Ruais lays out overview for proposed $200 million city budget

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais presented his budgetary vision for the upcoming fiscal year on Thursday night and he hopes that vision is seen as one of balance.

Ruais laid out an overview of his city budget proposal for the 2026 Fiscal Year, set at $200,606,398. In his address, he stated that this figure represented a 1.94% increase over the final FY’ 25 figure, well below the 4.27% increase that would be allowable under the city’s tax cap, representing a middle ground between a completely level-funded budget and a budget coming in right at the tax cap maximum.

“The conversation in City Hall is squarely focused on how few dollars can we spend without crossing that red line into cutting essential services,” he said.

Ruais referred to his budget proposal as “reality-based” or focused on what is controllable and maintaining that referenced balance between providing city services and limiting the impact to local tax payers.

The mayor said that his focus would be on the Police Department, Fire Department and Department of Public Works. The Police Department will receive an additional $1.175 million as well as the only exemptions from the city’s hiring freeze, seeking to attract approximately 20 more police officers to fill the department’s recommended roster. That amount and various contractually and legally obligated increases equaling approximately $700,000 were the only increases noted in the budget.

However, the budget does begin to save money for the retention of newly hired firefighters brought onboard thanks to a FEMA SAFER Grant. While no additional employees would be added to the Department of Public Works, money was found from other parts of the budget to bring the city’s roadway resurfacing fund to $7 million. This figure presents an increase from last year’s $5.3 million amount, but is short of the recommended $12 million, although Ruais told Ink Link that he would seek other potential methods of funding with the Board of Mayor and Aldermen as the budgetary process moves forward.

“As a city, we must live within our means. We must also continue to supply critical city services. We can accomplish both of these directives because they are not mutually exclusive,” he said.

The mayor also referenced $100,000 coming from the Community Improvement Program funding to add more lighting to Elm Street as well as noting $500,000 approved yesterday from the New Hampshire Executive Council to extend operations of the Beech Street Engagement Center and Shelter for several more months after funding was expected to end on Monday. That $500,000 will need to be accepted by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen at their next scheduled meeting on April 1. Also, a total of $1.16 million in US HUD HOME Grants will be allocated to finish the Pearl Street Lot project.

While the school budget is not part of the city budget, Ruais says that he will seek to add $2 million to the school budget rather than the providing the $13.7 million from the city budget requested by the Board of School Committee.

Ruais said that additional discussion between himself, the Board of School Committee and the Board of Mayor and Aldermen would continue to ensure that the Manchester School District receives proper funding.

Board of School Committee Vice Chair Jim O’Connell still voiced his disappointment over the initial proposal, hoping that additional discussion can provide a budget he sees as fairer to the school district. O’Connell added that mayor’s initial proposal could eliminate teaching positions or even closures of schools.

“In one fell swoop this budget will undue the progress made in Manchester schools over the past 10 years. It undercuts the hard work of our teachers and staff. This is no time to defund our schools. Academic achievements and test scores are improving, graduation rates are rising and our teachers are no longer at the bottom of New Hampshire teacher pay scales,” said O’Connell in a statement.

“It is unconscionable to balance the city’s budget by shifting dollars from schools to city services. Manchester needs to pay its police, fire and city workers reasonable and competitive salaries but to do this on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens, our students, is not only unwise but unjust,” O’Connell added.

FY 2026 Budget Highlights

4.27% Allowable Tax Cap:

• Mayor’s Budget is 1.94%

• 2.33% under the allowable tax cap

Municipal Spending:

• Total City spending is $200,606,398

• Includes nearly $1.5million in savings

• Rejects $1.1million in spending requests

• Level funds city departments, except for an extra $1.175million to the Police Department • Not one city dollar towards hiring any new employees

• Covers $400,000 in increased Healthcare costs

• Covers $300,00 in increased costs per law for Welfare Department

• Includes $79,000 in additional Contract costs from various departments • Includes $7 million to bring city employee salaries to market competitive rates

School District:

• Budget increased by $2 million; Total appropriation is $236,499,925

• A record level of funding from the city for the new fiscal year

Capital Improvements: Roads, Sidewalks and Parks:

• $7 million in road infrastructure and improvements

• $750K in park renovations, upgrades and maintenance

• $500K to begin the Wolfe Park Recreation Complex

Affordable Housing:

• Allocates $1.16 million of federal funds to finish construction of 125 units of affordable  housing on the Pearl Street parking lot.

