Seabrook Select Board candidate Mary Messina

Portsmouth Herald
·2 min read
Mary Messina
Mary Messina

Name: Mary Messina

Education: BS accountancy - Bentley College 1982, certified project management professional (PMP) 2009

Occupation: Retired 2020 - 38 years of service at Raytheon Company (1982-2020) - accounting & supply chain - 40 years small business owner

Political or civic experience highlights: Seabrook Civic Association member

What are your top three priorities if elected?: Stop the chaos. Bring back mutual respect to the Board of Selectmen.

Stop the "runaway budgets." In the last 10 years, the budget grew significantly from $18.7M to $31.5M, a 68.5% increase. It is becoming increasingly more difficult for young families, who represent our future generation, the elderly, and those who are on fixed incomes, to make ends meet.

NextEra two issues - (1) Declining revenues. Seabrook needs to address what life would be like without NextEra tax revenues. (2) Safety issue: NextEra partitioned the NRC to make changes to its Emergency Management System (EMS) Plan. The plan is to move the EMS office from Portsmouth, N.H., to Juno, Florida, and increase the response time for an "unusual event" from 60 to 90 minutes. This is unacceptable. Seabrook residents take on all the risks while NextEra reaps the rewards.

What is the biggest challenge the town is facing and how would you address it?: The biggest challenge Seabrook is facing is that it is heading towards a financial crisis. Residents and taxpayers cannot afford to live here. Everywhere I go and everyone I meet say the same thing to me - what happened to the taxes, and what are you going to do about it?

I would use my 38 years of business experience in leadership and financial accountability to research what cost-saving initiatives could be implemented while not cutting services to the people. We would have to work as a cohesive board to make such change happen. Change is hard, but change is needed.

What else should voters know about you?: I have been a part of Seabrook since 1994 and became a full-time resident when I retired in 2020. I have seen Seabrook change from a little town into a commercial hub. I feel that Seabrook is feeling the growing pains of such growth and did not realize the impact it would have on our infrastructure. I also have 40 years as a small business owner of commercial property and leasing. I understand what it takes to run a business and how to work with municipalities.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Seabrook Select Board candidate Mary Messina