Salem Joins Lawsuit for Fair Share of Surplus

The town of Salem is among the communities filing suit in Strafford County Superior Court to receive their share of surpluses retained by the Local Government Center.

The filing follows the state Bureau of Securities Regulation finding that the LGC improperly retained $36.3 million contributed by the towns and cities. They are seeking an injunction and a review of the proposed distribution of the funds, and request that the funds are distributed to reflect what each town or city actually contributed.

Chuck Douglas, an attorney for the towns taking the LGC to court, said the lawsuit centers on what they call an "unfair remedy" for refunding the town/taxpayer funds. "Instead of returning money to each town based on its contribution, the BSR chose an arbitrary date and used it to determine which towns would get refunds," Douglas said in a press release. "It is completely unfair to the towns that paid excess insurance premiums, but were not members of LGC on the date selected in the (BSR) order. We are only looking for a fair and rational distribution of the excess funds back to the towns that paid them."

The plaintiff communities are: Salem, Peterborough, Durham, Concord, Northfield, Temple, Meredith, Plainfield, Bennington and Auburn.