MANCHESTER, NH – Only one week remains until a deadline to pass a series of budgets for the upcoming fiscal year, but the final regularly scheduled meeting of the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen adjourned – after more than four hours – without any resolution regarding those budgets.
No consensus could be reached during the board’s June 2nd meeting on the budgets, focused primarily on the Fiscal Year 2027 budgets for the City of Manchester and the Manchester School District.
During three hours of public comment, 67 people shared their views with the board. All but five of those people had some opinion about the budget, with opinion split almost equally between those who felt an override of the city’s tax cap is necessary and those who implored the Aldermen to not go beyond the tax cap, which this year limits the city to 3 percent growth in revenue and expenditures.
An override requires 10 votes from the Board of Mayor and Aldermen if all members of the board are present.
Supporters of an override expressed their preference for the budget presented by Aldermen June Trisciani (At-Large) and Jim Burkush (Ward 9), which was frequently described as the “Community-First Budget” by its backers.
Those asking for the Aldermen to adopt the Trisciani/Burkush proposal generally spoke about the need to invest in the city’s infrastructure. Additionally, they cited a lack of federal and state support over time, as well as city budgets that over the past two years did not go all the way to the tax cap limits for creating not only a sense of urgency but a deeper financial hole for the city.
One of those supporters was At-Large Board of School Committee Member Cindy Stewart, who challenged those who felt the city’s schools were wasteful with facts, and reminded Aldermen of how vital their decision on the budget will be to the city.
“No one is coming to save our city. Not Washington, and certainly not Concord,” she said to the Aldermen. “It is up to us, and more accurately, it is up to you.”
Among opponents of the override who spoke were elderly and feared that additional taxes on a fixed income would jeopardize their ability to continue living in Manchester. Others felt that the additional tax burden was inappropriate due to trying to survive through a difficult economy, and that local government has been wasteful in recent years. These speakers also reminded several members of the board of pledges to never to override the tax cap. Several of the speakers were also offended by comments made by some during the last meeting that not supporting an override for the sake of passing new collective bargaining agreements for the city’s two police unions was tantamount to not supporting the police.
These speakers, such Orange Street resident Rich Girard, asked the board to pass either the mayor’s originally proposed budget or the budget proposed by Aldermen Ed Sapienza (Ward 8) and Crissy Kantor (Ward 6), which is essentially the mayor’s budget with a few modifications. Both of these budgets would not require an override of the tax cap.
“Either the mayor’s budget or the Sapienza/Kantor budget will work for the city and based on my personal experience in much harder budget times, I say that with complete confidence,” said Girard. “Whatever you do tonight, I pray for this city’s sake that it’s not a tax cap override. Double-digit tax increases aren’t good for anybody, especially, perhaps, the Republicans that vote for them or fail to veto them.”
There was also a fourth proposed budget, announced hours before the meeting by Aldermen Ross Terrio (Ward 7), Norm Vincent (Ward 11) and Kelly Thomas (Ward 12), that was comparable to the Trisciani/Burkush budget while cutting from the school budget, road repair budget, the Health Department’s PHAST team and adding 1% cuts to all city departments.
After the board dealt with various other items on its agenda, the board went into non-public session for about 30 minutes to continue addressing negotiation strategy regarding the police contracts, which would likely impact any final decision on the budgets.
Upon returning to public session, the board took the assorted budgets waiting for a decision off the table, a required step after they were tabled at the previous meeting. With this settled, Sapienza requested the passage of the Sapienza/Kantor budget.
Several members of the board expressed concern with one of the key components to the Sapienza/Kantor budget: a roughly 50 percent reduction in the Manchester Transit Authority’s budget. Manchester Transit Authority Director Mike Whitten was present and told the board that with such a cut, the city would either need to cut the number of bus routes in half or make bus stop waits twice as long for passengers.
Sapienza and Kantor claimed that no one used the buses and they had seen them largely empty. Whitten challenged this assertion, saying that the buses were primarily used by people going to work, going to grocery stores, going to a doctor’s appointment or by students. He also said that in order to get a true sense of how each route is being used, one must stay on the bus for the entire route as passengers continually enter and leave the bus.
