Tobey School could remain open one year

For years, budget writers have looked towards closing the state-owned Tobey School, which would save money by sending troubled teens to less-costly private institutions. Governor John Lynch proposed the move in his budget address. Yesterday, the House Finance Committee voted to put off the closure for at least a year:

But lawmakers yesterday said they felt that closing the school at the end of June, as Lynch's plan proposed, was too soon. Daniel Barrick reports on the vote in this morning's Concord Monitor:

"I'm ready to close Tobey School today, but it might make more sense to delay," said Rep. Fran Wendelboe, a Republican from New Hampton. "I think we owe them a year. This was awful abrupt."

The proposal approved yesterday would fund Tobey for another year while directing the state health department to study whether the school could merge in some way with the Anna Philbrook Center, a state-run facility that treats preteens with mental illnesses.

Details of HB 2 emerging

Tom Fahey looks at some of the significant changes included in HB 2, the bill that accompanies the state budget, HB 1. Fahey outlines the details in his "Under the State House Dome" column in the Union Leader:

FEES IN THE DETAILS: D'Allesandro's bill to modernize the State Liquor Commission was shipped back for more committee work last week. But SLC chair Mark Bodi still gets plenty of new power under House Bill 2, where budget-related legal changes are made.

Bodi will be able to close any state liquor stores to improve the bottom line, and to license private stores to sell liquor through June 2014.

HB 2 has plenty of other details in its 56 pages -- like the 30-cent tobacco tax increase, elimination of the E-ZPass discount and $30 monthly cap, a $10 increase in motor vehicle registration fees, the closure of eight district courts, a gambling tax, a higher meals tax, a cut in the retirement fund help to cities and towns, and more.
There's also a higher license fee for hospital and nursing home beds tucked in there. It goes to $52 a bed, from the current $2.50 a bed.

Finance Committee member Rep. Fran Wendelboe thinks the state needs to stop all the fee hikes.

"How much of this is in there? I think it's atrocious that government can spend all it wants, then bill the people it oversees," she said.