Incumbent county treasurer being challenged in primary

The Republican primary contest for Belknap County treasurer pits a long-term incumbent against a competitor with significant experience in municipal operations.

Belknap County Treasurer Michael Muzzey is seeking reelection to the seat he’s held since he was first elected in 2006. He said he views the position as a community service opportunity and not a political position.

“I’ve done a good job, I think. I’ve got respect within the county administration,” Muzzey said Thursday morning. “I’ve had those running the county, county administrators, wishing I’d run for reelection. I’ve considered retiring from it but I decided I’d give it one more term."

Muzzey said the county treasurer is an important position whose primary responsibility is to ensure the county’s bills are paid on time. The treasurer has oversight of the financial operations of the county. 

“That is based upon approval of the commissioners,” he said. “In other words, the commissioners make the determination as to what bills need to get paid, both payroll and operating expenses, and then it’s the treasurer’s responsibility to see that they get paid."

The county treasurer also has the unique responsibility of appearing before the county delegation each spring to request to borrow funds. Once a new budget is approved, a portion of that budget is funded by tax revenue which the county doesn’t receive until December. Until then, the county must borrow money in order to fund its operations.

“I have to go before the delegation and request borrowing every year,” he said. 

Outside of his career with Belknap County, Muzzey worked for Bank of New Hampshire for 40 years, retiring in 2014 as executive vice president and chief information officer. He said he’s also the treasurer for the Laconia condominium association he lives in and has been since 2002, in addition to the condo association he lives in during the winter in Florida. 

“I’ve served on many nonprofit boards in the Lakes Region over the years including the old YMCA and Lakes Region Community Health and Hospice,” Muzzey said. “Lakes Region Scholarship Foundation, I’ve been treasurer of all of those organizations in the past as well.” 

Muzzey said the job of county treasurer is principally about balancing different needs.

“The challenge always is, 'How do we set a budget that makes sure that the services that the county offers, whether it's the nursing home, criminal justice or law enforcement, that they can continue to be funded at a level that provides the service that the people in the county have become used to without overly burdening the taxpayers?'” he said. “Maintaining a superior level of service with a reasonable amount of revenue.”

But Muzzey said he was perplexed, recently, when he noticed a sign advertising the candidacy of his opponent Leo Bernier. 

“There’s signs around town here from somebody that’s running against me — I think this is only the second time in the last 18 years that anybody’s run against me, usually I run unopposed — but he’s got signs out that say something about cutting people’s taxes,” Muzzey said. “The county treasurer has really no responsibility or input to county tax policy.”

Bernier, who lives in Alton, spent 28 years serving the City of Manchester as its clerk and also as its administrator, and later held the position of treasurer of Merrimack County for two terms. 

“We’ll I’m going to try" to lower taxes, Bernier said when asked about his campaign sign. “Only the commissioners and the delegation can do it but I’ll make some suggestions — there’s a surplus and I think we should look at it closely and give the money back to the taxpayers.”

Bernier said he’d been successful in Merrimack County along the same lines in the past.

“When I was a county commissioner, we took $1 million out of the surplus account and sent it back to the taxpayers which gave us a 0 tax increase,” he said. “The guy who’s there now [Muzzey] is a gentleman and if you can’t vote for me, you can vote for him — he’s done a good job, too.”

Bernier said he only filed for candidacy because Muzzey hadn’t yet and he was worried the position might remain vacant. 

“I wish I would have known, I would have never ran against him,” he said. “I just didn’t want the spot to be empty because I believe I could give a lot to the community because of my life experiences.”

But now that he is in the race against Muzzey, Bernier said he’d be the right candidate for the job because of his depth of experience, and he’d work to turn a “mostly ceremonial” position into one of consequence. 

“Unfortunately, through the state law over the years, they’ve taken a lot of responsibility away from the treasurer,” he said. “It’s more a ceremonial position, but my plan is to give input to the commissioners — to make suggestions to make the county better.”

In explaining his declaration that the position is essentially ceremonial, Bernier pointed out the county treasurer’s only real responsibility is to sign off on the budget passed by the county's representatives in the Statehouse and commissioners. Even so, he said he’d use his vast municipal and county-level administrative experience to advise commissioners on county operations and suggest new ways of looking at old problems. 

“The county commissioners really have the final say in the county budget, and the delegates do, too, so my suggestion would be, 'How can we make it better?'” he said. 

He said it's his understanding the county nursing home lacks the sufficient number of staff and that beds go vacant as a result. He said he’d like to set up a program with the New Hampshire nursing schools in order to facilitate on-the-job training at the county nursing home, benefitting nursing students and the county alike.

“You’re losing a lot of money at the federal level if you’re not filling the nursing home up,” he said. “I would really address that issue.”

Muzzey said Thursday morning he’s experienced and passionate about working in local government and is eager to contribute to the success and prosperity of Belknap County. 

“I’ve been involved in government all my life, I’ve had a great experience, and I want to share that experience with Belknap County to improve their facilities,” he said. “I can bring some new, fresh ideas, I believe that.”

“I know that it’s really good to look at everything over again,” he said. 

Voters will choose between Muzzey and Bernier on Tuesday, Sept. 10, during the Primary Election.