CONCORD, NH — Will the Concord City Council spend hours haggling over crumbs in the city manager’s proposed budget? Will councilors and the mayor make cuts to the proposed 5.5 percent budget increase? Will the community respond and attend public hearings?
The city will find out Thursday night, following a series of meetings and hearings on the fiscal year 2027 budget.
City Manager Tom Aspell has proposed a $93.8 million general fund budget and a $22 million capital project budget. The water and wastewater fund is coming in at $23.6 million, while solid waste will be around $5.5 million.
Unlike last year, Mayor Byron Champlin said he will not present a slate of cuts but believes reductions will be suggested.
Champlin said he thought “a lot of things” would be put on the table by councilors — from staffing to nonprofits. He said property taxpayers were facing a “significant impact,” especially given the increases in school budget taxes. The city’s increase, the highest in several years, is still smaller than the school districts.
About 83 percent of the city budget is personnel — made even higher with COLA raises made last year, with no way to pay for them, health insurance cost increases, and retention bonuses, too. City staff submitted nearly $1.9 million in program change requests, which were brought down to a reduction of $43,080 in current spending — with many of the requests zeroed out.
Nearly nothing has been added that the staff requested, Champlin said.
View the full proposed budget here.
“There have been no added costs due to added programs,” Champlin said.
Patch reached out to some councilors to find out whether there would be a proposal like the one put forth at the last minute last year by Champlin, or a proposal like the one made by Amanda Grady Sexton, an at-large councilor, to introduce an amendment for a back-of-the-budget cut.
At the time of publication, it is unknown whether any proposals will be presented.
Grady Sexton said her motion for a back-of-the-budget cut last year failed. Hours of debate ensued with councilors trying to identify small cuts.
“The council ultimately agreed to institute a back-of-the-budget cut,” she said, leaving it to Aspell’s discretion.
But later, between pay increases for city employees and retention bonuses, a good chunk of the savings was lost.
More than 60 percent of the budget increase is salaries.
The Finance Committee will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 4, in the City Council Chambers. After the meeting, the Concord City Council will hold four public hearings on the general fund, capital projects, transfers, and water and sewer rates.
The city, for what is believed to be the first time, posted information requested by councilors into a PDF online, linked here.
Many of the questions, including benefit financials between full and part-time employees, fire vehicle purchases, buffer staffing for the department, TIF districts, and accidents at Broadway and South Main Street, were eye-opening. Some questions, though, like lists of season passholders for Parks & Recreation and the Beaver Meadow Golf Course, could be (or should be) considered an invasion of privacy for those who purchase the passes.
Ward 6 City Councilor Aislinn Kalob asked why $50,000 was being transferred from each of the city’s tax increment finance districts for “public safety support.” City administration said that the police and fire budgets combined amount to $38.5 million, not including debt service on equipment. State law allows the transfer of money from the TIFs to the general fund, in an amount equal to the geographic area protected by the services. The transfer of $150,000 equates to a roughly 0.26 percent reduction in the tax rate.
Ward 5 City Councilor Stacey Brown requested information about authorized but unissued bonds. Nearly $41.1 million in bonding has not yet been borrowed. More than half of which will go toward a new police station. Another $6.9 million will be borrowed for sewer main rehabs, $2.6 million will be spent on land acquisitions, $1.1 million on traffic signals and operations improvements, $1.2 million on the School Street Parking Garage, and $1.4 million on a new airport terminal.
She also asked about mutual aid incidents, which totaled about 400 to 425 each year during the past three years.
Ward 2 Councilor Michele Horne requested information about the Concord City Auditorium and the Merrimack Skate House, recreation department facilities, noting that there was no information on payroll, utilities, or revenue.
City administrators said the Audi’s utilities cannot be separated from City Hall since they are on the same system. Rental revenues were estimated at about $35,000 for the next fiscal year. Friends of the Audi, too, raise private money to support the city’s historic theatre.
The skate house collected more than $6,100 in revenue and rented out skates 1,225 times.
A former drug dean at 30 Penacook St. was confiscated by the city due to unpaid taxes. The fifth-of-an-acre parcel sold for $125,000. Credit: Tony Schinella/Patch
Balancing budgets is not just about costs but is also about raising revenue.
Nearly every city councilor who has participated in a Patch forum and answered a questionnaire has said that economic development to expand the tax base would be a top priority… but little (or not enough) has been done.
One idea would be to audit every vacant parcel in the city and put that land up for sale.
A condemned bungalow, a former drug den, at the corner of Penacook and Bradley streets in the North End, was sold by the city to a developer for $125,000. This developer will probably need to spend money to demolish the home. This means the lot was probably worth around $150,000 or more.
How many other vacant lots around the city are there that might fetch $150,000? While it is one-time money, there is probably enough to lower the tax rate.
But it is not just this lot or smaller lots around the city. With housing costs and prices at a premium, the city is in a moment it should take advantage of, not only to produce more housing but also to raise revenue.
There is land at and around the Beaver Meadow Golf Course for McMansions affluent golfers could buy to be close to the municipal course. There are more than 60 acres in East Concord, next to Mill Brook Primary School, owned by the school district, that are ideal for single-family homes. There are 50-plus acres, co-owned by Concord Hospital and the city, between Auburn Street and Langley Parkway that could be used for tiny homes for hospice patients. There is also the 30-plus acres of land off Penacook Street as part of the Duprey deal late last year.
The time is now to take advantage of these opportunities before the moment is lost.
Do you have a news tip? Email it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella's YouTube or Rumble channels. Patch in New Hampshire is now in 217 communities — and expanding every day. Also, follow Patch on Google Discover.
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