CDBG/ESG/Home:

• Funding to Families in Transition and Waypoint to address homelessness for families and  youths: $149,800

• Funding to Fun in the Sun summer camp for students in grades 1 to 7: $50,000 • Funding to Office of Youth Services Summer programming benefitting 75 youths: $10,000 • Funding to demolition projects to take down unhealthy structures: $100,000

Community Improvement Program (CIP):

• Funding to Meals on Wheels to help 200 homebound seniors: $42,600 • Funding to Amoskeag Health and Helping Hands Outreach: $63,000

• Funding to CSA $15,000 and the Child Advocacy Center $9,000

• Funding to Big Brothers and Sisters $9,000 and Girls, Inc. $10,000

• Funding to MEDO for increased downtown lighting: $100,000

First Responders:

• Funding for lifesaving protective gear for MFD: $100,000  • Allocates $200,000 to start salary fund for 12 firefighters hired with federal grant that will  expire

Excerpts from the Mayor’s Address:

Protecting Taxpayer Dollars:

“This budget protects and provides for our taxpayers in the following ways: We do not spend a  single city dollar on hiring new employees. Outside of statutory requirements, and contract  increases, every department, accept Police, is level-funded. MPD received an additional $1.175  million. On the city side, we identified nearly $1.5 million in savings, and rejected over $1 million  in spending requests that would have increased the tax rate.”

Limiting New Spending:

“The vast majority of new spending in this budget is from areas we have either reached  consensus on as a city, or are required to by contract or law. There was a consensus on the  Board of Mayor and Aldermen that we needed to bring our city employees to market rate, which, when adding in all total costs beyond salary, amounted to approximately $7 million. We are  faced with increased healthcare payments for our city employees, which is estimated to cost  $400,000. For perspective, that number was five times higher in last year’s budget. Additionally,  we’re required by state law to cover increased costs for the Welfare Department which totaled  an extra $300,000. Contracts held by our various departments increased by $79,000, and we’re allocating $1.175 million in additional dollars to the Manchester Police Department. That’s it.  That’s all the new spending on the city side.”

Being Responsible Stewards of Taxpayer Dollars:

“Expectations are high here. We must continue to deliver these services with consistency, pride  and professionalism.”

“Another important piece to responsible budgeting is about getting creative in finding ways to  provide services without balancing that on the back of taxpayers. Which is why we are: Using the Opioid Abatement Fund to fund Hope for NH Recovery services. Utilizing this same  fund to offset costs for Squad One, an essential, lifesaving unit, within the Manchester Fire  Department. Tapping the Affordable House Trust Fund to expand transitional housing in the City  of Manchester. Auctioning off 15 vacant city lots raising $1.13 million for the city’s Affordable  Housing Trust Fund. A second auction will be coming this spring. Using a new grant coordinator  to find state and federal dollars the city may be missing out on.”

“We also realized savings in our utilities, and salt, eliminating funded vacancies, and gave DPW  the ability to haul containers in house, instead of paying for an outside vendor.”

Focusing on Safety and Essential Services:

Ruais noted that of the 18 city departments, three make up roughly 80% of city spending:  Police, Fire and DPW. “When putting the budget together, I have a few foundational  components that I think we can all agree on: If someone calls the Police, they should have the  resources to answer that call. If there is a fire emergency, the Fire Department should be able to  respond swiftly and Manchester residents want their trash picked up, potholes filled and road  paved.”

Police

“On top of the current 3% Cost of Living Adjustment, this budget allocates an additional $1.175  million to the Department to assist in their efforts to further reduce crime and take care of our  officers.”

