MILFORD – High property taxes and low school funding are the chief problems afflicting Milford and the state of New Hampshire, said Democrats last week at a forum for District 23 House of Representative candidates.

The three Democrat candidates were the only ones participating. There are eight people running for spots on the November ballot – four Democrats and four Republicans – but GOP leader Gary Daniels had told the debate organizers that because there is no primary contest it was not worth their while. The eight candidates, however, will compete for four House seats in the Nov. 6 general election.

Democrats who attended the debate were Paul Dargie, Peter Petrigno and incumbent Joelle Martin.

Dargie, a Milford selectman running for state office for the first time, talked about his efforts to achieve compromise when he was on the school board and school building committees. He said he watched in dismay as Republican legislators acted in ways that are bad for the Milford community.

The “huge over-reliance on property taxes,” he said, is a burden on those on fixed incomes, and the state government’s downshifting of costs, particularly retirement costs, onto towns and cities is squeezing the schools.

And New Hampshire’s extreme underspending on education means high college tuition, the candidates said, and the biggest threat to local schools is the lack of support from the state.

Dargie said his three children left New Hampshire for college, and “once they leave, they are likely to stay gone.”

Petrigno called the inequity between school districts “just plain wrong … It’s a shame to have to pit homeowners against schools.”

Martin said she is seeking her second term because those in office are “following their own agenda and ideology” and are not responsive to the real needs of constituents who are afraid that high property taxes will drive them from their homes.

At the last school Deliberative Session, Martin said, “it broke my heart to see the adversarial dynamic set up by downshifting.”

Property taxes have gone up by 58 percent over the past 10 years and she said they are the overwhelming concern of people she talks to, followed by school funding.

During the last legislative session she worked on a bill that stalled in the House that would have resulted in $1 million in funding for Milford, she said, and a bipartisan reconsideration effort failed by one vote. “I will not stop,” she told the audience that filled the selectmen’s meeting room.

Petrigno, a retired teacher, said he is concerned about New Hampshire’s aging population. Young people leave the state, he said because of its inadequate infrastructure, high college tuition and low minimum wages.

“With high tuition and low wages, why would (young people) want to stay here?” he said.

And light rail between New Hampshire and the Boston area is crucial, he said, for the state to move into the future and attract business.

Candidates also responded to questions about the opioid crisis, paid family leave, gun control, electric rates, health care, and Medicaid expansion.

The Sept. 6 forum can be viewed on the Milford town website.The Democrat candidate not there was John Frazier, a veteran Nashua firefighter who was said to be at a training session.

On the candidate’s Facebook page he says this is his first campaign for public office, and he was raised in the foster care system and will work for veterans and the elderly.

“I decided to get involved because in order for you to be heard, you must have someone willing to listen. I want to hear from our citizens what they truly want and promise to carry your message to our State House as loudly as I can,” Frazier wrote.

Kathy Cleveland can be reached at 673-3100 or kcleveland@cabinet.com.