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‘Imagine Nashua 2040:’ Officials present budget

By Adam Urquhart - Staff Writer | May 17, 2019

NASHUA – Despite a sparse public turnout during the Thursday special Board of Aldermen meeting, Mayor Jim Donchess and others discussed the planned $317 million fiscal 2020 budget.

This amount reflects an increase of about $11 million, or 3%, from the budget originally approved for the current fiscal year, which concludes June 30.

“We want to start Imagine Nashua 2040, which is the first citywide master plan that has been done in 20 years,” Donchess said. “The budget funds the first half of that. It would be a two-year project, so we would need to include money next year, as well.”

The idea for that is to visualize what the community can become in the next 20 years, while incorporating those ideas into the city master plan.

As for shorter term goals, Donchess plans to add four English Language Learner teachers. Locally, approximately 20% of the Nashua School District now consists of students classified as ELL, as their native tongues include Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Arabic and many others.

Donchess believes adding four ELL teachers will improve the learning outcomes of those students studying to master a new language.

The budget also includes addressing the issue of needing more fire dispatchers. The number of calls received on an annual basis has increased from several thousand calls to more than 11,000 calls, and may go higher than that.

Firefighters respond to many calls including fires, medical emergencies and overdoses. Donchess said this increase in dispatchers will help deliver quality emergency responses.

“Right now, there are only two fire dispatchers on duty at any one time, and that number has been constant for decades,” Donchess said.

Furthermore, health care costs are on the rise, resulting in an increase from the FY 2019 budget.

“As you know, we are self-insured here, which saves the city a lot of money — much cheaper than actually buying insurance — but health care costs are going up,” Donchess said. “We’re seeing an 11% increase this year, which will increase that area of the budget by $3 million. That is the reason we are trying to be as tight as possible with respect to everything else to meet that cost, as well as maintain, in some cases, improve the quality of services.”

The city will also be implementing the Riverfront Master Plan, which includes adding lighting to the river walks and cantilevered walkways near the Main Street Bridge. Additionally, the city is working on the Railyard District near the Henry Hanger Co. building to see additional downtown housing in that area of the city where the railyard once was.

“We are looking to try add additional downtown housing in addition to the railyard district, which as time goes on, I think we will see additional details concerning that,” Donchess said.

The city is also looking to upgrade the middle schools in coming years, including either renovating or replacing the Elm Street Middle School, and upgrading the facilities at other middle schools at the same time.

“We’re very proud of our community, but as a city government, as a partner with all of our residents, we try to do our part to provide quality services and make the city the best place to live as we possibly can,” Donchess said.

Adam Urquhart may be contacted at 594-1206, or at aurquhart@nashuatelegraph.com.

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