A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, October 22, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. in the
Aldermanic Chamber.
President Lori Wilshire presided; City Clerk Susan K. Lovering recorded.
Prayer was offered by City Clerk Susan K. Lovering; Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly led in the
Pledge to the Flag.
President Wilshire
Before we start, | am going to ask Alderman Dowd under State Law that you give us the reason that you
can’t be here and if you are alone, and if you can hear us.
Alderman Dowd
I’m having an issue with my legs that is causing me to have difficulty to walk, so hopefully that’s getting
better. | can hear you and | am all alone.
President Wilshire
Thank you Alderman Dowd. Can you hear us?
Alderman Dowd
| can hear you, yes.
The roll call was taken with 13 members of the Board of Aldermen present; Alderman Gidge was
recorded absent. Alderman Tencza arrived at 7:32 PM after roll call.
Mayor James W. Donchess and Corporation Counsel Steven A. Bolton were also in attendance.
REMARKS BY THE MAYOR
Mayor Donchess
The main item | wanted to discuss with you is R-19-184 an item that is on for a first reading; but an item
which is of some urgency and which needs to be acted on tonight for reasons that | will explain. As you
recall, the Legislature in the last session increased both municipal and school aid that would go to cities
and towns across New Hampshire. But after the budget passed, that budget was vetoed. There was
not a resolution of the budget until September. Then it was worked out at that point that there would be
additional aid, | think in a reduced amount, but additional aid both to municipal aid and school aid. But
immediately after the budget passed, because the formulas and the like are fairly complicated, it was
unclear as to exactly how much money Nashua would get. We only learned, really last week, what the
specific numbers would be. What the numbers are, are about $1.8 million in additional municipal aid
and about $2.7 million dollars of school aid.
Learning that late last week put us right up against the setting of the tax rate, the tax rate is set by the
DRA, The Department of Revenue Administration. The City does not set its own tax rate although we
can usually, accurately predict what it is going to be. The tax rate is not set by the City but instead the
State DRA and they set the tax rate later this week. All they do is apply the numbers. The Legislature in
increasing aid in these categories that I’ve mentioned, either didn’t take into account at the time or
wasn’t aware of the delay that would result, which would mean that the City would have very little time to
evaluate what to do with respect to this additional aid and with respect to the setting of the tax rate.
