Late petition on state funding protection misses Merrimack ballot deadline; council to hold public hearing and send advisory letter

Town staff told the council a group petition warrant article urging the New Hampshire Legislature to "protect local taxpayers by ensuring that adequate state revenues" was filed too late to be placed on the upcoming ballot because of charter timing and state review deadlines.

Paul said the petition appears to include 53 signatories but that the required audit verification had not been completed by noon on the filing deadline. He explained the town is a charter (financial) ballot and nonmonetary group petitions require a 60-day council action window that the town cannot meet in time for this year's warrant timeline. "We did receive a petition warrant article that was a group petition warrant article that's nonmonetary. We do not have enough time to get it on this ballot," Paul said.

Councilors discussed options including holding a public hearing outside the immediate warrant timeline, sending an advisory letter to the governor and legislature reflecting the petition's intent, or calling a special election (the latter considered costly). Several councilors said they agreed with the petition’s intent to push back against downshifting of costs to towns but noted procedural constraints in the charter and the need to clarify filing deadlines for future petitioners.

Staff said the council would notify petitioners, schedule a public hearing at a future regular meeting (either February 26 or a later regular meeting), and prepare an advisory letter to send to state leaders. The council agreed to place the item on a future agenda for a public hearing and not to attempt to change the petition’s wording before voters (the council may choose to send the petition’s message to the legislature in letter form instead).