I’ve been thinking a lot about our city budget.

For the past two years, under the leadership of Mayor Ruais and the previous Board of Aldermen, our annual city budgets came farther under the tax cap than any budget before them. Those moves were celebrated at the time. Unfortunately, the chickens have come home to roost.

This year, we face an incredible shortfall between where we are now and where we ought to be if we truly want good roads, great schools, and fully funded public safety departments.

As just one example, DPW requires $12 million to fully fund its road repair budget. Yet the Mayor has allocated only $7 million in his FY27 proposal, which is a full $5 million less than what is needed just to keep our roads from falling into further disrepair. Do you want to live in a city where the roads get worse every single year? Neither do I.

Had the last two budgets simply met the tax cap, our starting point today would be $11.5 million higher. That difference would be enough to fully fund our road repairs. It would enable significant improvements to our sidewalks and adequately fund all our city departments. Instead, we are starting from behind. And that is before school funding is taken into account.

Due to the unfortunate decisions made by Mayor Ruais and the previous Board of Aldermen, the idea of fully funding all basic city functions is not even where the finish line may be for budget negotiations this year.

But I refuse to accept the destructive false narrative which claims that we cannot fix our roads; that we cannot fund our schools; that we cannot make Manchester into the city we all know it can be.

I’m holding fast to the values that I campaigned on—the same values supported by a majority of my Ward 1 constituents. Whenever the Board of Mayor & Aldermen finally takes a vote, I plan to advocate for a budget that makes Manchester whole.

If this resonates with you, I hope you’ll take a moment to contact our elected officials. And if you want to reach out to me directly, I’d welcome your input.

Bryce Kaw-uh is a Manchester Alderman representing Ward 1. He can be reached at bryce4manchester@gmail.com.

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