By Grant Bosse

New report outlines $75 million in borrowing from NH Gov. Lynch Budget Plan

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(CONCORD) The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy today released a new report examining how Governor John Lynch would use new borrowing to postpone the state’s budget crisis. “Mortgaging the Future: Can New Hampshire borrow its way to a balanced budget” outlines the three bonding provisions in Lynch’s $220 budget balancing package, which account for over $75 million in new debt.

“The Governor’s budget package includes budget cuts, new taxes, and additional federal revenue, but it also relies heavily on borrowing money to pay for the Legislature’s spending increases,” said Grant Bosse, Lead Investigator for the Josiah Bartlett Center and author of the report. “Borrowing that much money may help balance the budget in the short term, but it also makes the long term budget problem worse.”

“Mortgaging the Future” also examines New Hampshire’s traditional debt service ratio, which has run between 5.6% and 6.6% over the past decade. That ratio is set to climb to 7.9% next year, and would hit 8% for the first time in state history if the Lynch Proposals are adopted in full.

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