Many of us that live on private roads in New Hampshire are aware that although we pay property taxes just like residents on public roads we do not receive the same services. We do not get municipal road and related infrastructure maintenance, repair and replacement for our roads, lighting, sewer and fire hydrants. We actually pay extra for those services. In effect, we pay twice for the services that naturally accrue to those on public roads.

Municipalities and developers greatly benefit from this arrangement since they respectively approve and build private roads that do not generally meet public road standards thus saving money for the builder and making it impossible for private roads to convert to public roads. Particularly beneficial to the municipalities and the developers is the fact that they never have any financial or legal responsibility once a private road development is completely sold out. The unknowing private road residents do not become aware of the full ramifications of their purchase until several years later. They eventually realize that significant funds are necessary to increase reserves to repair and replace prematurely deteriorating capital assets due to less stringent infrastructure standards.

The New Hampshire Private Road Taxpayers Alliance (NHPVRTA) was formed to seek tax fairness for private road taxpayers. We have been working with and plan to continue working with the NH State Legislature to find solutions to this situation. If you would like to support this effort please visit our website at www.nhpvrta.com and sign up to receive email updates.