By shuffling dollars around in the spending plan for next year, the Concord city council hopes to soften its blow on taxpayers.
When City Manager Tom Apsell presented his budget earlier this spring, he estimated the municipal portion of the tax rate would increase 2.9 percent. But the city council rearranged several line items Monday evening and approved a fiscal year 2017 budget with just a 2.5 percent increase. While the council agreed to a 25 percent increase in the price of pay-as-you-throw trash bags, the group decided to keep steady the sewer rate, which was scheduled to go up 4.5 percent.
“I think the manager brought in a reasonable and fair tax rate increase based upon the needs of the city at 2.92 percent, but my goal would be to reduce it,” said Mayor Jim Bouley. “I think we can do that.”
The plan approved Monday includes $59.4 million in general fund spending. Including special funds and capital projects, total spending will add up to $100.3 million.
The sum total of changes was meant to lessen the blow of other increases. To do so, Bouley suggested increasing the numbers for building permits and ambulance service charges; he said the budget proposal underestimated revenue based on trends. Increases, like a $10,000 bump in the city’s contribution to Intown Concord, came from an economic development reserve fund, not the general fund. And he reduced interest expenses for bond sales and a workers’ compensation adjustment by a combined $124,000. Those changes removed cushion in both of those line items, but city officials said they would not derail regular operations.
“I certainly have heard from folks, thinking about issues like the bag prices are going to go up,” Ward 1 Councilor Brent Todd said. “These are the little things that are going to affect people on a day-to-day basis, and any relief that we can give to them through the creative thinking you put into this will be appreciated.”
The budget will take effect July 1.
The majority of new spending will pay for new salaries, employee benefits and pay raises. The budget will create several new positions: two police officers for $159,000 and an economic development director for $135,400. The downtown maintenance team, the library and the parks and recreation department will also see increases in staffing or hours.
Slightly down from this year, capital spending will come in at $17.5 million. The council approved a host of big-ticket projects, including a new multipurpose building at White Park to replace the dilapidated skatehouse. On Monday night, the council also moved up a plan to design a turf field at Terrill Park, which will cost $125,000 next year.
Few residents showed up to speak. Smaller line items prompted the most input from community organizations, especially those that are beneficiaries of the city.
Last year, the council gave $10,000 to the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness to open the nonprofit’s Concord Homeless Resource Center for longer hours during the winter months. But this year, it was denied.
Without that money, Executive Director Ellen Groh predicted the coalition would not open the resource center for extra hours this winter. In a letter to the council, however, she suggested the money be placed in a contingency fund to pay for an emergency shelter instead.
“Our experience in the fall of 2015 has made it clear that a low barrier winter shelter is a more critical part of the safety net,” Groh wrote.
The council did increase its own contingency fund from $10,000 to $20,000 in this year’s budget, and that money could theoretically be available for a shelter.
While Aspell originally proposed cutting dollars for Intown Concord, the council kept the group level funded from this year to next with $30,000. Intown Concord asked for $45,000 for next year, but the original budget proposal only allowed for $20,000, citing “the impending completion of the Complete Streets project” as reasoning for the decrease.
In a letter to the council and in public testimony Monday night, the board pushed back on that recommendation.
“If downtown is to grow and thrive, then communications and marketing efforts need to be enthusiastic and consistent not only during construction but in the years to follow,” the letter stated. “In fact, those efforts should ramp up once construction has concluded, not fall back to pre-construction levels.”
During the final vote, only Ward 2 Councilor Allan Herschlag opposed the budget. While he said he supported much of the plan, he wanted to see several changes, such as removing the economic development director position from under the umbrella of the community development department.
The budget passed, 12-1. More details about next year’s plan are available online at concordnh.gov.