This week, Governor Kelly Ayotte gave her first budget address. Though she promised that New Hampshire is “on a path to greater prosperity,” Ayotte failed to address key questions regarding fundamental issues about NH’s economic future—how Ayotte would address the $21 million budget shortfall, skyrocketing property taxes, and the growing risks of Trump’s erratic economic policies. Instead of offering real solutions, she stuck to vague rhetoric, empty promises, and GOP budget gimmicks that leave working families behind.
Let’s take a look at how Ayotte’s address has proved that she is positioning herself to avoid Trump criticism rather than to advocate and fight for New Hampshire values:
Ayotte Seems To Forget Campaign Promises for Lowering Costs
Despite aggressively campaigning on lowering costs for Granite Staters, Ayotte neglected to mention how she plans to curb New Hampshire’s cost of living crisis. Instead, she served a stunning vitriol of nastiness and partisanship, aimed at Democrats when it was years of Republican leadership that brought this mess upon our state.
The average retail price for electricity (cents/kWh) increased 34.5% under Sununu, making New Hampshire the 5th most expensive state in the country for energy costs. To make matters worse, the 25% Trump tariff set to take effect in March is expected to cost middle-class Granite Staters $1,100 per year, including $375 more in winter home heating oil, our largest import.
While the price of eggs was a campaign flashpoint, Egg prices under Trump and Ayotte are now at historic highs — a $4.95 average compared to a low of $2.04 in August 2023.
The median price of a single-family house in the state rose over 80% from 2018 to 2024 and average rent for a 2-bedroom apartment in New Hampshire rose by 46% during Sununu’s time as governor from $1,206 in 2016 to $1,764 in 2023, 1.5 times faster than the national average. Meanwhile, Ayotte has been cashing checks for millions of dollars sitting on the board of Blackstone, the “nation’s largest landlord,” which “has a history of buying distressed properties, raising rents, evicting tenants and managing some apartment complexes with deplorable conditions.”
If Kelly Ayotte thinks Granite Staters will tolerate her blame game in place of results for their families, she’s misjudged New Hampshire.
Ayotte’s Budget Still Relies On Hiking Property Taxes & Downshifting
While Ayotte boasted about her plan for no new taxes, under Republican leadership, statewide property taxes increased by $100.7 million in FY2024, a 38.3% jump.
Republican Mayor of Manchester, Jay Ruais, who campaigned on tax cuts, just raised property taxes by 3.82%—the city’s largest increase in over a decade, while Lebanon residents are bracing for an 11.9% municipal property tax increase, and Gorham property owners face a crushing $3.74 increase per $1,000 valuation, leaving residents furious about disappearing services and rising costs.
Rather than reversing the Sununu strategy of downshifting costs to municipalities, Ayotte is keeping it in place—forcing local governments to continue hiking taxes while she claims her budget is balanced. New Hampshire taxpayers will pay the price.
Ayotte Neglects to Lay Out a Strategy to Close $21M Budget Shortfall
Ayotte refused to say which taxes will go up in order to make up for the $21 million budget shortfall her predecessor Governor Chris Sununu left her as a result of tax giveaways to the ultra-wealthy while costs have been downshifted to local communities.
Instead of praising Democratic governors Jeanne Shaheen, John Lynch, and Maggie Hassan for balancing previous budgets without sacrificing critical services, she resorted to old tropes about federal government waste, despite the fact that Senators Shaheen and Hassan have secured millions in federal funding to bail out the state budget amidst the Sununu shortfall.
Ayotte Fails to Address Trump Trade War’s Potential Economic Impact on NH, Stand Up For Federal Dollars That Boost NH Programs
Ayotte’s address failed to mention how she will protect New Hampshire businesses, workers, or consumers from the Trump Trade War with Canada, despite that it threatens to increase the cost of home heating oil, raise grocery prices, and put NH jobs at risk.
New Hampshire exports $1.4B in goods to Canada, resulting in 182,000 New Hampshire jobs. With exports to Canada making up nearly 19% of all New Hampshire exports, how does Ayotte plan to make up for the revenue shortfall created by reduced trade? Will there be supplemental funding support for exporters through the Department of Business and Economic Affairs (BEA)? Will the state be expanding energy assistance programs to make up for higher energy import costs to low-income individuals?
While Ayotte also spent time attacking Washington and Democrats, she refused to acknowledge the millions in federal dollars that New Hampshire depends on—including funding for housing, veteran healthcare, police departments, preschool programs, and Medicaid. Instead of answering to Granite Staters by standing up for key funding, she is answering to Trump and Elon Musk.
The recent Trump Administration freeze on federal grant and loan funding has already threatened $1.5 million in COPS grants for police departments, jeopardized coverage and access for 184,000 New Hampshire Medicaid recipients, risked the state’s $14 million for homelessness programs. Ayotte refused to join a lawsuit with other governors to sue the federal government to protect New Hampshire against these unconstitutional freeze.
Ayotte Stands By ‘COGE’ Gimmick
A central fixture in Ayotte’s inaugural address was her announcement of a “Commission on Government Efficiency” (COGE) — a gimmick she stole from Elon Musk and Missouri’s copycat agency.
Ayotte may have hyped up COGE, but she failed to explain how an unelected panel of bureaucrats will solve New Hampshire’s budget crisis. Worse, she put Craig Benson—who was ousted from office for financial mismanagement—in charge of the effort. Instead of leadership, Ayotte is outsourcing tough decisions to a group of corrupt party loyalists with zero accountability in similar fashion to Musk’s DOGE.
As head of Trump’s made up department with no legal authority, Elon Musk and his band of unvetted teenage staffers forced out the acting U.S. Treasury Secretary who had denied Musk and his team access to sensitive information like all social security numbers and the U.S. federal funding disbursal system. With this access, Musk orchestrated mass layoffs at USAID and effectively defunded the program, despite Congress, with its power of the purse, appropriating that funding.
Elon Musk played a direct role in forcing the FAA chief’s resignation, leading to safety concerns that affected flights at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in the wake of a fatal commercial plane accident for the first time in 15 years. Ayotte failed to address whether she will empower the heads of her “COGE” to carry out the same illegal, unilateral actions in New Hampshire
Coming Soon: Fighting Back Against Rising Costs
Looking to take action on tackling the rising costs in your life? Looking to raise your voice about the impacts of Ayotte’s and the Republican-controlled legislature’s financial mismanagement raising costs for you and your family? Stay tuned to our newsletters to learn more about fighting back and holding our state leaders accountable!
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Thank you,
Ryan Mahoney
Executive Director