​What To Do If You Live On A Private Road

​What To Do If You Live On A Private Road                                             John J. Goglia

           Logon to www.nhpvrta.com. The New Hampshire Private Road Taxpayers Alliance (NHPVRTA), a state-wide nonprofit organization is supporting two bills currently filed in the NH Senate for the 2022 legislative session. SB250 enables municipalities to adopt a tax credit for qualified private community property owners. This bill would give a tax benefit to many residents who currently live on a private road. State Senator Sharon Carson with support from State Senators David Watters and Regina Birdsell and State House Representatives David Lundgren, Doug Thomas, Al Baldasaro and Tom Dolan are sponsoring this legislation.
           The second bill, SB246 is relative to forward looking legislation and would benefit future residents who may decide to reside on a private road. Senator Regina Birdsell with support from State Senator Sharon Carson and State House Representative Wayne MacDonald are sponsoring this legislation. If enacted into law both bills would take effect on April 1, 2023.
           The NHPVRTA has been working diligently this past year to get the legislation to this point. The 400 plus NHPVRTA supporters representing approximately 70 cities and towns throughout New Hampshire who have signed onto the website at www.nhpvrta.com are probably not enough to get the attention of all the necessary legislators and ultimately the governor to pass this legislation. The NHPVRTA strongly urges affected residents to register now on the NHPVRTA website and take an active role in meeting, telephoning, emailing and/or writing to their respective State Senators, State House Representatives and the Governor’s Office, requesting their support of both of these bills. Information about the bills and contacting your Senators, Representatives and the Governor’s Office can be found by clicking on the yellow post-it note at www.nhpvrta.com.  Both bills have currently been assigned for hearings before the Senate Election Law and Municipal Affairs Committee (ELMA) on a yet to be announced date and time most likely in January, 2022. Concerned residents should immediately request the entire ELMA committee to support both bills via a single email located on the NHPVRTA website. Private road residents should also share all this information with like-minded individuals and encourage them to act now.
           SB-250 grants municipalities the authority to offer tax credits to qualified private community residents but does not include any types of rental units. This is not mandatory legislation but gives towns and cities the option of offering a tax credit based on what they reasonably estimate it would cost them to provide the same services received by public road residents. Individual private road residents would have to apply for the credit yearly.
           SB-246 would only pertain to new private road construction and it would be mandatory for developers to initiate a Capital Reserve Fund in the amount of 50% of what they determine to be the estimated costs to replace those roads and related infrastructure at the time of completion of the project. SB246 would provide some financial protection to private road homeowners at no cost to municipalities.