NASHUA – The Board of Aldermen, during its May 27 meeting, voted 11-3 to pass the city’s $474.8 million budget for fiscal year 2026.

Mayor James Donchess had initially proposed a budget of $474.5 million. However, the aldermen increased the total by $389,196 to reinstate two public health workers, make salary adjustments for senior officers at Nashua Fire Rescue and add to the Community Benefit Fund.

The final figure represents an increase of $18.1 million over last year. Within the total budget, the city’s General Fund now sits at $361 million, reflecting an increase of six percent. No changes were made to the Enterprise Fund or the Special Revenue Fund.

Prior to the vote, resident Paula Johnson expressed concerns about the six percent increase.

“We just can’t do it anymore,” she said.

Johnson also said the population of the Nashua School District has continued to drop since the COVID-19 pandemic and now sits at approximately 9,700 students.

“The population is coming down but the costs are still rising,” she said. “You’ve got to get a handle on all this.”

Resident William Ferriero referred to the statement made by the mayor at the May 14 budget hearing: “property taxes are high, people are struggling.”

“I didn’t see any solutions or any opportunities on how to solve that problem,” said Ferriero. “Maybe you should consider contracting or hiring a budget guy.”

In response, Ward 8 Alderman Derek Thibeault said Chief Financial Officer John Griffin and Treasurer Dawn Enwright are tasked with meeting with department heads and putting the budget together each year.

“The mayor and us as aldermen are not sitting down writing the budget,” he said. “We have CFO Griffin and Dawn Enwright doing that work, they’re the budget people.”

Thibeault also said extreme measures would be needed to produce a lower tax rate.

“To really lower the taxes, you’d have to take millions out of this budget,” he said. “You’d have to cut staff, I don’t think most of us want to do that.”

Ward 4 Alderman Thomas Lopez said it took courage for the Board of Education to come forward with an initial request to increase its budget by 4.7 percent over last year.

“They very clearly debated the issue, they didn’t just come up with a budget out of nowhere,” he said, adding that Donchess worked with school officials to lower the increase to four percent. “The mayor adjusting his estimate to four percent was already a victory that the Board of Education won before we ever got to it.”

Ward 9 Alderman John Sullivan was opposed to this year’s budget.

“I think a six percent lift on the Nashua taxpayer is very difficult — six percent is a lot,” he said.

Sullivan also said he disagreed with the notion that certain line items are “uncontrollable.”

“In general, we make the rules for the city,” he said. “We are in control of the situation, I don’t think the situation is in control of us.”