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Donchess presents ‘lean’ budget

By Damien Fisher - Staff Writer | May 18, 2018

NASHUA – With Nashua homeowners likely getting higher tax bills thanks to the pending revaluation of city property, Mayor Jim Donchess said Thursday night he wanted to keep the 2019 budget a lean as possible.

“We try to stick with keeping what we have without adding too much, because we want to keep the budget tight,” Donchess said.

Donchess presented the $262 million budget for the 2019 fiscal year to the public at a special meeting of the Board of Aldermen. The public hearing garnered few members of the public, and little to no discussion in the Nashua High School North auditorium.

The proposed budget, which must now be approved by Aldermen, keeps city service level with minimal cost increases, he said.

“We need to make some tough decisions when funding city needs,” he said.

That need to keep the budget down is forcing the School Department to leave some open positions unfilled. There also are unfilled spots in the Fire Department for dispatchers. The Police Department is going without adding officers, despite the needs in the city, Donchess said.

“We need more police officers and have for some time because of the opioid crisis,” he said.

The state-mandated revaluation of city property is likely going to leave some taxpayers with property tax bills going up as much as 25 percent. Because of the rising value of residential property in Nashua, Donchess said there likely will be a shift of the tax burden from the commercial property onto more of the residential property. That shift and tax hike happens independent of the city’s budget.

The city also is putting off some purchases to minimize the revaluation’s impact, even as other pressures are coming to the city. The cost of disposing of recycling materials has gone up about 100 percent. Last year, it cost the city less that $1 to dispose of one ton of recycling. Today, it costs $82 a ton, and those costs could go up again, Donchess said.

The city also is expecting a 10 percent cut to the state aid for schools through the state stabilization grant.

The proposed 2019 budget of $262 million is 1.6 percent higher than the current 2018 budget, which is in keeping with the strictures of the currently defunct spending cap.

A lawsuit brought against the city last year resulting in a ruling that the spending cap is legally unenforceable. Regardless, Donchess kept the proposed budget more than $1 million lower than the 1.9 percent increase that would have been allowed if the spending cap were in force.

The spending cap ruling is being appealed before the New Hampshire Supreme Court. No date for oral arguments have been set for the appeal.

The budget takes effect July 1.

CORRECTION

It was incorrectly reported in the May 18 edition of the Telegraph that some tax bills are going up by 25 percent because of the looming property revaluation. In fact, some property valuations are expected to go up by as much as 25 percent. While that increase in valuation is expected to increase tax bills, the full impact of is still unknown until the full revaluation is complete and the ration between residential and commercial property is known.

Damien Fisher can be reached at 594-1245

or dfisher@nashuatelegraph.com

or @Telegraph_DF.

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