Public hearing on school portion of proposed budget is Wednesday, April 13

posted on 4/11/2022

The City Council will hold a public hearing on the school portion of the proposed fiscal year 2023 budget at the City Council's meeting Wednesday, April 13. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall.

The City Council reviewed the School Board's adopted budget at its March 30 workshop. That workshop and associated documents, including the proposed budget and presentation materials, are available on the FY2023 Budget Revealed webpage. The public hearing on the city portion of the budget will be held Wednesday, April 20.

In addition to public hearings, the public is welcome to comment on the budget during the public forum portion of any City Council meeting or budget workshop. The public is also welcome to email the City Council at CityCouncil-All@dover.nh.gov; this address will email the Mayor and all City Councilors at once.

Brief highlights of the April 6 budget presentations

The Council held its second budget workshop on April 6, where it reviewed departmental budgets from Community Services, Welfare, Library, and Recreation departments. These proposed budgets, budget presentations and accompanying slides can be viewed on the FY2023 Budget Revealed webpage.

Community Services

Community Services' proposed budget for fiscal year 2023 totals $29,966,087, a $2,509,464 increase, or 9.1%, across all funds. The proposed budget includes the following fund expenditures:

• General Fund: $9,906,090, an $809,077 increase, or 8.9%.
• Residential Solid Waste Fund: $1,813,979, an increase of $18,494, or 1%. This is a special revenue fund generated by the purchase of trash bags and tags that help pay for trash collection and Recycling Center operations.
• Water Fund: $7,052,364, an increase of $593,536 , or 9.2%. This is an enterprise fund generated from water-use fees appropriated for drinking water operations and maintenance, water main replacement and other water-related capital projects.
• Sewer Fund: $9,936,229, an increase of $935,552 increase, or 10.4%. This is an enterprise fund generated from sewer-use fees appropriated for sewer operations, including the wastewater treatment plant, sewer replacement and other capital projects.
• Fleet Maintenance Fund: $1,277,425, an increase of $152,805, or $13.8%. This is an internal service fund other departments with city vehicles contribute to for vehicle maintenance, repair and replacement.

The proposed Community Services budget also includes a proposed water rate increase of 46 cents to $6.41 per hundred cubic feet of water and a proposed 17-cent sewer rate increase to $9.81 per hundred cubic feet. A hundred cubic feet equals 748 gallons. The proposed schedule of fees for fiscal year 2023 can be viewed here.

Library

The Library Department's proposed budget totals $1,763,990, an increase of $130,628, or 8.0%, across all funds. The proposed budget includes the following fund expenditures:

• General Fund: $1,727,385, an increase of $135,221, or 8.5%.
• Library Fine Fund: $36,605, a decrease of $4,593, or 11.1%. This special revenue fund is generated from overdue books, public printing and faxing fees, replacement fees for books and lost library cards, and U.S. Passport execution fees.

Recreation

The Recreation Department's proposed budget totals $4,210,058 an increase of $57,445, or 2%, across all funds. The proposed budget includes the following fund expenditures:

• General Fund: $2,919,166, a $94,200 increase, or 3.3%;
• McConnell Center Fund: $828,972, a reduction of $36,755 or 4.2%. This special revenue fund is generated from McConnell Center rents to pay for operations and maintenance.
• Recreation Program Fund: $461,920; no change from the current budget year. This special revenue fund is generated by Recreation user fees, such as from the fitness center and Camp Kool.

Welfare

The Welfare Department's proposed budget totals $898,614 from the General Fund. It's an increase of $86,201, or 10.6%, above the current year's budget.

Remaining FY2023 City Council budget schedule

All meetings/workshops below occur on Wednesdays.

• April 13 at 7 p.m. - Regular meeting - School Department budget public hearing
• April 20 at 7 p.m. - Special meeting - Citywide budget public hearing
• April 20 - Immediately following special meeting Presentations by Fire and Police departments
• May 4 at 6 p.m. - Budget workshop - General budget review
• May 4 - Immediately following budget workshop - Special meeting - Budget adoption
• May 11 at 7 p.m. - Regular meeting - Fallback budget adoption date