Why did Belmont take abatement case to Supreme Court?

To The Daily Sun,

Recently the Town of Belmont was handed a defeat in the New Hampshire Supreme Court. No, you didn’t read about it in the newspaper, and it likely was not discussed at a public meeting of the select board. I have no idea, yet, what it costs to take a case to the Supreme Court but I’ll guess it ain’t cheap. And the fact that they (we) lost leaves open the question of the merit of taking a case to such an extreme.

Simply put, you didn’t know about it and there was no downside to those making the decisions. Taxpayers will be forced to pay the legal bills. The bureaucrats have no “skin in the game” so it is easy for them to roll the dice.

You wouldn’t know about it because, most likely, any conversations about the case were probably held in a nonpublic meeting. While our constitution assures us an open and transparent government, and we have RSA 91-A to attempt to hold our public officials accountable, the path to actual adherence to the law is extremely difficult. The New Hampshire Municipal Association works hard to protect those in government from laws that come too close to carrying out the constitutional requirements. You, the taxpayer, fund the operation that keeps you from knowing too much about what goes on at your town hall.

Now back to the loss in the Supreme Court. Put the voice of Paul Harvey in your mind (is anyone under 40 reading this?) as we get to “the rest of the story.” Why did the Town of Belmont take this case to the Supreme Court? They were doing their best to stop a citizen of town from receiving an abatement from his property tax. You see, this gentleman was a seriously disable veteran for whom the law provides an abatement. In the end, I believe, this disabled veteran won his abatement. Not only will the town lose tax revenue (that was going to be the case anyway), but they burned through a pile of taxpayers’ money fighting a losing battle.

Mike Sylvia

Belmont