Board of Aldermen 01-12-2021 Page 4
But, Madam President, | wanted to report to you some very sad news. We had a very long-term employee at
Public Works whose name was Andre Pelletier, had worked for Public Works for 46 years. Now he contracted
COVID-19, not at work, but through a family or social contact. He suffered a very serious case of COVID-19
and today | am sad to report Andre Pelletier died as a result of COVID-19. So | know we all feel very badly for
his family, a tragic loss, a family man, someone who has lived in Nashua worked for the City for all this time is
struck down now by COVID-19 near the end of his career. So we are very sorry about that and anything that we
can do to help the family, | am sure we will all be willing to assist in any we can. But we will miss, and Public
Works will miss Mr. Pelletier.
Next, Madam President, it is the beginning of the year, | wanted to at least briefly mention the Budget. This will
be a difficult Budget Year. We have been hit by the State of New Hampshire with two big things. Number One,
they have indicated that they are cutting School Aid by about $7 million dollars from what we received last year,
a $7 million dollar loss, $7 million dollar cut during the pandemic at the worst possible time is nothing that we
can agree to. So we are trying to work with our Legislative Delegation to turn that around if possible. In addition
to that $7 million dollar hit, the State is hitting us with a $4.4 million dollar increase in our Pension Bill unrelated
to any wage increases. So at the worst possible time, the State is hitting us with over $11 million dollars. This
translates into a 5% tax increase before we even get to the City Budget. We will need to have a very tight
Budget.
Madam President, for over the past several years | have proposed the Budget at the first meeting in May.
Because we are trying to work with our Legislative Delegation to reverse some of these cuts, some of this $11
million dollar hit, | will not be proposing the Budget as early as that, probably in early May when we will have a
better sense of what or how final these hits from the State of New Hampshire will be. But we will, of course,
have time to talk more about the Budget as time goes on.
| did want to point out something and | think you are going to see something on your screen right now. But over
the last two years we have tried to work hard through the Assessing Department and through Administrative
Services to make the Nashua Assessing Department the most transparent, the most accountable, the most
accessible to the public and much of that work has been by putting things on-line that citizens can access
directly without going to the Assessing Office, all they’ve got to do is go to the City Website. So we surveyed
other cities and towns around Southern New Hampshire and you can see at this point, Nashua has 19 and
there’s 19 different things here that are available to the public on-line, running from abatement appeals down
through the list to timber and excavation tax information. And when you survey other cities and towns,
Manchester, Concord, Hudson, Salem and on, you see that none of them come even close to having on-line
what Nashua currently has on-line. | think the most that we have is 8 of the 19 things, some other town has —
Manchester has 6 of the 19 available to the public.
Now our work is not done. We are still improving the accessibility, the accountability. One thing that still needs
to be put on-line and we are working on that right now is to put on the 2020 property cards. There are some
technical issues that Assessing has encountered, that IT has encountered with that, but we are confident that
those can be overcome in the near future and we will then have the 2020 property cards. But | think, again, our
work is not done. We will continue to try to improve service, but as you look at this chart | think it gives you a
visual impression of how much progress has been made in the Assessing Department regarding accountability,
transparency and accessibility to the public.
And, Madam President, | wanted to mention the unfortunate passing of another Nashua citizen, that being Terry
Romano. Terry Romano was a woman who was very generous in the community. She gave of herself in terms
of volunteering and also financially she contributed to many charitable causes in the City. She passed away last
year around Christmas time. And | just wanted to mention her passing and say that that’s a sad event for the
City. She was living at 52 Main Street right there at the Jackson Fall Condos before her passing. | am sad to
say that Terry is no longer with us.
Nearing the end Madam President there is something on your desk tonight which we would like you to accept
for a First Reading, not to pass it, just a First Reading by a suspension of the rules. It has to do with, it’s a very
when you read it, it’s a very detailed action which we will ultimately ask you to take but it’s related to the solar
