Laconia protesters demand reps restore arts, higher education funding in state budget

LACONIA — Protesters gathered at Busy Corner Friday afternoon to “demand a better budget” in response to cuts proposed by Republicans on the House Finance Committee in Concord. 

Those in attendance expressed displeasure for the budget, which includes cuts to higher education, funding for the arts, tourism promotion and other state programs and services. Proponents of the cuts say they’re necessary in order to achieve a balanced budget in the face of reduced revenues. 

The state’s Interest and Dividends Tax was repealed effective Jan. 1. That tax was introduced in 1923, and levied tax on interest and dividends income. It garnered the state over $184 million in 2024, about $37 million more than in 2023.

Cuts to higher education received particularly strong criticism from those gathered downtown on Friday. At the beginning of the budgeting process, lawmakers serving on the House Finance Committee said they needed to cut somewhere in the neighborhood of $800 million from the budget originally proposed by Gov. Kelly Ayotte to meet projected low revenue.

The House Finance Committee proposal includes reductions in staff at state agencies, including 190 from the Department of Corrections, and the elimination of the Office of the Child Advocate, which is meant to monitor the Division for Children, Youth and Families, according to Seacoastonline. 

State spending for the University System of New Hampshire would be significantly reduced, by $50 million over two years. 

Protesters stood in defiance of the cuts Friday afternoon at the center of the highly-traveled intersection of Church Street and Union Avenue, commonly referred to as Busy Corner, holding signs and speaking with passersby.

Eliza Leadbeater was among those in attendance at the protest, and said she’s shown her support or opposition in public throughout her life.

“Of course back then the thing was ‘ban the bombs’ in the 1950s,” she said Friday. “And then it was Vietnam.”

Leadbeater said the lifestyle in New Hampshire is good, and significant cuts to important state programs are unnecessary, in her opinion, perhaps doing more harm than good. She noted proposed cuts to libraries and the arts are particularly worrisome, and didn’t like the way politics at the state level — particularly the way the budget process played out — may have impacted decisions regarding funding to outside agencies at the county level. 

Lew Henry was among the first of the group to arrive, taking his place next to the crosswalk on Church Street at the beginning of the protest.

“I’m hoping that all of the cuts to necessary projects stop,” Henry said. 

“Yesterday the Republican majority on the House Finance Committee passed their extreme partisan budget. Republican politicians like Ken Weyler are claiming that there isn’t enough revenue, so they have to cut services that Laconians depend on, and push more costs down to the city — which will drive up our property taxes even more,” Laconia Democratic Committee Chair Jason Sproul wrote on Friday afternoon. “Republicans have had control in Concord for a decade, and have used it to give irresponsible handouts to their ultra-wealthy and big business donors. The Sununu-Ayotte-GOP cuts have not paid for themselves, and have not created jobs, but Republicans are protecting their failed policies anyway.”

Sproul continued to encourage citizens to express their opinions to their representatives in the Statehouse. 

“We are out today to let all Laconians know what their Republican representatives are doing in Concord, and asking them to #DemandABetterBudget that serves ordinary Granite Staters instead of serving the ultra-wealthy and big corporations,” Sproul wrote. “We encourage all Laconians to get the facts at nhbudget.nhdp.org and call their representatives before the full House vote next Thursday.”

Nicole Arsenault was also in attendance at the Busy Corner protest on Friday, and said grassroots politics are important in influencing actions taken by state lawmakers. 

“I just know you have to start at the bottom to make a difference,” she said.