Portsmouth Herald slams state budget

Fosters Daily Democrat and the Union Leader have been slamming the Legislature for its out of control spending all spring. But when you've lost the Portsmouth Herald:

The one thing we are not seeing is any real restructuring of our state government to dramatically bring down spending. Granite Staters like to think of themselves as frugal Yankees but this is a myth. Look at how taxes and fees are climbing, factor in our high property taxes and the whole notion of New Hampshire as a low-tax paradise begins to fall apart.

The fact is we wouldn't need gambling or any of these new taxes if we could just bring our spending in line. We need to get serious about our spending on public employee retirement, health and human services, corrections and education. The New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies points out that our budget is being driven by the soaring cost of public employee retirement pay and benefits. From 1999 to 2009 "the New Hampshire Retirement System grew the most quickly, with appropriations for retirees increasing by 10.5 percent per year and appropriations for the health insurance subsidy increasing at 10.8 percent per year."