CONCORD, NH — Sticker shock is coming to property taxpayers in the SAU 8 school district as property evaluations spike, new tax rates drop only slightly, and debt payments for the $239 million new Rundlett Middle School kick in at higher payments than previously published.
While taxpayers in the Concord School District have seen reevaluations of between 30 and 80 percent, it was unknown until last week what the new tax rates would be. Unlike the 1990 reevaluation, which saw valuations double or triple and rates cut in half, school tax rates in Concord are decreasing by 25 percent — which will lead to surprisingly higher school taxes in the next billing cycle.
The local education tax rate is projected to decrease from $14.81 to $11.01 per $1,000 valuation. The combined education tax rate, the local education tax and SWEPT, is projected to increase from $16.39 to $12.10 per $1,000, or about 26 percent.
Despite layoffs and the elimination of vacant positions in the district, something that should have been done years ago due to plummeting enrollments, more than 900 fewer students are being educated today than 10 years ago, taxes still increased by more than 12 percent for fiscal year 2027.
From the minutes of the Oct. 26, 2026, FY 2027 Meeting. Credit: SAU 8
Originally, the budget was set at $123.9 million. During the Oct. 26 meeting, the budget was increased to $126 million. The district added funding for additional educational assistants, added nearly $500,000 in workers' comp expenditures due to a computer accounting error, and addressed some special education funding issues.
Here are some real-world examples of properties owned by long-time residents and retirees in the city being hit hardest by revaluation and continued Concord School District tax increases.
One example is a small, 100-year-old three-bedroom home in the West End on a large lot that recently saw its revaluation increase by nearly $120,000, or more than 50 percent. Last year's local education tax was around $3,300. This year's tax rate for schools alone will be $3,750, up $450 in a single year.
Another example is a 1,200-square-foot West End single-family home built on a two-thirds-acre lot in the 1980s. The revaluation increased this home's value by $230,000. Last year's school tax bill was $3,450. This year's will be $5,900 — an increase of $2,450 in a single year.
A third example: A 1,600-square-foot manufactured home in West Concord, built in the early 2000s, that does not include any land because it is in a park. It was originally assessed at $135,000 and is now assessed at $230,000, an increase of about 80 percent. The previous school tax bill was around $2,000. Next year, it will increase to around $2,600 or a difference of $600 in one year.
Another example eyed was a townhouse in East Concord with about 1,300 square feet of living space, built in the early 1990s. The evaluation on this property was around 30 percent higher, leading to a tax bill that was about even between 2026 and 2027. One could argue this property was previously over-assessed, but that is not the norm, according to dozens of social media comments and comments received by readers of Patch in Concord.
None of these retirees or long-time residents qualify for abatements even though the reassessments have increased so much.
These figures also do not include the new Rundlett Middle School, the SWEPT, county taxes, or city tax rates.
The first round of financial information for the new Rundlett Middle School, based on debt approved in April, was released to Patch last month after several requests.
The data, on two spreadsheets, combines current bonding — elementary school consolidation and the Rundlett HVAC, with bonding for the new middle school, making the data complicated to parse out just the middle school alone. The elementary school consolidation and the RMS HVAC debt will not be fully paid off until 2041.
But one thing is clear: The original figure of $242 in "additional" taxes on a $350,000 across 30 years, lowered each year, is wildly off.
The Rundlett debt is being structured in two phases.
The district borrowed $75.95 million for the first half of the school last spring. Principal and interest on the new debt amounts to $123 million, with payments made between 2027 and 2053.
According to the spreadsheet for the first bonding, the bulk of the first loan payment for the building will be paid through over-taxation: $1.20 per $1,000, or $5.75 million across 33 years (2027 to 2059), or $480 on a $400,000 assessed home.
During the next three decades, the district will collect more than $190 million through this 5 percent to be used to pay off the bonding for both the elementary school consolidation and Rundlett.
