“The state’s in the worst budget situation since the Great Recession,” state Rep. Peter Leishman said during Tuesday’s Peterborough Select Board meeting, referring to the economic downturn from December 2007 to June 2009.

“The Democrats shouldn’t have lost so badly,” he added, reflecting on November’s results in the Granite State. 

“The Democratic Party failed. It lacks leadership,” said fellow Peterborough Democratic state Rep. Jonah Wheeler.

A member of the House’s Finance Committee and the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee, Leishman expects that government coffers will be less full in the years ahead. 

“Anticipate a $500 million drop in state revenues this year, and another $500 million less the next,” said Leishman.

Two reasons for this shortfall, he noted, were the elimination of the interest and dividends tax, and that liquor sales are down, according to the State Liquor Commission. 

Leishman added that litigation against the state for the Youth Development Center abuse will require the state to set aside $75 million a year for at least two years. 

Wheeler said that his work suggests that Education Freedom Accounts – state-funded vouchers for families who choose alternative methods of education, like private school or homeschooling – are unpopular across the state. Republicans are expected to seek making Education Freedom Accounts available to all by removing the income limit.

“Everywhere I go, I hear, ‘I want that problem repealed.’ Why the Democratic leadership doesn’t jump on this is beyond me,” he said.

Leishman also cited a bill that Lisa Walker, a Peterborough resident who is superintendent of the Grantham School District, asked him to file that would have held parents more responsible for bullying done by their children once the parents are aware of it. 

“I wasn’t able to get any Republican support for my anti-bullying legislation,” he said.

Asked by several residents at the meeting what they could do to affect policy in Concord, Leishman had a suggestion.

“Be engaged,” he said. “If you can show up in Concord when business is being done, people pay attention.”

In other news, the Select Board approved an agreement with Monadnock Community Hospital to accept payment in lieu of taxes. Per Richard Scheinblum, CFO of MCH, the hospital will continue to pay $15,000 a year to the town for the next five years.