Shoreland act changes to take effect

New Hampshire Business Review looks at some changes to the onerous Shoreland Protection Act which take effect today. The Legislature has attempted to make the cumbersome law slightly less difficult for landowners.

• Contractors doing maintenance work will get a break on fees. On projects that go through permit by notification process (a relatively new option to speed the permit process up for those that don’t actually expand the footprint of an affected area) a flat fee of $100 for water quality improvement projects and $250 for all other projects. Fees used to cost $100 plus 10 cents per square foot, which added up on larger projects.
• Developers will be able to build multifamily housing on shoreland, provided that they meet septage and zoning requirement. The old shoreland act – with its limit of one household per 150 feet of frontage -- ruled that out.
• A number of smaller ponds will no longer be included under the act. That’s because the old law actually named bodies of water covering more than 10 acres that were covered. It turns out many of those bodies were actually under 10 acres. The new law drops the list, and just provides the 10-acre criteria.
• Determination of shorelines will no longer fluctuate based on flowage rights (for dammed-up bodies of water) but be based on single surface area. This might result in other ponds dropping off the list.
• Central business districts have another option in dealing with riverfront projects, giving them more flexibility.

400 duplicate tax refund checks mailed by state

The Department of Employment Security continues to lead the way for bureaucratic bungling this summer, but the Department of Revenue Administration Services is trying to keep up. New Hampshire Business Review reports on 1,600 residents who have gotten duplicate checks they won't be able to keep.

The New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration sent out nearly 400 duplicate refund checks to taxpayers last week, about a week after the Department of Employment Security sent out 1,200 duplicate unemployment checks.

All told, roughly $400,000 of the state’s money was sent out by mistake. However, both departments said they should recoup all of the money without much of a problem.

41 and counting

Just a couple of weeks after our report A Rising Tide of Taxes and Fees outlined 38 new or increased taxes and fees in the state budget, the Governor and Legislature have found three more. New Hampshire Business Reviews outlines the latest changes to state law, including the three tax and fee increases:

• Fees for off-highway recreational vehicles, snowmobiles and the agents that sell and rent have increased. OHRV dealer registrations have gone up from $35 to $45.50, and rental agency registrations went up from $58 to $75.40 for each set of decals.

• Snowmobile registrations have increased from $75 to $90 for in-state residents and $90 to $110 for out-of-staters. (Members of the New Hampshire Snowmobile Association will still receive a $30 discount.) Snowmobile dealers’ registration fees have increased as well as rental agency registrations. Agents now must collect $3, rather than $2, for each OHRV and snowmobile registration issued.

• The tax on home heating oil will rise a quarter-penny to 1.25 cents to help clean up the mess left by leaking tanks. The increase sunsets next summer, or if there is enough money ($2.5 million) in the fuel oil discharge cleanup fund. (more)