Officials in Lancaster are asking a former selectman and state representative to return a town-issued stipend, claiming he isn’t entitled to the money because he wasn’t living there.
The request is the latest fallout from a sprawling investigation into Troy Merner’s residency, which prompted his resignation from both the State House and the Lancaster select board.
In a letter dated Jan. 3, Lancaster Town Manager Benjamin Gaetjens-Oleson asked Merner to return a $3,575 stipend covering the 13-month period he no longer lived in town, giving him 30 days to comply. The letter was mailed to a PO Box in Lancaster. Gaetjens-Oleson said Friday that Merner confirmed receipt of the letter but had not yet returned any funds. It isn’t clear what may happen if Merner ignores the request.
Merner did not respond to a request for comment regarding the town’s letter.
Merner is facing criminal charges for wrongful voting after he allegedly continued to vote in Lancaster after moving elsewhere, and Republican legislative leaders are facing scrutiny over their knowledge of his inconsistent residency claims at a time when their party held a razor thin majority in Concord.
Prosecutors have also accused Merner, 63, of wrongly filing a year’s worth of mileage reimbursements for travel to the State House from Lancaster, even after relocating to Carroll in August 2022.
In an affidavit, prosecutors alleged Merner repeatedly lied to or misled investigators trying to determine where he was living between August 2022 and September 2023, when he resigned from both the Legislature and his position on the select board.
Merner waived his arraignment in late December on felony wrongful voting charges. His trial has not yet been scheduled.
House Speaker Sherman Packard has defended his handling of Merner’s residency allegations, claiming he was never presented with proof that Merner no longer lived in the district he was elected to represent. However, records obtained by NHPR show that state prosecutors sent a detailed letter on Merner’s inconsistent claims about his residency to State House leadership in December 2022, nearly a year before he resigned.
House Democrats have criticized Packard, calling for an investigation into why Merner remained in office and why it took the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office nearly a year to file charges.
