MANCHESTER, N.H. – With the majority of the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen needing more time to deliberate upon the Fiscal Year 2027 Manchester School District budget, a vote to accept a budget amount of $234,981,749 was defeated by an 11-2 vote.
A motion to table the 12 pending budget resolutions before the board was withdrawn by Alderman At-Large Dan O’Neil as a courtesy after Ward 8 Alderman Ed Sapienza requested to approve the Manchester School District budget on its own. Only Sapienza and Ward 6 Alderman Crissy Kantor voted for the motion, although there was initially some confusion at the end of the roll call when Ward 9 Alderman Jim Burkush’s vote was initially forgotten. Alderman At-Large June Trisciani was absent.
Following the vote, a second motion to table was approved unanimously on a voice vote.
The figure voted on by the board, which was presented by the mayor in March, was lower than the three budget proposals forwarded by the Manchester Board of School Committee several weeks earlier. Under the city’s charter, both the mayor and the Board of School Committee are required to provide the Board of Mayor and Aldermen with budgets at or below the city’s tax cap. The lowest proposal from the Board of School Committee ($235,507,700) was the maximum amount allowable without going over the tax cap. Manchester School District Superintendent Jenn Chmiel stated that significant layoffs would likely be needed if this amount was approved by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
The other two proposals included a “baseline” budget of $251,405,787 and a “fully-funded” budget of $265,290,787. According to school district officials, the baseline budget would allow the district to retain the current level of staffing and services provided in Fiscal Year 2026. The fully-funded proposal represents the district officials’ recommended funding level. Both the baseline and fully-funded budgets would require a 2/3rd tax cap override vote of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for approval, which would be 10 Aldermen if all were in attendance.
Another possibility discussed by the Board of School Committee in recent weeks was a “soft” tax cap override where only the revenue component of the city’s tax cap would be overridden. This would allow the school district to retain the approximately $2.5 million already appropriated during Fiscal Year 2026 above the tax cap maximum amount.
Prior to the meeting, a handful of school funding supporters gathered outside City Hall to voice their support for funding the city’s public schools and other public services.
“I think in general, the (Board of Mayor and Aldermen) are pretty supportive of our public services, but there is nervousness about going over the tax cap at all or even discussing it as an option,” said Jess Spillers, former Board of Manchester School Committee Member for Ward 8. “(The general public is) willing to come together as a community to support and fund our schools and public services. We want to live here for awhile and that involves a level of investment.”
Most people talking during the meeting’s public comment session spoke against increasing budget spending for a variety of reasons. Some speakers felt that increasing property taxes threatened the ability of average people to continue affording their homes at the expense of gentrifying incoming professional workers. There were concerns over raising the police department’s portion of the city budget due to internal cultural concerns such as the steady departure of officers equaling new hires in recent years and the lack of answers following the police shooting death of Nickenley Turenne in December. Manchester Republican Committee Chair Ken Tassey felt the figures presented by the Board of School Committee were not reflective of the entire community given that all 14 members of that board are Democrats. Former Board of School Committee Member and Alderman Rich Girard felt that financial needs presented by the School District were inappropriate due to deceptive accounting practices and proficiency scores that continue to fall below state averages.
“Isn’t it time to stop reflexively feeding the beast, demand answers and hold the schools accountable for their spending choices and results? Or will you continue to allow them to blame an alleged lack of funding for those choices and failures?” he said to the Aldermen. “Clearly, soaring spending has not helped the children. How could spending even more be for them?”
A vote on the budget resolutions is required before July 1.
During the new business section of the meeting, Sapienza asked if tax cap calculation included county taxes and statewide education property taxes collected by the city. City of Manchester Finance Director Sharon Wickens confirmed that the tax cap figure included all taxes raised by the city, including these taxes.
Also in discussion during the new business section of the meeting, Kantor requested that the recent approval of the Hanover Street Theatre Block reconfiguration be re-examined by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen Committee on Public Safety Health and Traffic after sharing concerns that the nearby Hartnett Parking Lot and other changes to nearby downtown buildings impacting downtown parking needs.
That vote failed 5-7 after a roll call was requested. Kantor, Sapienza, Ward 7 Alderman Ross Terrio, and Ward 11 Alderman Norm Vincent and Ward 12 Alderwoman Kelly Thomas voted for the motion. The rest of the board was opposed except for O’Neil, who abstained, and Trisciani, who was absent.