Special Board of Aldermen 09-08-2021 Page 9
revaluation going on and so looking at taking that, you know, $13 million or thereabouts and spreading it over three or
four years would, you know, the goal would be to, as | said, stabilize the tax rate so we could, you know, project what
we're thinking and not see a fluctuation or a spike.
Alderman O’Brien
Thank you Madam President. As we look at this money that it definitely has a need but are we going to first pay off
our debts? And what | mean by the debts when the pandemic was here Nashua Fire Rescue provided EMTs to assist
in the inoculations and in the situation in the School Department to help out certain people in the community.
QuickBooks or, you know, computers were bought and different things to come out. Are those debts going to be paid
first and then look at what's left in that and then come up with the plan on that particular money?
Tim Cummings Economic Development Director
So if | may, Madam President. I'm not really sure when you say “debts”. I'm under the impression we've paid
everything.
Alderman O’Brien
Okay. | just see, you know, one of the Fire Chiefs here and | think that's what they showed. Maybe or maybe not but
| Know the Nashua Fire Rescue did provide EMTs at the time and that was part of the, you know, going out of the
budget. | don't know how much was actually paid into that account but just to make sure that we're free and clear of
that.
Tim Cummings Economic Development Director
Yeah. | think | think we would be. | think | suspected the...
Alderman O’Brien
Okay and that was my only concern that...
Tim Cummings Economic Development Director
To use GOFFR funds maybe to help massage that.
Alderman O’Brien
Right. Okay and that would be fine. | just want to make sure that that money or that responsibility has been cleared,
you know, such as public health, anything that they needed to purchase or anything else like that, that we are really
looking at something else right here. Okay. Very good. Thank you.
Alderman Lopez
So I'm interested in the use of special revenue funds. | know the housing fund that Alderman Kelly had mentioned is
definitely a particular interest of mine. Members of the faith community have actually reached out informally and
wanted to know what we're doing with that with how it's structured because they would be interested in contributing to
it too. So there's an opportunity to have a force multiplier where we take this grant money and we use it to create a
more sustaining fun that helps us create low income housing. | see a lot of added value. | definitely appreciate the
possibility of dropping the tax rate for political purposes because it makes us look good for one year but as Alderman
Dowd pointed out, it's not necessarily sustainable. So | would be concerned about just doing it for the sake of doing it.
| wouldn't mind some research being done into the possibility of maybe creating an income based relief program so
that people who are being hit hardest by the sticker shock who might have the least amount of money to pay for it are
getting the benefit of these resources and whatever financial strategies we can apply as opposed to, you know,
someone who just happens to have a very valuable piece of property, has the ability to apply for a complicated grant
that we might put out - maybe a team of lawyers to do such - I'd really rather see this money be used to mitigate the
economic impact that we're seeing from COVID-19 and how that is likely to make people less able to respond to
revaluation issues and property tax issues further down the road.
