Common Sense For New Hampshire

The agency (FEMA) now considers such a project too vulnerable to storms, said Doherty, a Democrat. Next month, the borough council will vote on a $6.6 million bond issue to build larger, multistory pavilions with a banquet hall and other concessions. About 500 residents have petitioned against the project, saying the plans and the borrowing should go up for public vote.

Moody’s in December assigned a negative outlook to $9.4 million of Belmar debt rated Aa3, fourth-highest. The borough since has issued $26.2 million in notes.

“We have no idea how much money we’re going to get from FEMA,” David Schneck, a 56-year-old Belmar resident who was an unsuccessful Libertarian Party candidate for the state assembly in 2011, said by phone Aug. 7. He signed the petition, he said, and urged the borough to be mindful of its credit rating.

“We should take a deep breath and wait to see how the dust settles,” he said. “These pavilions are not essential.”

I don’t know why she didn’t mention that I am currently a Republican candidate for council.  I guess to Bloomberg “unsuccessful Libertarian” has a nicer ring to it.  The truth is that my Libertarian friends were quite pleased with my 2011 results.  I was supported by roughly 3% of the voters, and in some towns upward of 6%.  Typically, Libertarians get around 1%.  But when you run in the Libertarian Party you aren’t in it to win.  You’re in it to educate about the benefits of freedom and to offer alternatives to the conventional solutions being sold to us  by the major parties.   I think by that metric I was highly successful.  And I had a lot of fun doing it.

Also worth noting is that Belmar is one of 42 towns included in the study.  And it is a small town too.  But we borrowed over 6.5% of the total borrowed.  And our borrowing certainly didn’t double, like the average for all these towns.  I’ll have to check the exact figures when I get a chance, but I think it quadrupled.