Residents in Tilton and Northfield have approved the purchase of a private water company that serves their communities.
Officials there argued that if the towns didn't buy the company, a private company could and perhaps raise rates.
The city of Nashua tried a similar course over two years ago.
They offered to purchase Pennichuck Corporation.
The company, though, refused to sell, and Nashua is now in a costly eminent domain battle.
Now the company is hoping that with Nashua's current budget crisis, the city will give up its plan.
NHPR correspondent Avishay Artsy has more.
T58 NATURAL SOUND – SCHOOLCHILDREN
The Academy of Learning and Technology in Nashua is a school for at-risk teens.
In this classroom a handful of students sits huddled over workbooks and science projects.
Patti Place, the school’s principal, says many of these kids were ignored in the traditional school system.
T61, 2:17 “They are students that have a lot of potential that they haven’t been able to live up to, and we try to give them a small learning community, and programming specifically for at-risk learners… and we try to be the booster shot of education.”
After 3 years in operation, the Academy has 132 students in grades six through nine.
And next year, it expects to cost the city about 1.1 million dollars.
This comes at a time when the city faces a 9.5 million dollar budget shortfall for 2006.
When Nashua's Mayor Bernie Streeter recommended possible budget cuts earlier this month, the Academy was on the list.
But, As Alderman-at-Large Steve Bolton points out anything not mandated by the state could be cut next year.
T47, 3:41 “I’m sure some of these sorts of things will happen, but frankly, I think many of them are in the long-term very detrimental to the quality of life that we want to have here in Nashua.”
Recently The Pennichuck Corporation has been taking advantage of the news of the city's budget problems.
The water supplier has been fighting the city's attempts to purchase it using the powers of eminent domain.
Pennichuck recently bought an ad in local newspapers that quotes city officials and residents outraged by the proposed cuts.
The ad suggests the city could save money by dropping its eminent domain case against the company.
Pennichuck’s president, Don Correll, says local taxpayers could face hundreds of thousands of dollars in unexpected costs.
T46, 6:04 “…Between now and September of 2006 there will be a substantial amount of work that this city and its attorneys and its consultants will be doing, and I assume that they will be expecting to be paid for that, and that will be coming from the city budget.”
The city has spent nearly 700,000 dollars on the effort so far.
But Alderman-at-Large David Deane, who sits on the Pennichuck Special Water Committee, calls the company's ad propaganda.
T53, :04 “They just tend to hinge on anything they can get their hands on. It’s budget season, we have problems, that’s what they’re doing.”
But not everyone was so dismissive.
Alderman-at-Large Bolton says Pennichuck may have a point.
T47, :10 “….. There is indeed a perception that we ought to be doing everything we can to reduce expenditures, so I expect this is one of the things that will be discussed.”
But Brian McCarthy, president of the Board of Aldermen, says the argument for dropping the eminent domain case doesn’t have much merit.
He says the city’s takeover of its water services will benefit residents in the long run.
T54, 1:02 “When we look at community costs and what it costs to live in the community, that’s not just about taxes. It’s also about what it costs to heat one’s home, to pay for housing, and to buy water. And if we reduce the rate of water, which is what we intend to do over time, we make the standard of living for people in the community better, and we make them more able to afford the services that they want.”
Meanwhile the city still has difficult choices to make and officials are still weighing proposals.
They’re worried that making too few spending cuts could lead to a property tax rate hike of close to 14 percent.
They hope to have a budget drawn up by June 30th, when this fiscal year ends.
For NHPR News, this is Avishay Artsy in Nashua
