Mayor Byron Champlin gave a warning during January’s inaugural City Council meeting: we will face “difficult choices” for the next two budget cycles. Are the difficult choices the cuts we as the Finance Committee must make? Or do the difficult choices come when we are asked to turn our backs on the economic realities facing our constituents and approve budgets that will, year over year, put increased pressure on Concord residents?

As it stands, the city’s proposed tax rate increase is 5.5%, and the Concord School District’s proposed tax rate increase is 12.2%. Penacook residents paying Merrimack Valley school taxes will see a 20% increase, an additional $3.28 per $1,000 of assessed value. This does not include state and county taxes, and while significantly higher than previous years, these figures alone don’t communicate the full picture of the tax rate’s impact on our constituents given the ongoing property revaluation. The city council and school board will finalize our respective budgets this month, but with the revaluation still incomplete, it’s impossible to quantify the impact on households.

Despite this, we cannot claim ignorance to the shifting burden. Council approved a report from the Director of Assessing at our March 9 meeting that clearly stated, “it is anticipated that manufactured housing, condominiums, lower-valued and smaller-square-footage single-family homes, multifamily properties, and apartment complexes will experience the greatest percentage increases in assessed value as a result of the revaluation.”

This is a troubling outlook for families living on tight margins, the elderly, all people on fixed incomes, the middle and working classes who in this economy are barely scraping by. While we have expenses outside of our control like the drastically higher costs of employee health care, we cannot forget that we have constituents struggling to afford these same rising costs — including ones who now go without the luxury of insurance.

Concord’s median income according to the latest Census data is $84,902, making us a solidly middle-class community. However, the per-capita income more accurately describes the wage of the average worker, and Concord’s is just over $47,000 annually. The math tells us:

  • The average worker nets around $3,000 in take-home pay monthly.
  • Purchasing a home in Concord is out of reach.
  • The average worker wouldn’t meet the income criteria for the average one-bedroom apartment costing $1,500 per month. Instead, they’re likely to rent a two-bedroom apartment with a roommate, each contributing around $1,000 in monthly rent.
  • The essentials eat up the remainder: heat, electricity, wifi, phone bill, prescriptions, student loan payments, groceries, car payment, car insurance, gas and the minimum payment on the high APR credit card they opened for emergencies like the surprise warning light on the dashboard, the accidental visit to an out-of-network provider or the long-forgotten parking ticket. This does not include child care, which now costs in New Hampshire at least $16,000 annually for one child.

The city’s expenses are outpacing our growth and will continue to do so as we pay off large, previously bonded projects like the new police station and the Beaver Meadow clubhouse. We must be honest with ourselves about our needs and our wants, especially when choosing what additional debt to bond out for future projects. Given the revaluation and current economic crisis, our tax rate increase goal should be zero. That may mean a temporary period of austerity for our city, and will certainly require that we explore sustainable ways to increase revenues and jump-start our commercial tax base growth.

To our colleagues on the city council: The four of us offer a reminder that imagination and creativity are free and valuable resources. We are a body made up of seasoned public servants and newcomers with bold ideas. Together, we can produce a budget we can all be proud of, one that protects everyone down to our most vulnerable residents from the rising costs associated with having a Concord zip code. Fiscal restraint is an act of care for our people, who trusted us with their vote and are counting on us to live within our means at the municipal level, just as they are doing on a household level.

To the general public: On June 4 at 5:30 PM in City Council chambers on the second floor of the City Hall Annex, the City Council acting as the Finance Committee will hold a work session and public comment on the proposed Fiscal Year 2027 and Capital Improvement Program budgets. We urge anyone with opinions on these budgets to attend this meeting and speak directly to us. If you are unable to attend but would like to submit public testimony, please email your statement to cityclerk@concordnh.gov.

Concord City Councilor Mark Davie represents Ward 4 and is serving his first term. Councilor Michele Horne represents Ward 2 and is serving her second term. Councilor Aislinn Kalob represents Ward 6 and is serving her first term. Councilor Kris Schultz represents Ward 9 and is serving her second term.