SPECIAL BOARD OF ALDERMEN
PUBLIC HEARING
JUNE 9, 2016
A Public Hearing was conducted by the Board of Aldermen on Thursday, June 9, 2016, at 7:00 p.m. at the Nashua
High School North Auditorium, 8 Titan Way, Nashua, New Hampshire.
President Brian S. McCarthy presided; City Clerk Patricia D. Piecuch recorded.
Prayer was offered by City Clerk Patricia D. Piecuch; Alderman Richard A. Dowd led in the Pledge to the Flag.
The roll call was taken with 12 members of the Board of Aldermen present; Alderman Cookson, Alderman Clemons and
Alderman LeBrun were recorded absent. Alderman Lopez, Alderman McGuinness and Alderman Wilshire arrived after
roll call at 7:12 p.m., 7:20 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., respectively.
His Honor Mayor James W. Donchess was also in attendance.
R-16-034
RELATIVE TO THE ADOPTION OF THE FISCAL YEAR 2017 PROPOSED BUDGET
FOR THE CITY OF NASHUA GENERAL, ENTERPRISE AND SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS
Presentation by Mayor Donchess on Proposed FY17 Budget
Mayor Donchess
This is the first budget that | have proposed this time around. The basic process here is that under the City Charter
the Mayor proposes a budget to the Board of Aldermen which comprises all operations of city government and then
the Board of Aldermen, specifically through the Budget Review Committee, reviews the budget in detail and
ultimately the Budget Review Committee makes a recommendation and the Board of Aldermen must pass the
budget. The city can’t soend money unless those expenditures are approved by the Board of Aldermen or through
the budget process. | proposed this budget this year about one month ago and since that time the Budget Review
Committee has been considering that budget. It is not an easy job because every department comes before the
committee and talks through their section of the budget which makes the job very difficult because it can involve late
nights and a lot of meetings during a compressed period of time. My goal next year is to propose the budget in late
April so the Budget Review Committee has more time to work on it and it’s not as difficult for the people on the
Budget Review Committee and their families. Let me go through some of the features that are in the budget. First
of all | think the priorities this year in this budget were first, public safety; police department and the fire department,
of course we are in the middle of a very difficult opioid crisis, both administering Narcan which revives people from
overdose situations. As we go through some of the numbers | think you will see that was an emphasis. The second
priority | think was the city schools given the 1.3% budget cap | am proposing a budget for schools which is up 2.2%
therefore significantly over the spending cap for that portion of the budget which is a budget that | believe will
maintain at least the current service level with a very moderate cap. Third is public space and park improvements,
you will see particularly in the capital improvements section of the budget that | proposed a number of projects for
parks and public spaces. | think those are important to the quality of life in the city and people enjoy our extremely
fine park system and | think some of the projects in the budget will enhance that advantage that we have. Those
include hopefully a new soccer field, the lighting of the Rail Trail, money for a carousel at the Legacy Playground
that’s going to be built at Labine Park and an automated irrigation system which will enable the soccer fields that we
do have to be watered automatically so it’s more efficient, is better for the grass and takes up less personnel time.
The other priority | believe is the capital equipment reserve fund and the replacement fund and the reason | say that
is because that part of the budget is up 40% from last year from $1.3 million to $1.8 million which has probably gone
up more than any other section of the budget as compared with last year at least.
John Griffin is the CFO and he and many others have worked very hard on the budget. The second slide shows
what the proposed operating budget is which is $248 million and this does not include the enterprise funds or some
of the off budget items. The spending cap this year based upon the provisions of the city charter is 1.3%. The
operating budget of the city is under the spending cap as proposed by $100,000. The amount that the budget has
