I have spent time with the City Manager’s proposed budget, and I thank him, the Deputy City Manager for Finance, their respective staff, my fellow councilors, and a number of constituents for their time in helping me prepare for my first-ever budget season.

My takeaways so far:

I have encouraged constituents who have been frustrated with the Concord School District’s budget outcome to become familiar with this NHMA piece, which illustrates the impacts state cuts and reliance on property taxes have forced on our school and municipal budgets.
I am not prepared to accept a 5.5% increase as proposed when we are unsure of the full impacts to renters and first-time homeowners in the upcoming reevaluation mandated under state law.

How I “studied” for the budget:

1. Read the cover letter of the budget.

Page 6.

Why? For a general understanding of current affairs and economic factors. Things that stood out to me: hiring challenges in multiple departments, a 9.5% increase in healthcare costs in contrast to a 0% increase last year, new debts in the Police Station rebuild and Beaver Meadow clubhouse, a plateau in car registrations, progress reports on various city projects. Yes, this section is overwhelming on its own without even seeing the math yet.

2. Compare the Budget in Brief section of last year’s adopted budget and this year’s proposed budget.

Take note of budget types (dollar amount – page 18) and department expenses (percentage – page 21) that have increased, decreased, and stayed the same.

Why? It’s easy to assume that all of these have just blanket increased, but it familiarizes yourself with the different funds and departments.

One thing I liked here was the additi0n of the bullet points identifying the reserves (special savings accounts) that were used toward the Police Station and Beaver Meadow clubhouse.

3. Read the Fund Balance Life Cycle graphic and table.

Page 32-33. Don’t panic – I also had to read and re-read this a few times. I compared it to the one in last year’s budget. Start with finding the numbers that match in last year’s budget and this year’s budget.

Why? The fund balance is essentially the main “savings account” for the city. An amount is set aside each year for dedicated reserves. These are like a “new roof fund” or “vacation fund” within your own household that you would use for a dedicated purpose. In Concord, we contributed to the Highway, Technology, Equipment, Recreation, and Economic Development reserves. These are called “assigned fund balance” and what remains stays as “unassigned.” You’ll also see a non-spendable fund balance that changes year-to-year based on different costs we don’t have control over. This is added or subtracted from the rest.

4. Explore the TIF district summaries.

What is a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district? Essentially, this is a designated area where a city or town is able to “freeze” property taxes in an area they’d like to see rapid redevelopment. The tradeoff is that the “captured” value of property taxes that would have otherwise increased is used to pay for improvements in the immediate area of redevelopment – things like sidewalks, crosswalks, utility improvements, or other contributions to the community, usually in the form of infrastructure. There are dozens of videos and much research on the concept. These are not new to New Hampshire, and Concord has three TIF districts. More information is provided by the Office of Planning & Development.

You might not want to wade into the level of detail I did, and that’s okay. I copied and pasted last year’s TIF district summaries and this year’s (starts page 207) from the respective budgets and put them in word’s “compare” tool to see what changed. Only the dollar amount did – so no surprises there.

Why? There has been some discussion among council about closing at least the North End Opportunity Corridor TIF district, and potentially the others, “early.” The NEOCTIF specifcally has been extended beyond its original “close date” in the hopes that the Storrs Street Extension would be occurring this decade. With uncertainty in the state’s Ten Year Plan and the I-93 widening, we’re a little “stuck” on what to do next. We elected not to pursue any early closures of the TIF districts to assist with the budget process. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. This Chicago suburb had a discussion like this within its city council. I’m open to discussion on this for now.

5. Read the Capital Improvements Plan.

The Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) is where the magic happens, so to speak. This is where many of the physical “projects” we wish to see in the City are formally compiled, described, given a funding source, and assigned a place in the “queue.” They are listed four different ways:

All of this year’s projects slated to move forward, organized by funding source (page 225)
All of the CIP projects across ten years, organized by funding source with the scheduled years they will move forward (page 231)
All of the CIP projects across ten years, organized by department or function within the city, with funding sources for each year (page 248)
Project profiles for all CIP projects, with funding details, purposes, descriptions, maps, impacts to city and department functions, relevant goals, and project phasing (page 271).

I took note of the projects proposed for this year (first bullet above), and then skimmed the project profiles for each (last bullet above) to identify any grants or outside funding that will be saving the City money or compel us to do the project this year. I also did this to note the projects that will be occurring in Ward 4 specifically.

Why? I noted that CIP #17 is a recurring project that has a rotation of sidewalks that are improved cyclically. This year, much of N. Main Street in Ward 4 is receiving this upgrade, and I noted that it was intentionally paired with CIP #78, a similar CIP that is done on a rotation and will be repaving the same area of N. Main Street this coming year. Just outside of Ward 4, I saw CIP #432, the State Street Garage is indeed included as a “renovation” of the structure like we discussed on the Parking Committee. When we discussed this, we knew we were directing the renovation option to be included in the CIP as a “placeholder” figure, knowing we have not yet committed to a rebuild of the entire parking garage.

6. Read the Program Change Requests.

Program Change Requests (PCRs) are probably the most straightforward part of the budget. They are a straight indicator of what a city department’s needs are. Department heads have the option to submit these and work with the City Manager to identify “wants” and “needs.” The City Manager makes a recommendation on whether to add this to the budget for the coming year, but all the proposed changes are left in for transparency and to leave City Council the option to add things back in that the City Manager may not have recommended as a priority. They vary widely, and can range from software upgrades and additional trainings or conferences, to new signage, equipment, and whole additions, deletions, or consolidations of jobs.

Why? PCRs are useful context for unexpected changes to department structures or functions. An IT cybersecurity upgrade can be in response to another community’s cybersecurity attack in the previous year. We must be able to keep our payroll system intact! In a different example, a longtime employee whose role may have evolved to include niche responsibilities due to years of institutional knowledge may retire. Departments might find that this is the time to do an internal restructuring because a younger, newer employee would likely not have the same breadth of skills. The PCR process would be the avenue to explain this.