Special Board of Aldermen 03-14-2018 Page 2
especially Chief Galipeau who led the effort from the perspective of the Fire Department. So | know
he’s going to be retiring on April 1*' and is going to be going on a few vacations with his wife and that’s
well deserved. | just want to say that he really deserves the community’s thanks and we really owe
him for all that he’s done for the City, both in recent years and throughout the 38 years of his career.
That’s all | have Mr. President.
RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR
Alderman O’Brien:
Thank you Mr. President. Mr. Mayor thank you for your remarks but | would like to remind you that
tomorrow up at Concord and being a State Rep is also a big red letter day for the City as far as
Commuter Rail. | think in looking at the calendar the vote will come up for tomorrow to try to put $4
million back into the ten-year transportation plan in the State. Right now it seems to be hijacked and
removed from the budget even though Nashua is seeking and to remind you the private authority in
doing the rail, the $4 million will still go toward a track study. It’s basically no strings attached to it too
much and why it’s being hijacked from the State — now | know Mr. Mayor we did come out with the
resolution from this very Board which reminds and | hope everyone in our delegation did receive that
to understand that this Board is not really mandating, but is requesting that our delegates that we
have sent up to Concord to remind them of their duty to vote as Nashuans and try to get something
worthwhile commuter rail into Nashua that | think will go for a long, long way of economic vitality for
our City. | don’t know, Mr. Mayor, if you would like to comment on my remarks or not on that.
Mayor Donchess:
Well Alderman O’Brien of course | agree completely. We would be a big step forward if we could
complete the planning for the capital coder project, $4.1 million or $4.2 million without the expenditure
of any State funds, would certainly advance the chances of getting commuter rail in Nashua. We are
pursuing, as you know, a two horse strategy as someone put it. One being the $4 million that
Alderman O’Brien has spoken about, the other being the private approach which we are working on
with the Boston Service Rail Corporation. | would just remind the legislators that 35.1% of the State’s
gross state product is generated in the Manchester/Nashua area and that we really need — we are
growing jobs down here and we need the State’s help to continue to grow the economy of our region
in the State by getting their assistance with respect to our infrastructure. So thank you for raising that
raising that Alderman and State Rep O’Brien.
Alderman Jette:
Mayor, the 1.3 and the 1.6% increase that you talked about sounds like it would be within the
spending cap. Could you comment on what the status of the spending cap is in your mind and
whether or not this would be within that, if it’s still something that we have to stick by.
Mayor Donchess:
Well the Hillsborough County Superior Court ruled that the spending cap that Nashua has is
inconsistent with State law and is unenforceable. However, for the purposes of illustration only within
the budget you will see the spending cap calculation, what it would be if the spending cap were still
enforceable. The budget that is proposed here that | have proposed is $1,083,000.00 below what the
spending cap, were it still in effect, would have allowed. So this is considerably below, but again, the
point here is that we know we have a re-evaluation coming. The facts suggest that residential
property has gone up a lot and commercial maybe shopping centers and other things like that have
not gone up as much. Therefore, there could be a shift towards residential in terms of the whole tax
pie meaning potentially, possibly we are going to try to lessen its impact as much as possible but
meaning a tax increase for residences without regard to the budget. So | have proposed a very lean
