Bill would allow town forest committees to offer surplus timber revenue to town for tax relief

Representative Arnie Davis, prime sponsor of House Bill 124, told the Senate committee he filed the bill to allow New Hampshire'towns with community forests to offer surplus timber revenues to their town for tax relief. "House Bill 124 ... amends RSA 31:113 by adding one sentence to it," Davis said, describing towns that harvest timber to fund forest maintenance and other uses. He said his town of Milan has about 3,500 acres and generates roughly $50,000 a year into its forest fund; another town the sponsor cited, Arrell, has about 8,500 acres and generates about $200,000 a year.

Davis said current Department of Revenue Administration (DRA) interpretation prevents committees that administer town forest funds from transferring surplus balances to the municipality for tax relief. "If the committee that runs the town forest deems [funds] a surplus, they may offer it to the select board, and the select board would put it in a warrant article for the town to vote on for tax relief," he said. The bill would not mandate the transfer; it would authorize offering the surplus to the legislative body.

Bernie Du Chaise of the New Hampshire Municipal Association (NHMA) advised the committee on statutory language. He said the word "or" in the draft was intended to be an inclusive "or," allowing either a forest committee or a conservation commission to act in a given year. "It's kind of enabling ... the forest committee or conservation commission. So it's just saying either or can do it," Du Chaise said, cautioning that some towns have one body and not the other. Other senators suggested replacing the explicit committee names with wording that references the fund''s expending authority so the language would fit towns with differing local governance structures.

Committee members discussed and agreed to a drafting change to avoid creating a conflict when a town has both a forest committee and a conservation commission. In committee session the amendment was offered to replace the phrase naming specific committees with a reference to "the fund's expending authority" (the local body authorized to expend funds from that account). The committee adopted that amendment and voted the bill out of committee as amended.

Because the bill only adds a narrow authorization for towns to offer surplus forest funds to the legislative body for possible use as tax relief, supporters said it simply allows municipalities to spend locally generated funds in the way the founders of town forests intended. Opponents did not lodge substantive objections during the hearing; questions focused on drafting and which local body should be authorized to act. The committee directed staff to draft language referencing the expending authority and approved the amendment in executive session.

Representative Arnie Davis; Bernie Du Chaise, New Hampshire Municipal Association; and committee members were the primary speakers on the record.

The committee adopted a committee amendment clarifying the expending authority and recommended the bill "ought to pass" as amended.