Whitten also responded to claims by Sapienza that bus ridership has gone down by noting that ridership had gone down during the COVID-19 pandemic and has largely returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Kantor also supported reducing bus usage for the sake of reducing the city’s carbon footprint.
All of the Aldermen except for Sapienza and Kantor voted against the Sapienza/Kantor proposal with several members of the board offering sharp criticism.
At-Large Alderman June Trisciani said she felt that the elimination of the Police Community Coordinator position in the Sapienza/Kantor budget would be incredibly harmful to the city given its role in initiatives such as crime prevention through environmental design. Alderman Bill Barry (Ward 10) chastised Sapienza for proposing cuts to departments without ever talking to the department heads impacted by those cuts.
With the Sapienza/Kantor option defeated, the board then took up the Trisciani/Burkush proposal that had been reduced by $993,318. This put the Trisciani/Burkush city budget total at $204,407,657 in comparison to the mayor’s $195,337,885.
The Trisciani/Burkush proposal for the school budget proposed a figure of $238,981,749. This amount was seen as a compromise between the mayor’s budget figure of $234,981,749 but far less than the $251,405,787 amount that Manchester School District Superintendent Jennifer Chmiel said would be needed to avoid layoffs earlier this year.
Alderwoman Christine Fajardo (Ward 4) said that part of the issue regarding revenue shortfalls came from a lack of clear guidelines when it came to 79E tax breaks for developers. She also stated that both the city and school district were doing what they could to find a compromise budget figure and that the lack of budgets going up to the tax cap maximum over the past two years has created the need for a large spike in revenue just to keep pace.
“A responsible way to deal with increasing taxes and to deal with inflation is to at least try to do it incrementally and not slam people all at once,” she said. “With the exception of those who were not on the board last term, we are all responsible (for the budget gap).”
Fajardo added that she would not be opposed to exploration of other revenue-raising methods such as soliciting donations.
With the Trisciani/Burkush budget still requiring an override vote before a vote on its passage could be made, the board took a roll call vote and the override attempt failed, 9-5. The board’s de-facto Republicans (Sapienza, Kantor, Terrio, Vincent, Thomas) voted against the override.
No other options were immediately presented during the meeting as the board descended into frustration over the impasse. Alderman Bryce Kaw-uh (Ward 1) suggested if anyone had another proposal that it should include cutting Aldermanic stipends if they felt additional cuts needed to be made by the Trisciani/Burkush proposal.
“We make $4,000 a year. Why do we have that if we are so cash strapped?” he said.
The nine Aldermen that voted for the amended Trisciani/Burkush proposal released a joint statement after the meeting.
“We are disappointed that a responsible budget was not approved tonight. Since March 27, we have worked diligently and in good faith with the mayor and our colleagues to develop a balanced proposal that addresses Manchester’s needs while protecting the city’s long-term financial stability. Our goal has never been politics—it has been ensuring that Manchester can meet its obligations, support essential services, and continue moving forward. While tonight’s outcome is disappointing, we remain committed to working with all stakeholders to find solutions that serve the best interests of the people of Manchester.”
Manchester Association of Police Supervisors (MAPS) President Rob Megowen also released a statement, acknowledging that the budget must balance many needs but the Manchester Police Department continues to face recruitment and retention challenges.
“Our members are proud to serve the residents of Manchester and our focus remains on ensuring the department can recruit and retain the experience supervisors and officers needed to meet the demands of New Hampshire’s largest city,” he said. “As budget discussions continue, we believe it is important that decision-makers fully consider the long-term public safety implications of staffing competitiveness, workforce stability and the department’s ability to attract and retain qualified personnel. These issues are critical to maintaining the level of service that Manchester residents expect and deserve.”
Given that the various budgets must be passed in some form by June 9th under the city’s charter unless the mayor vetoes the budget, it was implied that a special meeting of the board to deliberate upon the budget would take place on or before that deadline.