Claremont
The new spending plan includes increases in salaries and in planning and development for capital projects while reducing spending for fire and police. It also anticipates higher expenses in the assessing department because of an upcoming property revaluation.
The City Council will begin its budget review on May 9, and include an all-day session on Saturday, May 12.
If approved as presented, McNutt estimates the city portion of the tax rate would increase 81 cents, to $15.65 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
In a letter to the council, McNutt gave an overview of the challenge of providing adequate city services while acknowledging the increasing tax burden on residents. Claremont has the highest overall tax rate in New Hampshire. The local school tax rate is projected to increase 11 cents next year.
“The community’s resources are finite and we must acknowledge the strain,” McNutt wrote.
The largest percentage increase is for assessing expenses, which are proposed to total $495,000, a 155 percent increase.
Most of that increase is for an upcoming property revaluation ($235,000), though it is not clear when that would occur. There is also $35,000 for consulting services, up from $10,000, and $132,000 for salaries, which reflects an additional $32,000.
Two other departments with significant increases are the municipal complex, up 33 percent, and planning and development, with an increase of 29 percent. According to the proposed budget, the increases are for capital projects, including $140,000 for the municipal complex and $240,000 for planning and development.
The parks department has a proposed 34 percent increase, bringing the total proposed budget to $402,000, with most of the increase in salaries and benefits.
The streets and road budget is to $2.7 million, up by $50,000, with $225,000 in the budget for paving, less than half the department request of $500,000. Welfare, sanitation, debt service and library budgets are near current levels.
Savings will accrue because the city does not plan on replacing one firefighter who retired, McNutt said. The city also will see savings due to two open positions in the police department and the lengthy nature of that hiring process, he added.
The police budget is slated to decrease by more than $100,000 to $2.74 million, while the fire department budget has been reduced by almost $79,000 to $2.47 million.
The community center budget also is proposed to be reduced by $50,000 to $1.13 million. A decrease is anticipated in membership revenues for the five-year-old center. Those funds are projected to drop to $337,000, or by $85,000, about 20 percent.
On the revenue side, McNutt is projecting nontax revenues of $6.35 million, of which $1.67 million would come from the city’s fund balance.
In his letter to the council, McNutt praised the department heads for bringing in $1 million in grants in 2017. While that represented $1.40 worth of savings on the tax rate, it by no means alleviated the pressure to hold the line on taxes, he said.
“The upcoming fiscal year will be a challenge for Claremont due to the need for additional tax revenue to cover rising expenses and because we will begin making strategic investments toward the continued revitalization of the downtown, increase investment in preservation of our roadways and maintain and protect our historic City Hall and Claremont Opera House,” McNutt wrote to the council.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com
