In a letter to council and Mayor George Hansel last week, Councilor Randy Filiault criticized the state’s recent decision to reduce the tax – which applies to prepared meals and hotel rentals – by 9% at 8.5%. He said that for years state law said Concord was supposed to return 40 percent of revenue to municipalities, but Keene typically received more than 20 percent. It has cost the city some $ 8.8 million over the past decade, he said.

In its October 5 letter, Filiault offered to explore two options: sue the state to demand law enforcement or order local businesses that charge a tax on meals and rooms to send 40% of that. money to the city instead of sending it all to the state. Hansel referred Filiault’s letter last week to the board’s finance, organization and staff committee, which discussed the matter Thursday evening but took no immediate action before discussions continued between officials of the board. city ​​and county.

Addressing the three committee members present at the meeting at town hall and one who participated via Zoom, Filiault said the missing money is hurting Keene’s taxpayers.

“Each of us on council knows that every time voters speak to us, we know our tax rate is at the top,” Filiault said. “We know a lot of people can no longer pay taxes in Keene. Our population has remained the same for a decade. Why is that? Because people cannot afford to live here.

However, under one of the two options Filiault offered to council, City Attorney Tom Mullins said he was unaware of any precedent that would give the city the power to order companies to send the state taxpayer money in Keene.

Filiault said this was not a new issue and that the council had already written to the state about it. He said he realizes his suggestions may not be the most realistic, but he thinks it’s important to keep the conversation going. “One thing that can no longer happen is silence,” he said, “because silence is not an option.”

Filiault said he was discussing the issue with Cheshire County officials, who have had their own issues with the state withholding tax revenue from meals and rooms. He strongly recommended working with other municipalities or asking New Hampshire’s other nine counties to join the cause, saying it would be easier to involve every county than every town and town.

Cheshire County Administrator Chris Coates also spoke at Thursday’s committee meeting, saying the downward shift in costs at the state level is pushing up property taxes and causing budget problems to other municipalities in the region.

“It has cost local communities hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decades,” he said. “Property taxes had to increase to fill this void. “

Coates said the county has previously discussed the matter with officials from other communities, which it has also done, according to Keene City manager Elizabeth Dragon.

Dragon told the committee on Thursday that other towns and cities in New Hampshire “are behind you” in their efforts to secure the appropriate share of tax revenue from meals and rooms, but that there hasn’t been much. progress in recent years. She said the biggest step forward recently was a change in the law that reduced municipalities’ share of revenue from 40 to 30 percent.

It may sound like a decrease, but it’s actually an increase from the roughly 20% the city usually received.

Dragon told The Sentinel last week that the increase was more than $ 400,000 more than the city’s payment for meals and rooms last year.

“Even though it’s not fully funded, this was the first year we’ve really seen significant movement in the state,” Dragon said Thursday. “And I think that’s because a lot of people are talking about it now, and they’re really supporting this effort.”

The committee voted unanimously to reject Filiault’s proposal, with the intention of continuing the discussion with the Cheshire County delegation at its next meeting in 2022.