Spotlight news and information.
Before being amended by the budget review committee, the total general fund budget was $360,683,672, a 5.84 percent increase from last year’s budget, or 2.7 percent if including supplemental appropriations approved by the BOA. This results in a 6 percent tax increase.
Prior to Gregg’s nomination, Mayor Jim Donchess had explained to the aldermen that once the change of use occurs for the Elm Street Middle School building, the Keefe Auditorium must be brought up to code compliance, per the city’s fire and building codes.
This would include the installation of a new heating system, sprinkler system, and new bathrooms, which would cost an estimated $25 million. Donchess suggested putting the question of whether to go through with the renovations to keep the Keefe Auditorium, or to raze it, on the 2025 election ballot.
“If you want to see a significant increase, a significant impact, a significant reduction in any kind of budget at the city level, you’re going to need to cut the labor force, meaning less teachers, lay off police, close the fire stations, something like that. That’s the only way to achieve very significant savings in the tax rate. And I think the judgment of the Board of Aldermen, and I believe of the community as a whole, is that those kinds of cuts are not in the community’s best interest.”
Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess hosted a meeting with Ward 3 residents at the Amherst Street Elementary school. It is the third in the series of public meetings he is holding in Nashua voting wards in 2025. About 40 residents met with him in the school cafeteria.
Residents from Nashua and outside towns went to the human affairs committee meeting on Monday night to speak on an ordinance that would prohibit the sale of kratom in Nashua, with majority in opposition to the proposed ban.
Another issue that will impact Nashua residents is the proposed $880 billion cut to Medicaid in the House and Senate budget proposals passed this week in Congress. Citing the NH Department of Health and Human Services data, the Mayor reported that a surprisingly high number of 17,778 Nashua residents enrolled in Medicaid.
After a nearly four-hour long public hearing – with mostly opposition – the Board of Aldermen (BOA) voted Monday to table resolution R-25-121.
“The first thing that people need to understand is that when you freeze federal funding, the ripple effect is huge,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan.
The 119th Congress is underway and the New Hampshire Congressional delegation is working on the the lawmaking process. Here are updates from the offices of Senators Shaheen and Hassan, Congressman Pappas, and Congresswoman Goodlander about some of their activities last week In Washington, D.C.
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