“The Manchester Police Department recently released their Annual Report which showed a 15%  reduction in crime. They reported 4,753 arrests, 854 City Ordinance Violations, and 2,086 traffic  summonses all while maintaining a citizen positive satisfaction score of 85% of those they had  direct contact with. A tremendous testament to the leadership of Chief Marr, AC Loui and all the  men and women of this extraordinary Department.

Fire

“For the first time in our City’s history, we were awarded the SAFER Grant, totaling $3.7 million  to fund the hiring of 12 firefighters which will dramatically increase our ability to respond to calls.  As our city continues to grow, we are committed to protecting our residents, visitors and  businesses from any and all threats. This grant will only last for three years, and then we as a  city will have to pay for these new firefighters. To address that, and set Manchester up for fiscal  success, our budget begins building in the dollars we will need in year four by allocating  $200,000 this year to responsibly plan for when these federal dollars go away. Safeguarding  those who defend us is a priority, and for that reason we are also including $100,000 for  lifesaving protection equipment for the Department.”

“In 2024, the Manchester Fire Department responded to 28,794 calls for service and 55,712  units were deployed. This equates to receiving a call every 18 minutes of every day for 365  days a year, a truly remarkable statistic speaking to their own heroism on our behalf.”

DPW

“This budget makes filing potholes and polishing up our parks a priority. Last year, the  Department of Public Works completed 1,798 requests regarding potholes, almost 5 per day.  This does not include the ones they fill on their own, without a request. Long story short, they’ve  been busy. DPW also completed over 43 miles of roadway improvement including preservation,  maintenance and rehabbing. That was with $5.3 million worth of funding. This year, pulling from  four different areas in the budget, we will allocate over $7 million to our roads throughout the  city.”

“Additionally, through our bonding budget, we are allocating $300,000 to retrofit our  playgrounds, $300,000 toward paving our parks, $250,000 in deferred maintenance for our  parks and $150,000 in lighting. I also want to highlight Alderman Barry’s leadership on behalf of  the Wolfe Park Recreation Complex, and thank Aldermen Vincent and Thomas as well for their  efforts. In this budget, between bonding and CDBG, we have included $500,000 to begin the  work of making this dream a reality.”

Lighting up our Downtown

“One of my priorities is lighting up our Downtown. When you look at other downtowns, many of  them are lit up like the 4th of July. They’re warm and inviting. A well-lit downtown says come  enjoy a show, have dinner, take in a concert or baseball game…in the process, you create  beautiful memories. In Manchester that means, The Palace Theatre, The Rex, SNHU Arena and  Delta Dental Stadium along with great restaurants. To that end, we will invest $100,000 in  lighting up our downtown from our Cash CIP.”

Paying City Workers at the Market Rate:

“This budget also accounts for the generational opportunity we have to bring our city employees  to market competitive pay. This will go a long way toward filling our current vacancies across the  city as well as retaining our workforce in today’s competitive world. There was a consensus on  the Board of Mayor and Aldermen that we needed to bring our city employees to market rate,  which, when adding in all total costs beyond salary, amounted to $7 million. This means, among  other things, that our city will be run more efficiently, it will be safer and our potholes will be filled  more quickly. We will also ultimately realize savings as our spending on overtime will decrease  as we attract and retain our employees.”

Making Progress on Affordable Housing:

“[We] are the number one hottest housing market in the United States which is clearly a sign  that people want to live here, and we’re making positive improvements, it also puts upward  pressure on housing prices.”

“Focusing on bringing in more housing, and more specifically affordable housing is incredibly  important. Which is why we are allocating $1.16 million in federal HOME funds to  Neighborworks Southern New Hampshire in order to finish the Pearl Street Lot project. This will  allow us to increase our supply of decent, safe and affordable housing units in the city. This is  slated to bring 125 affordable units into the city in the near future.”

