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Showing posts from February, 2025

Why This Year’s Enfield Holiday Market Might Be the Best One Yet

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Christina Tetreault has a very specific challenge for this year's Enfield Holiday Market: how do you build a crafts fair that appeals not just to women, but to the people who are hardest to shop for—men? "I'm trying to make a market that will cater to shopping that everyone needs to do," said Tetreault, a market organizer. And that means a market has items that offer potential gifts, which may be great gifts for men. She has made it a mission to increase the variety and depth of the market. Town Support Matters The Enfield Holiday Market is unique. The Town of Enfield sponsors the event and provides the space at no cost. The town's support goes a long way to helping makers of independent crafts survive. The November-December timeframe accounts for most of their sales and determines whether they break even for the year. This year's market begins Saturday, Nov. 29, at Fermi -- Enfield Annex -- at 10 a.m. and runs through 2 p.m. It continues on Sundays through De...

Charter Commission proposes 7% budget cap, a fix that won't solve the problem (With correction)

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Charter Revision Commission meeting CORRECTION FROM ORIGINAL POST:  In my initial analysis, I incorrectly connected two distinct fiscal years when discussing budget increases and tax impacts. This fixes it. Here's what happened: The 4.5% tax increase in 2022 was based on the FY2023 budget ( July 2022 - June 2023 ). Town spending decreased by 1.19% in FY2023 , but taxes still went up because the 2021 revaluation shifted the tax burden to homeowners . When residents opened their tax bills in July 2022, they saw the 4.5% tax increase. Using a sample 1,200 SF single family house Southwood Acres, property taxes went from  $4,265 → $4,457 or a $192 increase. [For context, Social Security recipients received an 8.7% Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for their 2023 benefits, reflecting the high inflation of 2022.] 📌 Cause: This tax hike was driven by the 2021 revaluation , which shifted more of the tax burden from commercial to residential properties, not by increased spending ....