CONCORD, NH — With nearly 15 percent of New Hampshire's residents out of work due to the new coronavirus outbreak, the big question on everyone's mind is how communities like the city of Concord will pay for services if its residents can't pay their property taxes. The concern is not just about funding police, firefighters, and general services; it's also the Concord and Merrimack Valley school districts. The unemployment rate is more than double the worst recorded rate ever recorded, since the 1960s — meaning even if a small amount of those people live in Concord, revenues are going to nosedive.
The economic uncertainty of the times led SAU 8 Interim School Superintendent Frankly Bass and Business Administrator Jack Dunn to propose cutting more than $1.5 million in new spending for the 2020-2012 school year budget in late March. The school board approved a nearly $88 million earlier this week — with members openly expressing concerns about the future.
The city will begin its budget process next month.
During conversations with Bass and Dunn at the time, there was some discussion about how the district receives money and whether or not, if there was an economic collapse, the district would receive its full amount of budgeted funds.
"Well, by law, we're 100 percent required to be funded, from the taxes, so we have that," Dunn said.
Dunn added that SAU 8 has about $9 million in reserve funds that it could tap into, if needed, after various votes by the school board. But when pointed out that it was only 10 percent of next year's budget, Dunn said, "School districts in the state are required to be 100 percent funded through the taxes so that gets priority first. But just because we're 100 percent required to be funded doesn't mean we're not going to be prudent. We still have to look at it. We have a city budget; we have a county budget; we need to look at that."
Dunn's belief that schools would get the funds first caught a number of people off-guard, they said privately, including officials, attorneys, and lawmakers who stated the process doesn't work that way — and it would be a messy challenge in court if anyone demanded it.
City officials couldn't confirm any legal precedence that would require school districts to get first dibs at available revenue over the city or Merrimack County.
Don't miss updates about coronavirus precautions and information in New Hampshire as they are announced. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.
NH RSA 198:5, Stefanie Breton, the public information officer for the city said, required the city to pay taxes collected for the school district to the district treasurer as the school board shall require for the maintenance of schools.
"The selectmen of the town, in their next annual assessment, shall assess upon the taxable property of the district a sum sufficient to meet the obligations above enumerated, with such alterations thereof as may be voted by the district, and shall pay the same over to the district treasurer as the school board shall require for the maintenance of schools," the law stated.
Each property taxpayer pays a lump sum to the city that is divvied up into dollar amounts for the city, county, school district, and a statewide education property (or SWEPT). So each entity gets a specific amount.
The latest real estate tax assessment for city residents is $27.78 per $1,000 assessed property value broken down in the following manner: $9.77 for the city, $2.70 for the county, $13.26 for the schools, and $2.05 for SWEPT, which also goes to the schools. In Penacook, the city and county amounts are the same but schools get $19.64 and $1.99 for SWEPT per thousand.
So, on a $250,000 house in Concord, $6,945 would be paid to the tax collector across the year, broken out in amounts of $2,442 to the city, $675 to the county, and $3,828 to the schools.
No one entity would have access to all the funds.
Brian LeBrun, the deputy city manager-finance, said it was the city's intention to follow along the current payment schedule to the schools and county — based on the set schedule rates made during their budget cycles. For the city, he regularly watches both expenses and revenues, and issues a quarterly report to the city council, in order to monitor "what's going on."
The last financial statement report issued by LeBrun, covering the period ending in January, show some sectors — like motor vehicle registration and ambulance charges — ahead of budget. In the case of ambulance charges, it was behind fiscal year 2019. Construction permits were also short of budget as were parking revenues and parking penalties. As another example, the Beaver Meadow Golf Course was behind on revenue by $130,000 — after losing a whopping $221,900 the last fiscal year.
LeBrun offered no comment on the legal processes or opinion that schools would be paid first.
"We don't know what's going to happen right now, with collection of taxes, as we go into June, October, and December," he said.
The city's school districts, he said, are paid monthly with the county getting its share in December, he said. LeBrun said property tax collections through the end of March were "about on par," when compared to 2019, which was expected. Many new homebuyers have their property tax payments in escrow, he said, through banks and mortgage companies. So those were paid.
"What's going to happen in June? I don't know," LeBrun said.
The next property tax bills will go out next month and will be due in July. And that's where the unknown is.
"It's anybody's guess," he said, adding that officials were expecting that they will be less than March.
LeBrun said the city had about $11.8 million in a general fund unassigned fund balance. The city also has a committed fund balance of around $5.3 million for "specific purposes" approved by the council.
Both Tom Aspell, the city manager, and Bass, appeared committed to not having a fight about what is available for future funds if a collapse occurs — with Bass calling what officials were going through "uncharted territory."
Aspell said the city would have a "conversation" with school district officials to see "what is truly needed in terms of funding, at that point, for payouts." The result of those conversations "could very well lead to the need for the city to take on tax anticipation notes from financial institutions which we would then have to determine a methodology on how those bonds are paid back."
Bass said he and others would tackle the future in the same way they have been working through the pandemic — with "a great sense of cooperation and understanding, and what's in the best interest of our school and community."
Bass added, "I don't think it needs to (be) a legally parsed issue, but one (of) common sense and fairness. I have come to expect, and I must say value very much, the spirit of cooperation and collaboration between city officials and the school system."
Later this spring, Aspell plans on a recommended fiscal year 2021 budget on "what we realistically anticipate for revenues and expenditures" as well as a budget that "provides increased flexibility to adjust to the economy which will certainly be in an enhanced evolving state over the next several years." During the Great Recession, he added, the city came out "in great shape" due to how the community reacted and the decisions it made, both short-term and long-term.
"I expect no less from us again," Aspell said.
Patch takes community journalism seriously and we want to be as much service to our readers as possible at this very uncertain time. If you are a public health worker, medical provider, elected official, patient, or other coronavirus expert — or you simply have a news tip you'd like to share — please fill out this form. We'll keep names and personal information private.
Bass said Aspell had been "just great" to work with and expected that all involved "would be able to come to a reasonable solution — one that takes into consideration all constituencies within the Concord community."
ALSO READ:
Got a news tip? Send it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella's YouTube channel.
"occur" - Google News
April 18, 2020 at 06:11AM
https://ift.tt/3exAs8Q
Concord Coronavirus: Conversations Could Occur About Tax Revenues - Concord, NH Patch
"occur" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2UoDqVw
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Concord Coronavirus: Conversations Could Occur About Tax Revenues - Concord, NH Patch"
Post a Comment