Ward Meeting, Capital Budgets, Housing Developments, and More

Ward 7 Resident Meeting Tuesday December 10

There will be a Ward 7 Resident meeting Tuesday December 10, 7:00-8:30 PM, West Street Ward Housing, 41 West Street. Come and bring your questions and feedback. All are welcome.

Abbott-Downing School Bike Bus

A big shout out to Mike Alberici and other parents for organizing the ADS Bike Bus.

Every Friday morning a group of dedicated parents and guests rise early and ride their bikes to a central starting point. They then ride a 2.5 mile loop around the school. Along the way student riders join the "Bike Bus" when the "Bus" passes by. So far they have had nearly 50 riders all riding to school together. What a cool way to reduce carbon emissions and promote healthy exercise!

For more information check out their website: www.southendbikebus.org .

City Capital Budget

There has been much discussion of the Middle School rebuild, both with respect to location and cost. In the background of this issue is a huge list of capital projects the city must consider. There is no way we can afford all the projects that are planned. Making the choice of which capital projects to fund, in addition to the Middle School, will be a large part of the budget discussion next Spring. Balancing property tax impact with funding for needed infrastructure will bring some difficult decisions. Educating yourself about the needs and funding streams will help us prioritize the projects. We will have to reject or defer lower priority projects. Your input is very important.

Selection and Prioritization of Capital Projects

Capital projects proposed for funding and implementation are reviewed and recommended for funding if they satisfy one or more of the following criteria (from page 209 TIF Districts and CIP Summary section of the FY25 budget):

1) Project maintains or improves health, safety, or welfare of the general public or City personnel;

2) Project affects maintenance of key infrastructure, facilities, or equipment whereby deferred maintenance would severely impede municipal operations;

3) Project results in significant efficiencies or cost savings for delivery of municipal services;

4) Project better positions the City to undertake certain priority projects in the future;

5) A significant portion of the project can be financed by outside sources other than the General Fund, Special Revenue Funds, or Enterprise Funds;

6) Project shall result in the completion of the final phase of a previously initiated capital project; or,

7) Project implements a City Council goal or priority.

As you may know, capital projects may be funded in multiple ways:

From the General Fund as part of the annual budget appropriation (impacts current property tax rate);
By borrowing money (General Obligations (GO) Bonds--may impact future tax rates);
From grants or private contributions (no impact on property tax rate); and/or
From revenues of Enterprise or Special Revenue Funds (may impact user fees).

In addition, some projects are funded in Tax Increment Financing Districts (e.g. Downtown Main Street Project) in which the capital improvements are funded and then paid for by the property tax increases within the TIF District. This shields resident tax payers from the cost of these capital improvement projects.

While the city presents a rolling 10-year list of capital improvements, only the current year list is funded during the annual budget approval process. This past October, the City Council held a CIP (Capital Improvement Program) Working Session and reviewed the top 23 most expensive General Fund supported capital projects. See the full slide presentation for project details and info about funding source for each project (displayed below in order of total cost). Full details are published on the City FY25 Budget page.

Top 23 Capital Projects (in descending order of cost)

	CIP #
1	#643	Police Headquarters
2	#594	New Central Fire Station
3	#68	Library
4	#121	Vehicle/Equipment Replacement
5	#65	City Hall Renovations
6	#4	Fire Dept. Vehicle Replacement
7	#583	Heights Fire Station
8	#283	Traffic Signals/Operations Improvements
9	#107	Golf Clubhouse & Maint. Buildings
10	#570	Pleasant/Warren/Fruit Roundabout
11	#59	Terrill Park
12	#543	Merrimack River Greenway Trail
13	#36	Manchester St./Rt. 3 South
14	#588	Loudon Road Bridge Project
15	#54	Russell Martin Park
16	#541	Regional/Chenell Intersection
17	#63	City Wide Rec. Facility Improvements
18	#579	Downtown Squares
19	#64	Arena Improvements
20	#443	City-Wide Community Center
21	#628	LED Streetlight Replacement
22	#656	Riverbank Stabilization Projects
23	#31	McKee Square

A public meeting on the improvements to McKee Square is expected early next year.

The graph below demonstrates the magnitude of the increase in borrowing were we to fund and authorize all listed projects. This is unlikely. So prioritization is critical. Together we must decide what is most important to authorize or fund in next year's budget and what can be rejected or deferred to future years.

Concord Housing Developments

In October Matt Walsh, Dept. City Manager for Community Development presented a summary of Housing Developments in Concord to the City Council and listening public. A lot of development is under construction or in various stages of planning and approval. These projects will bring some modest relief to our housing shortage.

By criteria developed by the Central NH Regional Planning Council, Concord is meeting its "fair share" of area affordable housing. I believe this definition of "affordable" is the same as the state definition of "workforce housing", i.e. 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI) for a family of three. In our area the AMI is $77,874 (2022). So 60% of this is $46,724.

Housing is critical for our community as called out by Councilor Jennifer Kretovic in a recent NextDoor post. Two thoughts:

1) Can the people who work in Concord, especially in the the lower wage jobs in town, afford to live here? We would like people to be able to live, work and play in Concord; and

2) We still need even more affordable housing for our low-income seniors and persons with disabilities.

So progress perhaps and still more work to do.

Automated Solid Waste Collection is Coming to Concord!

Automated solid waste collection is coming. Automated collection uses Automated Side Loading (ASL) trucks with a mechanical arm to grab, lift, and empty trash and recycling toters. Automated curbside collection requires standardized toters (trash barrels with wheels and a lid).

A two-year pilot will begin July 2026 with full-scale implementation by July 2028. The city is working to preserve the benefits of pay-as-you-throw (PAYT--the purple bags) which significantly reduces the volume of trash and cost of collection.

We don't know yet which routes will be selected for the pilot program. For more information check out this LINK.