By Charles M. Arlinghaus From the print edition of the Union Leader Although the State of New Hampshire was prevented from taking what has always been considered private property in the so-called JUA case, it has come up with a clever scheme to pass convoluted rules that it thinks will allow it to transfer the cash to state control as a partial fix to the state budget crisis. In reality, it merely assures the state will again lose in court and rack up large legal fees.Read More>>

(CONCORD) Bond market investors continue to see New Hampshire as a safe bet, as they scooped up $150 million in newly issued capital bonds yesterday. State Treasurer Catherine Provencher offered $90 million in tax-exempt state bonds and $60 million in Build American Bonds, which are partially subsidized through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Provencher tells NH Watchdog that the bond sale was "very successful".Read More>>

By CHARLES M. ARLINGHAUS From the print edition of the Union Leader It’s hard to pick the biggest problem in state government because the most immediate crisis obscures all others. We spend a lot of time focused on the $600-$700 million budget problem we face in January – as well we should – but it keeps us from noticing the slower growing problems that pose a long term threat. One such problem is the state’s debt that creeps slowly along like an invasive species of plant that will eventually choke out everything else if we don’t notice it soon. Like most states, New Hampshire divides its budget into an operating budget to pay for regular expenses and a separate Capital Budget used to borrow money theoretically for long term expenses like new buildings or other items that aren’t paid off in just one year. The governor and legislature pay a great deal of attention to the regular budget, at least the general fund portion of it. However, the capital budget is not often the subject of debate and rancor. Generally, people assume we have to borrow money for some capital expenses and there really isn’t much to debate.Read More>>

(CONCORD) New Hampshire's debt has grown by 30% over the last five years. According to official documents provided to potential bond buyers ahead of tomorrow's planned sale of $150 million in new debt, the General Obligation Debt climbed from $634 million at the beginning of Fiscal Year 2006 to $823 million at the end of FY 2010.Read More>>

(CONCORD) New Hampshire Treasurer Catherine Provencher is preparing this year's annual General Obligation Bond Sale four months earlier than last year. The state is preparing to borrow $150 million in General Obligation Capital Improvement Bonds in order to pay for the state's capital budget, construction projects in the University System, and Building Aid payments for local school construction projects. According to the Preliminary Official Statement (POS) provided to potential investors last week, the state is looking to sell $90 million in traditional tax-exempt bonds, and $60 million in Build America Bonds. These bonds were authorized under last year's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and are taxable, but the federal government provides a 35% subsidy on the interest to the state issuing them. This federal stimulus subsidy brings the effective interest rate of Build America Bonds down to 3.5% to 4%, depending on the market at the time of the sale.Read More>>

In this morning's Union Leader, State Treasurer Catherine Provencher takes issue with some of the statistics I cited in last week's column on New Hampshire debt. The Treasurer is right that I accepted the accuracy of the federal government's data and we should check it more. They measure something different than Moody's does and than the state measures and we need to investigate it. I suspect we look relatively better when using GDP or Personal Income, which are higher than average in NH and we look relatively worse when using taxes which are relatively low in the aggregate in NH. Probably both data points have their uses. The census data purports to be comparing debt to total tax burden as opposed to general fund tax burden which may explain part of the difference.Read More>>

The Concord Monitor's Matthew Spolar reports on the pay-as-you-throw trash system making its way to Hopkinton.Read More>>

State Treasurer Catherine Provencher has a column in the print edition of this morning's Union Leader on New Hampshire debt. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the finances behind New Hampshire government.Read More>>

Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Cameron Smith of the American Action Forum look at the premise that the European-style Value Added Tax, or VAT, fuels the growth of government spending more than other sources of revenue. Their results provide strong evidence that the VAT is indeed a "'money pump' that causes government to grow too large."Read More>>

Grant Bosse, Scott Tranchemontagne, and Ambassador George Bruno join host Charlie Sherman for WGIR's Political Roundtable. Topics will include President Obama's speech on Iraq, and the latest polls and TV ads in the New Hampshire Senate race. Listen live from 8-9 on WGIRam.com.Read More>>