LCHIP Update

The New Hampshire State Senate Finance Committee discussed the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) on Friday, April 15. Their consensus decision after a very brief discussion was to stick with the House Budget for LCHIP. This provides LCHIP with $120,000 each year from the “dedicated” fund (recording fees) and allocates all the rest of the income from the recording fees to the General Fund. The $120,000 a year goes toward administrative costs; to augment the $200,000 that LCHIP gets from the Conservation License plate income.

The good news is that if this allocation passes the full Senate, LCHIP will be able to complete review of the 40 open projects and continue to assure proper stewardship of the resources that have already been protected with state investment through LCHIP. The bad news is that there will be no funds for grants for FY ’12 or ’13.