The spreadsheet showing elementary school conslidation, RMS HVAC, and new Rundlett debt proposals for the first phase of bonding and a second bonding phase that has not yet been set. Credit: SAU 8.
Business Administration Jack Dunn said, since the high school debt was paid off decades ago, 5 percent of each year's budget has been set aside for capital projects and to offset debt.
That figure had grown from about $3 million in the 1990s to $5.75 million today.
"Every year, when the budget goes up, the 5 percent of the budget goes up," he said. "The purpose of that fund is that it suppresses the tax rate."
Dunn said part of the $5.75 million is being used to pay down the elementary school and RMS HVAC debt during the next 15 years. State aid will range from nearly $936,000 to $744,000 during that time. After the elementary school debt is paid off, the full $5.75 million across 18 years ($103.5 million) will go toward the Rundlett debt. Homes assessed at $400,000 will be billed between $288 and $92 during those 18 years after the elementary schools are paid off, making their actual "additional" tax payments not $241 but between $572 and $768 annually.
For the first new middle school bonding, between 2027 and 2039, a home assessed at $400,000 will pay between $216 in the first year and $4 in 2039, again, offset due to the $480/5 percent overtaxation.
Neither Dunn nor School Superintendent Tim Herbert was worried about using the full 5 percent for the two projects if other issues came up.
Herbert said nearly $20 million remained in a trust that could offset future costs, like the Concord Steam bankruptcy in 2017, which required the district to borrow millions to convert buildings from steam to natural gas. Other issues, like a school roof collapse or something, would or could be covered by insurance, Dunn said.
Dunn noted the district had more than 1 million square feet of space where it teaches children and would need to set aside money for future projects.
A graphic from a presentation of financials concerning the new middle school in October 2025 notes an "additional" cost of $242 annually, but officials failed to include $5.75 million in overtaxation, which is, actually, "additional" taxation, omitting it from presentations to make the project seem cheaper than it is. Credit: SAU 8.
The second bonding is unknown but the district has estimates.
It is due to be approved in 2028 or 2029, at the end of the construction project, and is estimated to be around $75.7 million. The second debt payments are scheduled to run from 2029 to 2053 and will total $116.6 million.
While the second loan is still an estimate, approving it as planned would bring the total cost of the new middle school to $239.6 million, or a quarter of a billion dollars.
When completed, it will be the most expensive school project in New Hampshire's history, based on the latest financial figures.
The figures will also fluctuate with projected city valuation growth, although the spreadsheet figures do not include estimates. Right now, the district-wide valuation is around $4.8 billion. Dunn said as the valuation grows, rates could drop slightly since the payments are spread across many decades.
In 2029, for example, a home assessed at $400,000 will be taxed $2.93 per thousand, or $1,172, for just the elementary school debt and RMS HVAC, the 5% overtaxation, and the first and second bonding for the middle school project. Dunn separated the two figures and said the Rundlett payment alone in 2029, based on the estimates for the second note, would be $2.01 per $1,000 or $804 ($480 in the 5% overtaxation and $324), more than triple the original figure of $242.
This is on top of the $4,404 annual local school tax bill.
These figures do not include SWEPT, city, or county property taxes.
Herbert said the district would soon have all the financial information from the construction company and others and could refine the project's "soft costs." He agreed, after being shown how difficult it was for a layman to follow and figure out exactly what their tax rates would be based on multiple spreadsheets and figures, the district had to be more transparent with the data.
"I think transparency is something we should do in very basic terms," Herbert said.
In future data releases, Herbert agreed the district should pull out the prior elementary school consolidation and RMS HVAC debt from the figures — including the money banked from the past, so taxpayers understand the exact numbers for the new middle school. He said all of the money was taxpayer money whether previously collected and put in a trust or in each annual budget.
Proceeds from a sale of the former Eastman Elementary School, approved last year, and former Dewey Elementary School project, if voters approve it in November, could also offset the debt. New development at the former schools could also be added to the tax rolls, depending on which businesses or organizations purchase the buildings.
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