Hooksett resident Peter Farwell informed the Town Council at their meeting on Wednesday, May 14, that the Public Access TV Committee has disbanded.

The ballot question asking voters’ permission to establish a public access television program in Hooksett failed in a 551-442 vote. Farwell, who headed the committee and researched public access stations in surrounding towns, said town councilors who supported the station, including Pat Rueppel (District 1) and David Ross (District 4), thanked the committee for their efforts.

Farwell said he’s convinced, based on the vote, that the town does not want a public access station at this time, and as of right now does not plan on continuing the fight to bring it to Hooksett.

“It was a shock because every place we went, every organization we talked to had been very, very positive,” Farwell said. “Mr. Longfellow indicated that he didn’t think the town wanted it, and I tipped my hat to him because he was right,” Farwell said about the sentiments of District 6 Councilor George Longfellow.

Longfellow and District 2 Councilor Jason Hyde have expressed their dissent against bringing public access to the town, saying it would be of little use as it was presented.

Hyde, who also works for Comcast, said the data for Comcast cable users shows that virtually no one watches public access channels. Money would be better spent, he said, on streaming town and school meetings as well as community events and postings online.

Some Hooksett residents have pointed out that the franchise fees attached to cable users’ Comcast bills, which currently go into the town coffers to offset taxes, constitute an unfair tax because not everyone pays the fees.

About three-quarters of the town’s homes are hooked up to Comcast. The town adds the franchise fees to the bills to the tune of about 2 percent of the overall bill, and collects around $100,000 per year in those fees, Town Administrator David Jodoin has said.

“I feel that it’s an unfair tax,” said David Pearl, the creator of the “Hooksett Issues” Google discussion group where the campaign for public access began, and who was also active in trying to bring Hooksett its own station.

The Town Council is authorized to remove the franchise fees from the bill at any time, according to correspondence from Comcast.

The problem, Pearl said, is that if the committee plans to regroup and go for another ballot question next year to establish public access, the fees would likely have to stay on Comcast bills for now. If they are taken off, a public access article would likely not pass, as the fees would have to be reinstituted to pay for the station setup and operating costs.

“We’re kind of in decisionmaking mode,” Pearl said. “I’m now in a position of possibly supporting something I don’t believe in to get something I want.”

The $1 line item the Town Council put into the town’s operating budget to allow them to transfer money into a fund for public access in case the ballot question passed remains, leaving the matter open as far as authority to transfer money is concerned.

Pearl said he’s heard from many Hooksett residents who didn’t even know about the franchise fees added to their cable bills until after the election.

He also got feedback from residents who said they were not pleased with the vague plan the committee had for the public access station, which did not include any hard, reliable cost estimates or specific plans for how the station would be run. “At least the election gave more publicity to it,” Pearl said.