Ayotte: Budget cuts made with a 'scalpel not a shovel'

Yahoo

14-02-2025

Feb. 13—Gov. Kelly Ayotte told the Legislature Thursday her two-year, $16.5 billion state budget cuts $150 million in spending "with a scalpel," while providing more resources to expand school choice, retain veteran first responders, thwart drug traffickers, serve students with special needs and help two-year college students fill the jobs in tomorrow's economy.
During her 30-minute address, Ayotte drew an upbeat tone about New Hampshire's future even as she and lawmakers set out to finish writing the tightest and most challenging state budget in a decade.
"This adjustment in General Funds was undertaken smartly and thoughtfully, with a scalpel, not a shovel. It does so without across-the-board cuts and prioritizes those who are depending on services provided by the state," Ayotte said.
"We cut bloated contracts with out-of-state vendors, took a hard look at how our agencies operate and worked with commissioners to dial in spending, and we also found areas to make responsible adjustments that bring us in line with the times and what other states are doing as well."
For example, Ayotte's budget would return Medicaid eligibility to pre-pandemic levels for lower-income adults and would align with neighboring states that require those with means to pay a "nominal co-pay" for their services.
Drew Cline, president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank, said Ayotte was sending a message that she expects this term's bigger Republican majorities in the Legislature to back her call for fiscal restraint.
"This tells us that she expects spending restraint from Republicans as well as Democrats and she's willing to push them for more of it," Cline said.
Bail reform included
Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais praised Ayotte for attaching to the budget trailer bill the repeal of the 2019 bail reform law that he believes has allowed too many violent offenders to get back out on the street.
"We cannot wait for another tragedy like the recent stabbing in Manchester to demonstrate why bail reform is needed," Ruais said. "Justice for victims, police, residents and our business community must come first."
But House Democratic Leader Alexis Simpson of Exeter said years of work in 2024 produced a package of four bills that altered bail reform.
"I think I can say the Democrats in the House would prefer to see how that works before we go ahead and make more changes," Simpson said.
The budget trailer is a companion bill that sets up the structures needed to implement the budget.
During an interview after her speech, Ayotte said law enforcement leaders across the state told her the bail law needs to go.
"Unfortunately, there are people who are being harmed by it, and we can't wait any longer," Ayotte said. "This whole effort from the beginning was a failed social experiment."
Education issues
During her speech, Education Freedom Account grants to all parents of students in public schools — regardless of income — is an "important step" towards universal access that Ayotte said she still supports.
Ayotte called for spending 8% more on the community college system, which will freeze tuition, while cutting state aid to the four-year university system by 4%.
"Investing in these opportunities for students to learn a trade or get credentialed in a high-demand field like health care will pay dividends in the long run for our state, by opening new pathways to public-private partnerships, addressing critical gaps in our workforce and putting more Granite Staters on the path to a good-paying career," Ayotte said.
Housing, childcare, energy
Senate Democratic Leader Rebecca Perkins Kwoka of Portsmouth loved hearing Ayotte call for a 50% increase in special education aid, but said she heard very little about new spending initiatives to tackle the lack of affordable housing and childcare and the rising cost of energy.
"I do think there are solutions we can see at the state level," Kwoka said.
Ayotte said her budget does renew the Housing Champions program that awards communities that go beyond the usual effort to bring more workforce housing to their cities and towns.
Matt Menning, president of the Home Builders Association, said Ayotte is tackling the biggest housing hurdle by setting a 60-day limit for state agencies to respond to all state permit applications. Without action in that timeframe, the petitioner would be free to proceed.
"The fragmented permitting process has been slow, costly and failed the people of New Hampshire," Menning said.
Ayotte embraced giving charity casinos a year to convert from costly and slower, historic horse racing machines to state-of-the-art slot machines like those found in major casinos like Foxwoods or along the Las Vegas strip.
The slot machines would raise an estimated $127 million in additional revenue by June 2027, which Ayotte said would pay for Group II payments to restore retirement benefit cuts made in 2011 for a few thousand public employees and also would provide additional property tax relief.
Sen. David Rochefort, R-Littleton, said Ayotte's proposal to block new landfills is welcome news to those who had been fighting one proposed for scenic Forest Lake State Park in Dalton.
"Governor Ayotte is a woman of her word," Rochefort said. "When I first brought this landfill issue to her in 2023, she immediately recognized how important it was to the North Country."
In her two-year, $202 million capital or public works budget, Ayotte calls for a $20 million upgrade to the Cannon Mountain Tramway, $20 million to renovate three college buildings, $5 million for land on which to provide a new National Guard readiness center in Manchester and an $18.5 million upgrade too the community technical high school for the Jaffrey-Rindge School District.
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