Helping Seniors, Children and our most Vulnerable

“The budget I’m presenting tonight is also dedicated to helping our seniors, children, and the  most vulnerable among us. Money from the FY26 Community Development Block Grant  Program (CDBG) has been allocated to support a variety of critical programs: $42,600 to Meals  & Wheels of Hillsborough County to provide meals and support to 200 homebound elderly  individuals. $63,000 to Amoskeag Health and Helping Hands Outreach to provide health care to  300 uninsured individuals and licensed alcohol and drug counseling to 55 individuals.

$15,000 to CASA and $9,000 to the Child Advocacy Center of Hillsborough County for support  services to 276 children that have suffered the effects of abuse and neglect. And, $9,000 to Big  Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire.”

“These funds will go a long way toward giving a hand up to the most vulnerable in our  community, while also lifting up our community partners. I will be the first one to say we have  more work to do, but we should be deeply proud of the progress we continue to make in this  city.”

Making Progress on Substance Misuse:

“One area that has kept our first responders busy over the last decade is the scourge of  addiction, and overdoses. We are blessed to have Director Thomas, the ROAR Team and our  entire Health Department who have been doing God’s work to tackle this challenging issue.  I recently celebrated 15 years of sobriety, and I am so proud of our city, community partners and  our partnerships with the State of New Hampshire because we can report that overdoses in  Manchester fell last year by 21%, and overdose fatalities fell by 24%.”

“While this is cause for celebration, we must double down on our effort to further address and  reduce overdoses. It also means we have to keep our staff in place to continue the advances  we are making across the city in public health. In our budget, we are transferring two  Community Health Nurses and a Public Health Specialist off of ARPA funding, and onto our  Health Services Reserve Account. These individuals play a vital role within our community and  are essential components to our healthcare continuum.”

Making strides with Homelessness:

“Homelessness, as we know, has been a chronic issue in Manchester, which is why since being  sworn in, we have undertaken 18 different initiatives to address it. I’d like to take one minute and  read you into my thinking regarding a recent action taken by the Executive Council.  Yesterday, the Council voted to unanimously approve $500,000 in state funding for the Beech  Street Engagement Center and Shelter. As I’ve previously discussed with this Board, these  dollars will take the shelter through the end of the summer.”

“All of this brings me to today’s message: The state funding we’ve received is a vital bridge.  Because the need remains urgent, I’ll be asking this Board on Tuesday to approve contracts  that will allow us to allocate those dollars swiftly and responsibly. We can see an end to this  emergency need, but we are not there yet.”

Budgeting for Education:

“The budget I am proposing for the Manchester School District is $236.4 million, this includes an  extra $2 million. We are reducing the district’s budget request by $9.5 million, while still  providing a record level of funding for the coming fiscal year.”

“Funding for public schools has been an important topic of conversation across the state.  When I was sworn in, MSD’s baseline number was approximately $227 million. Over the last  two fiscal years, the School District has requested roughly $16.7 million more. Last year,  through the budget process we appropriated $1 million. This year I am proposing we allocate an  additional $2 million. That represents a reduction in their request of city dollars of $13.7 million. Last fall, the Manchester School District received $6.5 million in State Adequacy Aid. These  additional dollars did not increase the tax rate.”

“In summary, if these numbers tonight are the final allocations from the BMA, the School District  will have received $9.5 million more dollars than they had prior to this Board being seated, but  have seen their requested amount reduced by $13.7 million. This is a balanced approach. $9.5  million more dollars received, $13.7 million less than requested.”

Manchester School District Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Chmiel released the following statement regarding Ruais’ announcement.

“The Mayor’s budget reduction of $9.5 million from our Board of School Committee’s approved tax cap compliant budget creates real and immediate challenges to our collective efforts to build on the progress we have made in student outcomes,” Chmiel said. “The Manchester School District has shown marked improvement in graduation rates, attendance rates and assessment test scores as a result of our work. We have aligned curriculum, advanced professional development and created new pathways to success for our students.”

“Our goal now is to adjust as best we can with significantly fewer resources to protect that progress and continue making strides our families want for their children.”

“We are examining every possible option to meet this new funding target and minimize impact on student learning.”