Public hearing held on Manchester mayor's FY'25 budget proposal

Paul Feely, The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester
Updated ·3 min read

Apr. 16—Eight residents offered comments Tuesday night during a public hearing on Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais's first budget, a $437 million spending proposal for fiscal year 2025 that includes the largest allocation ever to city schools while coming in nearly 2% under the tax cap.

The mayor's proposed budget represents a 3.86% increase over FY '24, 1.77 points under the 5.6% allowed under the city's tax cap.

The budget proposes $189 million in spending on the city side and $227.9 million to Manchester schools, a $1 million increase over the past fiscal year's school allotment.

In February, city school board members voted to send a budget request of $232,227,530 to the mayor's office for consideration.

The budget continues the current hiring freeze for all but emergency requests, reduces borrowing through bonding by 10%, avoids layoffs of any city employees and level-funds city departments while providing for 4% cost-of-living adjustments, merit and longevity pay, and retirement incentives.

School board member Julie Turner encouraged the board to give the school district the full $232 million it requested — and if not, if members would be willing to consider a compromise amount of $230 million, a budget increase equal to the amount given on the city side.

"The proposed amount of $227 million will cause cumulative impairment in the years that follow," Turner said. "As we all know, strong schools lead to strong communities."

Brandon Lemay wanted to see more being done in the budget to address the housing crisis.

"A city's budget is a reflection of a city's priorities," Lemay said. "Anybody who wants to live and work in Manchester should be able to live and work in Manchester."

Former school board member Rich Girard listed several items he felt could be cut from the mayor's budget, including an extra $1 million to the police department, and another $1 million to the school budget.

"It's pretty clear that he didn't deliver on his campaign promise to cut taxes," Girard said. "My assumption is he didn't realize how difficult honoring that promise would be."

The mayor's proposed budget covers $1.4 million in increased health care costs and eliminates $600,000 in unfunded vacancies. It doesn't include funding for $1,839,748 in assorted department requests.

In his budget proposal, Ruais highlighted the work of Manchester police and proposed funding to retain 10 police officer positions currently funded by the expiring federal COPS hiring grant. Six additional police officers have been hired in the city since Jan. 2.

The budget also provides $100,000 for protective gear for Manchester firefighters.

Addressing homelessness, Ruais proposed allocating $1.65 million in federal funds to help construct 45 units of affordable housing on the Pearl Street parking lot.

The budget also allocates money from the Fiscal Year '25 Community Development Block Grant program and Emergency Solution Grant to support efforts to end homelessness.

Families in Transition will receive $70,000 for family emergency housing, WayPoint $89,000 for its homeless youth shelter and YWCA $70,000 for Emily's Place.

The budget proposal allocates $50,000 to 1269 Cafe to finish efforts to double the number of residential rooms from 12 to 24.

Other budget highlights include:

—$5.3 million in road infrastructure and improvements around the city.

—$1 million for sidewalk maintenance and upgrades promoting pedestrian safety and accessibility.

—$1 million investment in park renovations, upgrades and maintenance, including playground renovations at Livingston, Wolfe and Howe Parks.

—$200,000 for a league partnership program to further upgrade specific parks where youth sports are active.