Welcome to the FOGLC Website
We would love to hear your comments or ideas. Send them to admin@foglc.com.
Recent Announcements
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The Open Space Committee is seeking grant funds to conserve the Roberts Farm
In December 2009, the Open Space Committee, a sub-committee of the Conservation Commission, approached the owners of the Roberts Farm and asked for an opportunity to secure funding to ...
Posted Feb 19, 2010 1:28 PM by David Nieman
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Goffstown Budget Committee Recommends Article 19
The Goffstown Budget Committee voted 8-3-1 to recommend Article 19 - a request for $390,000 to provide for grant matching funds to conserve the 470 acre Roberts Farm ...
Posted Feb 19, 2010 1:07 PM by David Nieman
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Corbit Conservation Easement is completed
David and Judith Corbit of Locust Hill Road made a generous donation to Goffstown's future in December 2009. They donated the development rights on 86 acres of their land ...
Posted Feb 19, 2010 12:47 PM by David Nieman
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Goffstown student designs logo for FOGLC
Emily Cady of New Boston, a 2008 graduate of Goffstown High School, generously donated her time and talent to design a logo for the Friends of Goffstown Land Conservation group ...
Posted Jul 19, 2008 11:19 AM by David Nieman
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Planning Charrette for Hillsborough County Lands
A planning charrette will be scheduled in late summer or fall to gather
public opinion and ideas regarding the future fate of the Hillsborough
County lands in Goffstown. The date ...
Posted Jul 1, 2008 9:40 PM by David Nieman
Volunteer Opportunities at FOGLCIf you would like to help with the management and tasks FOGLC is performing, we have many opportunities for you to share your existing talents, or perhaps learn a new skill while advancing the cause for conserving land in Goffstown. Some of the immediate needs include, but are not limited to:
- Talking to friends, neighbors and family
- Explaining the benefits of conservation or specific actions
- Recruiting new FOGLC members
- Receiving email updates from time to time
- Sharing this information with others
- Writing educational materials
- For FOGLC websites
- For promotional brochures or flyers
- Informational "whitepapers"
- Letters to the Editor
- FOGLC press releases
- Digital photography and graphics
- For FOGLC websites
- For brochures, posters, display booths
- For annual FOGLC calendar
- Web site maintenance
- Keeping contact lists up to date
- Adding resource references
- Doing a show on GTV
- Help with FOGLC management
see more volunteer activities
Want a more action oriented view? Go here: The Dashboard |
Article 19 - Allocating $390,000 for a chance to conserve the Roberts Farm
An opportunity to invest in Goffstown's Future
An opportunity to prevent a property tax increase
Voting "YES" on Article 19 can save you money over time.
When large open lands are subdivided and developed for residential housing, everyone's property tax goes up.
Conserving those lands prevents future property tax increases.
Studies in New Hampshire and other states have shown this to be true. These Cost of Community Services Studies (COCS) examine the fiscal impact of land uses on a town's budget. A detailed analysis is done one year's town budget. All expenses for that year are examined and then assigned to one of 3 categories: residential, commercial/industrial, and agricultural/open space lands. Some expenses are exclusive to 1 category - an example is school costs which are exclusive to residential housing. Other categories are divided into proportions before being assigned. For example, actual fire and police activities can show how much manpower and expense is used to protect each of the 3 categories. The study also determines all of the revenue to the town and what amounts come from each of the categories. For each category, the ration of expenses divided by revenue is calculated. If the ratio is less than 1, then that category contributes more tax revenue than it consumes in expenses. For ratios greater than 1, that category costs more in services than it generates in revenue.
The results from these studies are very consistent:
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Residential housing costs more in services than it generates in revenue, leading to budget deficits that must be covered by the other categories, or by raising the tax rate. When new subdivisions are built, a typical deficit is $1000 per house every year.
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Commercial/industrial development usually produces more revenues than they cost for services. Most people are familiar with the concept of improving the tax base by adding commercial and industrial properties.
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Agricultural and Open Space lands also produce more revenues then they cost for services. This surprises some people, because these lands are taxed at lower rates producing smaller revenues. However, the cost of services for these lands are extremely low.
Land conservation projects help prevent tax increases 2 ways. First they maintain the revenue contributions of agricultural and open space lands. But even more important, they prevent the budget deficits that would have to be payed by all taxpayers if the property was developed.
What would be the impact if the 470 acre Roberts Farm property was developed for residential housing? Previous proposals have been made, for subdivisions up to 200 lots. A deficit of $1000 per house per year adds up to $200,000 every year that taxpayers would have to cover. That's $2,000,000 over 10 years! It's much cheaper to purchase the conservation easement and avoid these bills.
The Open Space Committee is working with the local non-profit Russell Piscataquog River Watershed Foundation to apply for federal grant money from the US Department of Agriculture to purchase conservation easements on Roberts Farm. The USDA program covers the greatest share of the purchase, but does require local matching funds. The request in Article 19 is to go towards the local match, so we can win the grant funds. If the grants cannot be won, the request in Article 19 will not be spent.
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