and Delaware. The law there allows anyone paying property tax in excess of $1000/year to a municipality to vote on bonds, town budget and for local town officials. They exempt school budgets as a non-resident has no children attending schools. The catch is that the laws leave it up to the local municipalities to enact ordinances to allow the state law be applied to non residents in that municipality. The change in some local towns around the country came about due to taxpayer, you might say revolts, with non-residents banding together and threating to withhold their tax money in escrow unless they had the right to vote on how to spend it. Ocean City New Jersey non residents (a shore community of second homes paying 70% of the local taxes) attempted to get state law enacted mirroring Delaware. The bid was ended when the town took on a new attitude and listened to the non resident's concerns and addressed their concerns in a meaningful way. Something municipalites in NH that depend largely on non resident taxes should heed. In all cases tax paying non residents had valid concerns about municipal services and spending. They did not pursue efforts to have their taxes reduced, but to be treated the same as residents that were taking advantage of the non residents lack of voting rights.

[fatlazyless]

Meredith annual town meeting, Wednesday night, March 11; starts at 7-pm, finishes at maybe 11-pm(?) at the Inter-Lakes High School auditorium is when and where the town meeting vote for the four million dollar library addition is held.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is the single word that best describes the Meredith Library! ........

[AC2717]

I Believe you should be able to vote in local elections if you own property in that locality. It cannot be considered double voting if I am voted for two different mayors or city councilmen in two different towns or states for that matter.