With a police station gut-and-rebuild underway, the foundation laid for a new clubhouse at Beaver Meadow Golf Course, and talks progressing about improvements at Memorial Field, City Manager Tom Aspell has proposed Concord hit the brakes on several city projects that had been eyed for the next few years.
“You asked me to take a hard look at that,” Aspell said to city councilors at his budget presentation Thursday night. The ten-year capital improvement plan, he said, “has been reduced by $100 million.”
Concord’s city budget includes not just the capital projects it will approve for the coming year, but a ten-year plan, sketching out when the city expects to take on future projects and how much they’ll cost. While Aspell pointed to the full decade stretch, some of the biggest changes he proposed can be seen in the next five years.
In the last few budgets, the capital plan has included a string of major projects that the city would take on by 2030. That included the police station, clubhouse and a major sewer upgrade on the Heights, which have already been approved, as well as upgrades to Memorial Field, an expansion of the downtown library, a new central fire station, renovations to city hall’s campus after the police department moves out, and an overhaul of the main wastewater treatment facility on Hall Street.
To many residents and, apparently, some city councilors, that seemed like too much all at once.
As a result, Aspell has trimmed down his suggested projects for the city to take on in the coming years.
In last year’s budget, he had sketched out about $157 million in general fund bonding – meaning debt that’s mainly funded by the taxes – from 2027 through 2030. Now, paring some projects down and pushing others out, that total would fall to about $50 million in capital projects during the same timeframe.
Specifically, Aspell has proposed the city wait on a $29 million major renovation and expansion of the library, $25 million for a new central fire station and $7.5 million for the fire station on the Heights, which all would be paused until at least 2036, the far horizon of the ten-year plan. A $14 million reconfiguration of the city hall campus on Green Street, previously anticipated for 2029, and $7.5 million for fire stations in Penacook and the South End were pushed to 2034.
Especially in the latter half of a ten-year capital spending plan, the figures are by no means firm – some city officials have referred to them as a “wish list.” The changing plan over time, though, can be an indication of the city council’s priorities by comparing which projects are deemed urgent and which projects can wait.
Debt payments are up $2.4 million in the 2027 fiscal year, or 28%, to more than $11 million. Debt is also a greater portion of what local taxes go towards: 18% of the proposed spending plan would go to pay off debt, compared to 15% in last year’s budget.
As a proportion of total spending, though, debt remains within the city’s goals, Aspell emphasized to councilors. Concord aims for debt payments to occupy between 10–14% of its general operational expenses. Since 2022 it’s been hovering at 9-10%, which Aspell said was intentional. This year, it would be just under 12%, meaning the spike remains within city targets.
“When we put together the budgets, we anticipated these major projects, capital projects with bonded debt coming up. We purposely underused the debt,” Aspell said. “You were below the minimum of your goal because you knew that in coming up this coming year, you were going to need that debt. So, congratulations on financial planning.”
The $2.4 million rise is partially diverted from this year’s tax rate by the use of both specific reserves and rainy day funds, including $200,000 in rainy day funds and $500,000 in Community Improvement Reserves for the police station debt and $245,000 in recreation reserves for the clubhouse debt.
What Aspell has proposed to hold steady in the capital plan in the next few years is a replacement of the Loudon Road Bridge – which has a large federal grant but still requires a city match that now totals more than $8 million, about half of which would be a general obligation bond – and an overhaul of the Hall Street Wastewater Treatment Plant, which would largely be covered by debt tied to sewer rates. Both are expected next year.
His plan also includes money for Memorial Field in future years. About $6 million is anticipated next year with another $6 million coming from a 50-50 split with the Concord School District. A second phase could come in 2031, totalling about $14 million under the same split.
Concord isn’t alone in seeing the cost of its capital projects swell.
Nationwide, the municipal bond market hit an all-time high last year as cities and towns across the country continue to dive into big projects post-pandemic. Broadly, federal infrastructure grants and pandemic funding helped buoy this construction, either directly partially funding projects or helping places like Concord to set aside more in rainy day funds and reserves.
Concord has a bond rating of AA+ from S&P. In its January rating, the agency expressed confidence that the city would be able to adjust its budget to accommodate the rise in debt. It also noted that a ratings raise was unlikely in the coming years, “given the city’s significant debt plans.”
Councilors are set to review capital plans on Thursday, May 21. A full budget workshop schedule is available on the city’s website.
