Since 1998, the town of Hollis, New Hampshire has given 50% of the revenue from the Current Use Change Tax to the Hollis Conservation Commission. The thinking was obviously that land was being developed so we should help conserve more land as a balance. Hollis has a very active conservation group and has about 23% of it’s land in conservation.
At the March 2011 town meeting a warrant article was brought forth to eliminate this allocation and require the Conservation Commission to come to town meeting and beg every time they needed money for a new purchase. This strategy ignored the fact that town meetings happen once a year and opportunities to conserve land won’t always wait for next March. Ā This was the hot topic of this year’s meeting and the only one that triggered any real debate. The vote was by secret ballot and the warrant article was defeated by a margin of over 3 to 1.
HOORAY for Hollis!