Ward 5 Newsletter - June 2025 Highlights

I am always game for a challenge and problem solving, whether it's a scavenger hunt on Winant Trails or the FY2026 City Budget. June did not disappoint!

Budget Review

The FY2026 Budget was finalized earlier this month with a General Fund budget of $86.9 Million resulting in a 2.95% increase on the City's assessed property value - $28.59 per $1000 of assessed value. Adding in the Concord School District tax increase and assuming the County rate stays the same, a home assessed at $400,000 would pay $11,436 in FY2026 taxes (400 x $28.59).

The Capital Projects budget will be bonding $30,940,250 over 20 years and doesn't include a new police station, new fire station, renovated library, new skatepark, or improvements to Memorial Field; those are on the horizon. The biggest item is the $5.85 Million new golf clubhouse. The City Manager shared the smaller, 6,000 sq ft clubhouse design for the first time on May 15th, admitting there was no public input on it. 95% of the funding would be on taxpayers, though he said he would work with the Golf Advisory Committee (GAC) on a "management plan" so golfers would contribute $250,000 annually to it.

I had to file a Right-to-Know request for this information

As you can see in the chart from the Finance Director, the debt service on the clubhouse is close to 1% on the tax rate and assumes a $250,000 donation in advance of bonding. The Friends of the Beav have committed to donating that amount over the course of ten years - not in year 1 as reflected in the chart. The Recreation Reserve highlighted in yellow is funded by excess revenue collected the previous year. The clubhouse is the only project benefiting from the newly-created Recreation Reserve.

During budget hearings we learned that a profitable management plan will be difficult because the current culture around the golf course doesn't encourage fiscal responsibility:

1. The GAC stopped trying to cover their expenses with revenue when they removed fiscal responsibility language from their mission statement in 2008. In 2012, the GAC eliminated the nonresident differential, which increased play but drastically reduced revenue. After seven years of consistent General Fund financial support, the Golf Fund was converted from an Enterprise to a Special Revenue Fund in 2018. With no requirement to be self-supporting, the committee continually pushes back on any rate increases while making recommendations for costly upgrades.

   
   

2. Organizations (nonprofit & for profit) use Beaver Meadow at a steep discount, or no charge, while charging golfers to play. The NH Golf Association profits mightily from the multiple events it hosts at Beaver Meadow because it often isn't charged to use the course. They even list Beaver Meadow as a "semi-private" course versus Derryfield, which is listed as "municipal". We are a municipal course. The Tilton School (a $71,000/year boarding school), Bishop Brady, and Bow High School pay $2,500 each to use the Beaver Meadow annually, even though on the City's website the 2011 rate for schools is $3,160.

   
   

3. Full-time and seasonal staff members keep 85% of the revenue from lessons. No wonder one of their goals is to increase attendance at camps and lessons! They are also encouraged to play in tournaments around New England with the City paying the entrance fees (typically $360 per tournament). Within five months last year, the full-time head golf pro played in 23 days of tournaments; the full-time assistant golf pro played in 15. Unlike Concord, the golf pro at the municipally-owned course in Manchester is not a City employee and they don't pay his tournament entry fees.

Four days after the budget was adopted, the golf course parking lot came before the Council requiring an additional $150,000 to be added to the $900,000 that was approved last year, $43,000 of it from donations by Ski the Beav for snowmaking. The report stated the increase was due to the one year delay, but HL Turner created a value-engineered, scaled-down version of the parking lot (from 248 spaces to 146) that still met the requirements of the necessary Alteration of Terrain (AoT) permit.

However, the approved permit tells a different story. The stormwater facilities recommended in the permit are based on a 10,000 sq ft clubhouse and 249 parking spaces. The permit shows two phases of construction: the parking lot is phase one, the clubhouse is phase two. The Department of Environmental Services (DES) confirmed that there was no delay in the permitting, in fact the process moved quickly. They received the application in late October 2024, made recommendations, and finalized the permit by January 17, 2025. It does not address snowmaking.

Parking lot & Clubhouse plans - Phase 1 outlined in red, Phase 2 in blue (Jan 2025)

Unsolved Mysteries:

One scavenger hunt challenge

Who organized and laid out the scavenger hunt in Winant Park? I would love to coordinate more.

Why weren't images and information about the clubhouse and parking lot design provided to the public earlier? I went to DES for the AoT permit; the image above was not included in the recent report to Council.

Garrison Park Pool will be closed this season due to a lack of lifeguards and replacing it was pushed out to FY2027. When over 40,000 people used our 6 pools and splash pad last year in two months compared to less than 30,000 rounds of golf over eight months, why are we offering greater benefits to our golf pros than we do our lifeguards?

June Committees

Tree Subcommittee:

• the Schoolyard Canopy Enhancement Program provided three free apple trees that students planted at Concord High School. You can see them along Warren Street.

Energy & Environment Advisory committee:

• Presentation by NH Business Finance Authority about C-PACE (Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy) private loans for energy improvements on commercial property and multifamily units (5+).

• Sustainability Fellow will be analyzing Concord's Greenhouse Gas Emissions through mid-August and prepare a report with recommendations for reductions.

Transportation Policy Advisory Committee Meeting:

• Intersection update on Centre/Washington/Pine happening this summer! See plan above.

• NH Dept. of Trans. draft 10-year plan predicts no funding for Bow-Concord widening.

Scene in Ward 5: Quinn corner in Calvary Cemetery

Before serving as Mayor, J. Herbert Quinn founded the Concord Housing Authority and, with federal funds, built the Boucher Apartments in Penacook and JFK Apartments downtown, Concord's first high rise and low-income housing for the elderly. He returned to Concord in 2017 to dedicate this monument and bench near his family's headstone, just south of the Calvary Arch entrance.

Books I recently read/listened to for the Ultimate Book Nerd 2025 Challenge:

Political Crucifixion by Mayor J. Herbert Quinn. Book available at the Concord Public Library. Excellent read by Concord's last strong mayor before transitioning to a strong city manager form of government almost 60 years ago. History repeats itself!

Complicit: How We Enable the Unethical and How to Stop by Max Bazerman. Audio and ebook available through the Concord Public Library. I've listened to this twice back-to-back, it's that good!

Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People by Tiya Miles. Book available at the Concord Public Library. Felt like I was on the waitlist forever, but it was worth it! Read it in a day.

"It is, Sir, the people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people". -Daniel Webster