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The House Finance Committee has approved the biennium budget recommendations made by Divisions I, II and III.

All of the troubling amendments made by the Divisions are still included in the Budget -- and the full Committee approved an additional across-the-board 1.25% cut to departments' budgets.

House members will have an opportunity to ask the Finance Committee questions about the Budget on Monday, April 6th.  Between now and then, please contact your Representatives and let them know all of your concerns about the budget. 

• Help them understand how the Finance Committee's changes will impact your ability to provide public services to the people of New Hampshire. 
• Help them understand how the retirement changes will affect your family's finances, and the "ripple effect" it will have on the local businesses you patronize
• Help them understand that balancing the budget on the backs of public employees is a bad long-term strategy.  Why would our children choose a career in public service, if the State breaks its promises to current employees and retirees?

Suggest that legislators look in other directions for budget savings.  For instance,

• Contractors represent a huge portion of state government spending - why not "trim the fat" there? 
• Why not look more closely at the State Health Plan?  The State's prediction of health costs has been unreliable in the past.  In FY08, the State returned almost $23.8 million in "plan surplus" monies to state agencies (including $9.6 million in "surplus" from the retirees' health plan).  That $23.8 "surplus" represented about 10% of the Plan’s total FY08 expenditures.  Are the predictions incorporated in the FY10-11 budget any closer to the mark?