I might be able to shed some light, here. Nottingham is one of the few towns where the Town Clerk is not also the Tax Collector. It is also one of the very few towns whereby only one person at a time is working in the Clerk’s office. Having said that, the majority of Town Clerks/Tax Collectors are paid much higher wages than Nottingham’s and many of those receive benefits. Lee, for example, just raised the rate of pay for their Town Clerk/Tax Collector to $65k per year with two people working every shift. Barrington increased the salary of their Town Clerk (who is not a Tax Collector) to approx. $75 per year, sometimes with 3 people per shift.
The line item to pay these people may be placed into another category altogether.
The Deputy Town Clerk was also working for Planning/Zoning and transcribing meeting minutes in 2023, therefore I do not know the exact amount that was allocated to the TC office.
Note; The Nottingham Tax Collector has 5 hours per week scheduled in office and was paid $13,990.50 in 2023.
Now I live in a mirror-image town in Massachusetts - my property taxes are higher than Nottingham, and I pay income tax. (I am not complaining.)
My current town has a population of around 5k. We have a volunteer fire department, one store, and a high quality K-8 school. Our town government is a select board, school committee, and other volunteer-run boards and committees.
Our town has simply none of this drama. Is it a utopia? No. Do people keep an eye on government officials and board meetings? Yes. Are people called out sometimes? Yes. Are there bad faith actors occasionally? Yes. However, it is overall such a more respectful environment to be in, and so much more functional than Nottingham has become. Our town meetings and board meetings are boring. The budgets are passed. People gripe when our tax bills go up, and life goes on. We abate taxes for those in need, and have a plan for the elderly that want to stay in their homes and not get priced out. We have a community chest to help those in our communities in poverty. It's the concept of living in a society!
Never the level of anger that you see in Nottingham right now.
Why should I care? I still have people I love in Nottingham, some at the school. My folks have lived in Nottingham for 40+ years. I want them to be safe and have the resources available to them when they need them. Who would want to work or volunteer in this town with how divided and divisive it has become? I saw a facebook comment basically insinuating that the building inspector shouldn't be surprised if he got shot for going on the wrong property. Who knows what really was going on there, and perhaps it does warrant a discussion. But the current discussion is a much poorer reflection on the accusatory party than they seem to think...
It is a shame. The rhetoric is going to keep causing a cycle - who is going to want to work or volunteer for these boards & positions that keep things running, or have the chance to fix things, when there is so much anger, no benefit of the doubt, and just constant bashing with absolutely no constructive feedback offered?
It'll get worse before it'll get better. There is a small group of loudmouths to blame. I hope for my relatives still there in my hometown that people can look around at what is important, and realize that working together is needed, and offering constructive feedback is what is best. Simmering down is desperately needed...
Thank you for your comment. The reason for this blog is that I became aware of the drama and I thought the voters should have more awareness of it. As best as I can tell, the drama has been going on for many years.
It certainly has always been a little "rough around the edges" there, but what I hear these days is off the rails. I really hope that cooler heads prevail, and soon.
I might be able to shed some light, here. Nottingham is one of the few towns where the Town Clerk is not also the Tax Collector. It is also one of the very few towns whereby only one person at a time is working in the Clerk’s office. Having said that, the majority of Town Clerks/Tax Collectors are paid much higher wages than Nottingham’s and many of those receive benefits. Lee, for example, just raised the rate of pay for their Town Clerk/Tax Collector to $65k per year with two people working every shift. Barrington increased the salary of their Town Clerk (who is not a Tax Collector) to approx. $75 per year, sometimes with 3 people per shift.
The line item to pay these people may be placed into another category altogether.
Please refer to the 2023 Northwood Town Report for further details on actual wages and compensation. Two people working each day. Page 109 specifically. https://www.northwoodnh.org/file/4581/2023_TOWN_REPORT.pdf
For reference, I was paid $36,534.02 in 2023. See page 70 of the Nottingham Town Report. https://www.nottingham-nh.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif3611/f/uploads/2023_town_school_annual_report_web.pdf
The Deputy Town Clerk was also working for Planning/Zoning and transcribing meeting minutes in 2023, therefore I do not know the exact amount that was allocated to the TC office.
Note; The Nottingham Tax Collector has 5 hours per week scheduled in office and was paid $13,990.50 in 2023.
I grew up in Nottingham and went to school there.
Now I live in a mirror-image town in Massachusetts - my property taxes are higher than Nottingham, and I pay income tax. (I am not complaining.)
My current town has a population of around 5k. We have a volunteer fire department, one store, and a high quality K-8 school. Our town government is a select board, school committee, and other volunteer-run boards and committees.
Our town has simply none of this drama. Is it a utopia? No. Do people keep an eye on government officials and board meetings? Yes. Are people called out sometimes? Yes. Are there bad faith actors occasionally? Yes. However, it is overall such a more respectful environment to be in, and so much more functional than Nottingham has become. Our town meetings and board meetings are boring. The budgets are passed. People gripe when our tax bills go up, and life goes on. We abate taxes for those in need, and have a plan for the elderly that want to stay in their homes and not get priced out. We have a community chest to help those in our communities in poverty. It's the concept of living in a society!
Never the level of anger that you see in Nottingham right now.
Why should I care? I still have people I love in Nottingham, some at the school. My folks have lived in Nottingham for 40+ years. I want them to be safe and have the resources available to them when they need them. Who would want to work or volunteer in this town with how divided and divisive it has become? I saw a facebook comment basically insinuating that the building inspector shouldn't be surprised if he got shot for going on the wrong property. Who knows what really was going on there, and perhaps it does warrant a discussion. But the current discussion is a much poorer reflection on the accusatory party than they seem to think...
It is a shame. The rhetoric is going to keep causing a cycle - who is going to want to work or volunteer for these boards & positions that keep things running, or have the chance to fix things, when there is so much anger, no benefit of the doubt, and just constant bashing with absolutely no constructive feedback offered?
It'll get worse before it'll get better. There is a small group of loudmouths to blame. I hope for my relatives still there in my hometown that people can look around at what is important, and realize that working together is needed, and offering constructive feedback is what is best. Simmering down is desperately needed...
Thank you for your comment. The reason for this blog is that I became aware of the drama and I thought the voters should have more awareness of it. As best as I can tell, the drama has been going on for many years.
It certainly has always been a little "rough around the edges" there, but what I hear these days is off the rails. I really hope that cooler heads prevail, and soon.