City Council

Minutes were approved by the Finance Subcommittee on June 4, 2025. CITY OF LACONIA - CITY COUNCIL SUBCOMMITEE MEETING FINANCE COMMITTEE City Hall - Armand A. Bolduc Council Chambers 2:00 P.M. 4/22/2025 - Minutes 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Soucy called the meeting to order at 2:01 PM. 2. SALUTE TO THE FLAG Chairman Soucy led the salute to the flag. 3. RECORDING SECRETARY Katie Gargano, City Clerk 4. ROLL CALL Clerk Gargano called the roll of the following councilors: Councilor Cheney, Councilor Soucy, and Councilor Hoffman. All committee members were present and a quorum was established. 5. STAFF IN ATTENDANCE Kirk Beattie, City Manager; Glenn Smith, Finance Director 6. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 6.A. Approval of Finance Subcommittee minutes of 6:30 pm 12/9/2024 meeting Councilor Cheney made a motion to approve the 6:30 PM meeting minutes from 12/9/24. Seconded by Councilor Hoffman Discussion: None. The motion passed with all in favor. 3-0 6.B. Approval of Finance Subcommittee minutes of 7:57 pm 12/9/2024 meeting Councilor Cheney made a motion to approve the 7:57 PM meeting minutes from 12/9/24. Seconded by Councilor Hoffman Discussion: None. The motion passed with all in favor. 3-0 7. FINANCE SUBCOMMITTEE (Soucy, Cheney and Hoffman) 7.A. FY26 Budget Discussion Manager Beattie gave the Councilors an overview of the fiscal year 2026 city budget. Overall, we are looking at a 2.75% increase for the City amount to be raised by taxes. The school is estimated at 3.7%, statewide education tax 5.4%, and the county 12.47%.  7.A. FY26 Budget Discussion Manager Beattie gave the Councilors an overview of the fiscal year 2026 city budget. Overall, we are looking at a 2.75% increase for the City amount to be raised by taxes. The school is estimated at 3.7%, statewide education tax 5.4%, and the county 12.47%. FY26 is approximately $61.5 million to be collected by taxes total. Last year was $59 million to be raised, it is an increase of 4% compared to last year. The county is based off what was appropriated last year compared to this year. Director Smith explained when the county was reevaluated, they found that Laconia is growing proportionately faster than any other town in the county. As the state school evolves and many luxury condos are built, our piece of the pie is going to continue to increase. We previously were at 18% and we increased to 20%. The City Manager still has $321k to find in order to make the budget tax cap compliant. He is still waiting to hear back from the insurance company about the city’s health insurance. He is hoping to see a significant savings close to $200k because they estimated at the high end. The second place he is looking is at two half-year funded positions. There were 8 or 9 new requests for new personnel city wide. The first position is a crime analyst for the police department, the second is a project manager for the planning department. The Project Manager is someone to work as a liaison between engineers and the city staff. This person would be out in the field, this position is especially important as the state school property is developed. There will be no cuts to any current personnel. The City will be taking $900k from fund balance. Currently there is $6 or $7 million, this amount fluctuates as the year goes on because revenue comes in twice a year and checks are cut 52 weeks of the year. This fund is not for overspending, there will most likely be something from FY 25 put in fund balance as well. Manager Beattie reported the school has lost 1.2 million from the state, they are waiting to see what the number is from the federal funding. They are using 1 million of their reserves. They are estimating they will be getting 6 million from the feds. They also cut 5 employees from their payroll, but these are not teaching positions. Capital projects being affected: the city received 400k from the Academy Street Bridge, this is going right back into other bridge projects. Negatives coming out of capital: master plan update coming out of impact fees instead, 100k for the update and it would be contracted out. Road maintenance is being cut, still funding $1 million compared to $1.4 million. No bonds are coming off the schedule this year, there is 27% increase in bonds from last year. The committee would like to see road projects to be potentially bonded to raise up the needs of road repairs versus pushing them down the road. Manager Beattie recommends looking at bonding at the end of FY 26, and then we wouldn’t have to pay for it until FY 27. Councilor Soucy would like to see this as part of the City Manager’s budget presentation. Manager Beattie went over tax rate breakdown comparisons from 2022, 2023 and 2024 and what he estimates the 2025 tax rate will be. There should be no significant change from last year. He then went over tax rates in the county and how we compared to the other 12 cities in the state. Manager Beattie will present the FY 26 budget to the City Council on April 28, 2025 at the regularly scheduled meeting. 8. Any other business that may come before the Committee 9. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Soucy adjourned the meeting at 3:06PM Respectfully submitted, Chairman Soucy adjourned the meeting at 3:06PM Respectfully submitted, Katie Gargano, City Clerk