State Sen. Donovan Fenton doesn’t have to worry much about reelection this year.
Running unopposed to continue representing District 10, which includes Peterborough, Hancock and Dublin, Fenton said he’s focused on the future — and the most pressing issue, he said, is that New Hampshire is “at a tipping point” when it comes to affordability and the state’s ability to attract and retain young people and new businesses.
“There is so much that New Hampshire has to offer, but we have reached this precipice, and now we have fallen off that cliff, and we haven’t hit the bottom yet,” said Fenton, a Democrat. “If we don’t turn things around, they will get worse, and then it will be a lot harder to fix the problems we have when it comes to school funding, when it comes to attracting a workforce that wants to live here, when it comes to taking care of our seniors and when it comes to the healthcare issues that we have in this state.”
Affordability is the single biggest issue he hears from constituents, Fenton said, from property taxes to everyday expenses like home heating oil, groceries and gas. He’s served five terms in the Legislature — two in the Senate and three in the House — and noticed an attitude shift in the past few years as political and economic uncertainty have gripped the country.
“What I’m hearing from people is that they are scared for the future, for the first time in their lives,” he said. “Right now, people are having to decide between paying their property taxes, or do they pay for their healthcare? They don’t want to go broke or lose their home because someone in the family has gotten sick.”
Fenton has served on the Capital Budget, Commerce, Transportation and Ways and Means committees. He said he’s spearheaded legislation to expand access to affordable healthcare, especially in rural communities. He also sponsored Senate Bill 590, recently signed into law, which enables towns to establish revolving funds to support energy services.
He said he plans to continue working toward expanding access to affordable housing, childcare and healthcare in his next term.
As a business owner — he’s the vice president of Fenton Family Dealerships, based in his hometown of Keene — he said he’s acutely aware that New Hampshire’s cost of living and lack of affordable childcare create a challenge for businesses to attract new talent.
“When it comes to attracting new employees for our business, candidates will ask me, ‘What’s the childcare situation here in New Hampshire?’ And I have to say, ‘It’s tough,'” Fenton said. “Then they will ask, ‘What’s your housing situation?’ And I have to say, ‘That’s terrible, too.’ I have employees who drive an hour to work each way because they can’t find housing in our region. They can’t afford to live in the area.”
Fenton says the “building blocks” of New Hampshire’s economy — affordable housing, quality public schools, access to daycare and access to healthcare — are interrelated and require investment and planning. He said the state should invest in local communities to help them “fix their zoning” and build more housing.
Fenton said the Legislature has secured some bipartisan wins on housing recently, including overriding local restrictions around accessory dwelling units, also called in-law apartments.
While Democrats like Fenton have worked on policies to lower property taxes, like creating homestead exemptions for the statewide education property tax and expanding property tax relief programs, none made it through the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Republicans are pursuing different ideas to curb taxes, like a ballot question that will ask voters this November whether they want to set a cap on their local school property taxes. They’ve also done away with the state’s interest and dividends tax and lowered business taxes, which they argue will help attract more businesses to the state.
In Fenton’s view, those help corporate interests more than his constituents.
“When you see them lower the business profits taxes for mega-corporations, that’s only preventing us from fixing our roads or funding our schools,” he said.
Fenton said bipartisan cooperation is the way forward to creating positive change in the state, and he cited his track record of sponsoring bipartisan bills in the Legislature.
“I will work with anybody to create solutions,” Fenton said. “If you look at my bills this past session, 90% of them had Republican sponsors. Sometimes I had more Republican than Democratic co-sponsors, because I’m willing to work across the aisle and get things done.”
