MANCHESTER, N.H. – Over two dozen people provided testimony over more than three hours on Tuesday night as the Manchester Board of Aldermen held a public hearing on the Fiscal Year 2027 budgets for the City of Manchester and Manchester School District.
The public hearing took place at the auditorium inside Manchester Memorial High School, a venue much larger than the Aldermanic chambers of City Hall, due to an expectation that there would be considerable input regarding the two budgets and the school budget in particular.
The Manchester Board of School Committee submitted a required tax cap-compliant school district budget as well as a “baseline” budget that would prevent the need for any layoffs and a “fully-funded” budget going beyond the baseline budget that provides the funding recommended by school district administration. This was followed by the required tax-cap compliant school budget submitted by Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais that provided less funding than the smallest of the third Board of School Committee budgets in addition to a tax cap-compliant city budget.
Most speakers on Tuesday night spoke out in favor of funding levels higher than the amount proposed by Ruais and supporting budget amounts coming in higher than the city’s tax cap, which would require support from 10 out of 14 members of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
Two of Manchester’s State Representatives, Democrats Suzanne Chretien and Erin Kerwin, urged for the city to step up on school funding after their fears that the state government is unlikely to support the city in the near future. Several students voiced the desire for investment in their futures, urging action on cleanliness in the city’s schools and warning that a lack of investment in education would lead to an exodus of young people in the future. Others echoed the students’ statement regarding the city’s future, asking Ruais to provide more of a vision into how improve the city and several parents voiced their support for greater investment in education.
One of those parents was former Board of School Committee Member and mayoral candidate Jess Spillers, who noted a handout created by Board of School Committee Member Sean Parr stating that the average household would have to pay an extra $16 a month for the baseline budget to become a reality.
“I will pay $16 if it means my child gets the education she needs!” said Spillers. “I am imploring you to wake up and listen to what we are saying. We want this, and we are willing to pay for it, so please give us what our city deserves.”
The stream of people testifying in favor of greater funding also included several educators such as Manchester West High School Principal Richard Dichard. In 20 years of employment with the Manchester School District, Dichard said he has never begun a year with more colleagues than he had the year before and urged the Board of Mayor and Aldermen not to make the situation even worse in his school when it comes to staffing needs.
“By profession, I am a principal, but you could say that I am a butcher,” he told the board. “If you don’t override the tax cap, my boss that is sitting in the back of this room is going to give me a number. It could be one or two or five or six…. I don’t know what those positions will be, (but) I can’t imagine running my building with much less than what I have (now).”
There were also several residents testifying for greater investment in the proposed city budget as well such as Manchester Library Trustee Vanessa Blais, who sought a $60,000 increase in funding for the West Manchester Branch Library from last year’s budget.
“Manchester has kept faith with the West Branch through floods, fiscal pressures, and decades of change. The West Side community deserves that practice of faith continue. A $60,000 increase is not just a budget line, it is a statement that the city stands behind its only branch library and the neighborhoods that depend on it,” she said in her statement.
Not all people testifying were in favor of increasing the proposed city and school district budgets. Rich Girard said that more oversight was needed before voters would have enough information to determine whether more spending is appropriate and Austin Bouchard told the board that Manchester residents cannot be burdened with tax increases given current pressures they face from the national economy.
“Homeowners are under pressure, renters are under pressure, seniors are under pressure,” he said. “So when the public again is being asked for more, it is not unreasonable to ask whether the system is being managed responsibly.”
Although officially no items of discussion could be brought up outside of the two proposed budgets, several people testifying asked for more transparency related to the shooting death of 24-year-old Nickenley Turenne by Manchester Police in December.
People speaking on this issue ranged from relatives of Turenne to convicted felon Frank Staples, who shouted a rant directed toward Ruais about how government is led by pedophiles.
Ruais told the audience at the end of the hearing that the investigation is still ongoing with the Office of the New Hampshire Attorney General and New Hampshire State Police.
“We want a swift and responsible conclusion,” he said. “On a broader level, we are very lucky to have our professional and exceptional police department.”
With the public hearing now concluded, the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen may finalize both budgets at an upcoming meeting, with a deadline of June 30, 2026.
