Heated local debate over repeal of municipal solar property tax exemption
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Summary
HB 1002 would repeal the local option that allows municipalities to exempt residential solar systems from property tax. Sponsors called the exemption an unfair redistribution of tax burden; municipal assessors, solar owners, industry groups, community power coalitions and clean‑energy advocates said repeal would remove local control, harm homeowners who invested under existing rules and discourage local renewable deployment.
Concord, N.H. — The Science, Technology and Energy Committee heard hours of testimony for and against HB 1002, a bill to repeal the municipal/local‑option solar property tax exemption that allows towns and cities to exclude residential solar equipment from assessed value. The hearing drew dozens of witnesses, municipal officials, assessors, installers and homeowners.
Representative Len Turcotte, sponsor of HB 1002, argued the exemption redistributes local property tax burden from a small minority of solar owners to the majority of taxpayers in towns and that repealing the allowance would restore fairness in local tax burdens. He cited examples where the aggregate effect of multiple exemptions could change the town’s tax rate by a few percentage points.
Opponents — including town assessors, select boards, solar installers, Clean Energy New Hampshire, community power advocates and solar homeowners — said the exemption is a local option adopted by municipal vote and that repeal would remove local control and penalize homeowners who invested under the existing rules. Hudson’s chief assessor reported 251 properties in his town with solar exemptions amounting to roughly $2.2 million in exempted assessed value, which translated into a very small change in the tax rate for his community but meaningful savings for individual homeowners.
Municipal officials and assessors explained how exemptions are reported and administered locally and said that communities may cap exemptions if the local body judges it appropriate. Several speakers noted the broader public benefits of rooftop solar — reduced retail bills, local job creation, grant leverage — and argued the state should not preempt local policy choices that the community made in good faith.
Supporters of repeal focused on the principle of tax equity and the claim that exemptions are effectively a subsidy for relatively affluent property owners. Several committee members pressed witnesses on precise fiscal impacts and whether local options and town meeting votes were sufficiently informed. Multiple towns and a majority of online public comments registered against repeal.
The hearing closed after many local officials, industry stakeholders and residents testified. Committee members did not vote on the bill at the hearing and indicated they would consider municipal testimony, fiscal impact statements and public comments in follow‑up sessions.