After an unsettling year that wasn’t as bad financially as feared, Concord city councilors will consider a proposed budget that includes a 2.5% increase in the city tax rate.
The $109 million proposed budget is $2.67 million or 2.5% higher than the budget approved in 2020.
Among the surprises compared to predictions a year ago is property tax revenue.
“We’re looking at almost a record level in terms of people paying their taxes on time,” said City Manager Thomas Aspell.
Aspell said the zero percent tax rate increase in the current budget that was approved last year came in response to concern that the biggest local revenue source would fall during the pandemic. As with state government, which has seen solid tax revenue, that didn’t happen.
“With so many unknowns I thought people would be unable to pay the taxes. That turned out not to be the case,” Aspell said. “I think with all of the federal stimulus dollars, and people were not out there eating, shopping, doing all those things, they probably had more money.”
Some revenues were down, including non-surprises like parking, which brought in 10% less than projected at $2.8 million, and the Everett Arena, which was closed for months at a time, but others were up, including the water and wastewater systems, which brought in almost $1 million more than the year before, presumably due to all those stay-at-home rules.
On the expense side, Aspell pointed to the New Hampshire Retirement System. In the last decade, contributions to the retirement system for municipal employers have risen by one-half or more; starting in July 1 the contributions are going up again by roughly another 20%.
Aspell said the increase in rates for municipal employees – not including teachers covered by the school district’s budget – would cost the city “about $1.2 million extra,” whereas the increase in the tax rate is expected to bring in about an extra $1.1 million.
The public safety budget is up $1.3 million over last year’s budget, fueled by a $516,000 increase in the police budget to cover pay hikes and an increase in overtime as well as $830,000 for the fire department.
Aspell pointed to the fire department budget as an example of how COVID-19 has scrambled financial planning. The department has provided coverage to the vaccination program at Steeplegate Mall – “we have 4 to 6 people there, 6 days a week” – that wasn’t expected. But federal and state payments will cover at least some of the cost.
The proposed budget can be seen under the “Your Government” tab on the city website (www.concordnh.gov). It will be the subject of a presentation from Aspell at the next City Council meeting on Thursday, May 20,with department presentations scheduled through the month, leading to a public hearing and possible adoption on June 7.
(David Brooks can be reached at 369-3313 or dbrooks@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @GraniteGeek.)
