New
Hampshire Land & Community Heritage Investment Program
Established by the NH Legislature in 2000
Established by the NH Legislature in 2000
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Back to Press Releases Main Page June 14, 2004
Concord, NH - The NH Land and Community Heritage Investment Program requested $24 million from the state today, as part of the FY 06-07 biennial capital budget. Board Chair Brad Wyman and Executive Director Rachel Rouillard told the Governor’s Capital Budget Committee that NH has been wildly successful in terms of growth and development, but it is exactly that success that is threatening our future. NH is losing important infrastructure and resources at an alarming rate and since NH is a state with little regulatory control, communities require real tools to work towards the goal of Smart Growth. LCHIP is NH’s best tool to invest in the state, achieve Smart Growth and maintain a quality of life all residents expect. LCHIP depends on community based, voluntary initiatives that support local efforts to invest in local heritage by means of public/private partnerships. Judging by the ever-increasing demand for the Program’s funding and efforts, it is a tool communities are comfortable with, have started to count on as a key partner to carefully guide their futures and are using to accomplish great things. And LCHIP leverages significant funds in NH communities. LCHIP has granted $16.5 million over the past 4 years towards projects valued at $103 million. That means that for every $1 of public money allocated, $5.95 comes from other sources. That figure considers only CASH match - non-cash contributions of real estate value, donated labor and materials and volunteer time essential to successful projects add additional millions of dollars in value. Rouillard also talked about the economic power of historic building revitalization and what it means to the NH economy. “According to an economic benefits study by economist Brian Gottlob, formerly of the BIA, completed this spring using LCHIP project data and a couple of national economic models for ROI found that as a result of the $5.8 million LCHIP has invested in preservation projects, an additional $41.7 million has been generated in sales, 606 jobs have been created and supported, and labor income increased by $19.3 million,” she said. She also said that “In terms of land conservation, most NH communities have less protected open space than NY City, which has 25% of it’s land in protected open space and that while nearly 15,000 acres of open space is being developed in NH annually, barely 5,000 acres is permanently protected by the private sector.” The Committee also heard how over 100,000 jobs in NH are directly dependent on open space, including jobs in forestry, farming, tourism and outdoor recreation and the sectors that support them. Open space generates $8.2 billion in direct and indirect benefits for the NH economy – annually. The NH Department of Travel and Tourism has an out of state travel campaign that tells people to come to NH for it’s beautiful open land, historic town villages and scenic drives. Today, LCHIP is out of funds. In the last biennium (FY 02-03) LCHIP received $12 million. In this biennium, the Program only received $1.5 million – an 87% cut. The budget also contained language that prevented the Program from spending any funds on historic preservation or revitalization. All funds were directed at land conservation efforts only. Rouillard told the Committee that there were several good reasons to fund the Program through the capital budget: First, there is an historic precedent for funding resource conservation this way. During the late 80’s and early 90’s the General Court along with Governor Sununu and Governor Gregg bonded a total of $45 million to support the temporary Land Conservation Investment Program (LCIP) – and nearly ½ of that went to a community grants program much like LCHIP’s. Additional one-time land conservation projects like the CT Lakes project and Lake Tarleton have also been funded through a bond. Second, there is a good and simple financial rationale for doing this. Between 2001-2004 Department of Revenue Administration has seen the statewide assessed valuation increase 51% and expects another 16% increase in the next 2 years. Given today’s combination of increasing land prices and low interest rates, bonding now allows the state to invest in resources that are rising quickly in value, while paying historically low interest rates to do so. And third, that resource protection and investment is an appropriate use of long-term debt because the capital investment benefits both current and future users of the resources. The “life of the project” is essentially forever. So why has it been so difficult to figure out how to fund this Program? Many options for funding the Program have been floated over the past 4 years, but none have been successful. The question of how to fund LCHIP remains. Rep. Neal Kurk is expected to file a companion bill to the capital budget request, during the next session. That bill will likely propose to expand who is liable for the electricity consumption tax so that NH residents are not the only ones paying the levy on electric power generated in NH. The proceeds from the tax could be used to pay off the bond. LCHIP is at a point where in order to fulfill our legislative mandate, it needs a substantial level of funding and is still requesting the level of funding recommended by the 1999 Commission created by the General Court on the subject of LCHIP. This $24 million request is really the minimal amount needed to be effective for the citizens and for the future of the state. Since its creation in 2000, LCHIP has made 112 grants serving 89 communities. These grants have gone towards protecting over 200,000 acres of land, and the rehabilitation and protection of 83 historic structures. The $16.5 million granted has leveraged over $103 million over other funding (this includes the $ 40 million leverage through the Connecticut Lakes project that protects 171,500 acres of land and historic sites). #### - END #### If you require general information on LCHIP or would like to be added to the LCHIP electronic mailing list, please contact: Cheryl A. Carlson, Office Manager, LCHIP at 224-4113 or visit our mailing list page.
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