Spending cap foes: Lame arguments so far

You have to wonder what really motivates those who oppose a cap on spending Manchester taxpayers' money. The arguments they have mustered to date are lame in the extreme.

First and foremost is the idea that a spending cap is the road to damnation. Nonsense. Several New Hampshire cities and towns have spending or tax caps. They include Derry, Nashua, and Laconia, in addition to tiny Franklin, which has become the whipping boy for the anti-cap crowd in recent weeks.

Funny thing about Franklin. A group comprised largely of Manchester public employees commissioned an economist to study why caps are bad things. The economist chose Franklin, which is the state's smallest city and hardly comparable to Manchester. It also has a tax cap as opposed to Manchester's proposed spending cap. But never mind the details.

Franklin's mayor supports the tax cap. Franklin's voters reelected the mayor last week. Hmmm.

Second anti-cap argument: It "locks" cities into spending less and jeopardizes bond ratings and needed capital projects.

No, it doesn't. A two-thirds vote of the aldermen can override the spending cap, which is tied to the rate of inflation. A two-thirds vote can also exempt certain capital projects from the cap.

Would an override ever really happen? Well, yes. Of all places, it happened in Franklin this year. A taxing error last year put the city in the hole. The council voted 7-1 to override the tax cap. Even though Mayor Ken Merrifield objected (that's the mayor who was just reelected), the override stood.

One critic called Manchester's proposed cap a "blunt instrument." It is hardly that, but it is also clear that with the way taxes have been rising in recent years, the aldermen and school board haven't exactly been wielding a scalpel in fine-tuning spending.

Manchester's cap would not eliminate spending, but it would certainly prioritize it and keep it within check, something that few elected officials have been willing to do. As noted, if a spending issue is a true emergency, we would expect an override vote could be obtained. And if it turned out not to be such an emergency, we expect the votes would be found to oust the aldermen at the next election.

- Printed in the Union Leader on Monday October 12, 2009