7/29/2n15 RE: budget

R::: budget Weston, Karen 5ent:Thursday, May 21, 2015 11:02 AM To: Russell, Amanda Cc: Arbour, Elaine; joyal , Michael; Andrews Parker, Betsey; Carrier, Robert

Amanda,

No need to reite rate what you said below. The thing that the council has to look at is keep ing Dover affordable . I am aware

of what people on your staffing list that is needed to keep the district in compliance . I also agree tha t we can not keep

putting things off for others to have to handle but we also need to keep Dover affordable. "Hopeful ly the State will allow

Dover the exception in the wrap around bond ing that would allow us a more measured impact on our ta x rates . That to o is

st ill to be decided.

There are many merchants in the downtown who are very concerned with the tax implications that may be coming if we do

not receive the adequa cy. It isn't the property ow ners t hat will pay the increa sed taxes but because of the leases that most

merchants have (t riple net ) they w ill have to absorb the increases and some will have to close. It is a balancing challenge

t hat the coun cil must face . Question is "How much is too much?"

I have had extensive conversation s with Dave Watters and said t hat the city is looking for a compromise, not the 108%. He

has also been asked by others to see about a compromise . Hopeful ly, the state will come back with something more. The 2

comprom ises offered have been for 115 % and 120% even though we asked for more and David said that he would share that

info. Now we have to wait and see. 1.1M is too much of an impact to be absorbed .

It will be a waiting game . As soon as David gets back to me in June, I will request a meeting between you, Elaine, Mike and

myself like we did before.

All we can do now is wait and hopefully people w il l write to the st at e.

Karen Weston Mayor City of Dover, NH 288 Central Avenue Dover, NH 03820-4169 e: k .weston@dover.nh.gov p: 603.743.6894

Dover: First in New Hampshire, First with you! http: //www.ci.dover.nh.us

From: Russe l l, Amanda

Sent: Thursday, May 21,20159:58 AM

To: Weston, Karen

Cc: Arbour, Ela ine; Joyal , M ichael ; Andrews Parker, Bet sey; Carrier, Robert

Subject: Re: budget

Karen,

As I state d last night, all budget s w ill like ly need to revisited , possibly reduced and/ or an override may be required . I can

assure you I do not w ish to pay more taxes, but if my choices are some more now or a lot more lat er, I cho ose some now. I

was well awa re on th e night t he bud get passed that wit h the inclus ion of th e DHS/CTC debt service that the budget wou ld

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7/29/2015 RE: budget

exceed the cap. I did have hope that the state wou ld go to 1.15% of adequacy and bring the city budget to approximately

$7CJO,OOO over the cap. That hope is quickly dying . I agree that the adequacy money belongs in Dover, however, I also agree

that tremendous progress has been made in three years . We cannot reduce the school budget by $1 .1 million or $500,000

and stay in compliance with the state or meet the requirements for our students.

The City of Dover cannot continue to delay inevitable projects due to cost. The cost simply increases each year we wait . I

absolutely understand the tax impact, but I'm tired of passing the buck to another board or another council . It's time to do

the right thing and to stop saying we know what's right, but we are not going to do it.

Amanda

On May 21,2015, at 7:59 AM, Weston , Karen <K.Weston@dover.nh .•zov> wrote :

Amanda ,

This email is to clarify statements made last night about our adopted budget.

The city of Dover adopts only one budget . This budget includes debt service .

The schools came into the budget with approximately 2.1M over the cap and the City came in at the cap.

There were various revenue adjustments that reduced the 2.1M such as the timing of the selling of the bonds

for the high schools at ($984,000) recent bond refunding of ($34,131) city ; bond refunding for the schools

at ($30 ,156 ) and health premium savings of ($16,650). This reduced the amount over the cap to

approximately 1.lM. We then used the $lAM revenue of adequacy that resulted in the budget being about

$300K under the cap. That is where the $300K under the cap came from. There have been no changes in the

budget since it 's adoption . If we do not fight for that money, it would /could decimate the school budget

because of the $l .lM being over the cap.

What are the options if do not get that money? We could do nothing and let the department of revenue set

the tax rate and we would be hit w ith a huge increase in property taxes-Homes/Businesse s (Dan 's numbers

would come into play) or we could cut the school/city budgets . Cutting the budgets would be made up of

many difficult decisi ons. That is why when I met with you and Elaine that we cou ld do 1 of 2 things . We cou ld

cut your budget by around $500K or fight for the $1.44M in adequacy. We both chose to f ight for the

adequacy and so did both of our boards.

This money be longs to Dover so that we can provide an adequate education for our children . That is something that we all want .

I do hope that you encourage your friends and neighbo rs to wri te letters to Concord to fu lly fund Dover' s

adequacy moneys .

I hope this helps.

Karen Weston Mayor City of Dover, NH 288 Central Avenue Dover, NH 03820-4169 e: k.weston@dover.nh.gov p: 603.743.6894

Dover: First in New Hampshire, First w ith you! http://www.ci.dover.nh.us

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7/29/2015 Re Warr ant Article Request

From: Russell, Amanda Sent: Thursday, September 18, 20146 :27 AM To: Weston, Karen Subject: Re : Warrant Article Request

I can not make a quick decison on thi s. I th ink It wou ld be wise to talk With other board memb ers as well as Sen . Watters & Rep. verscnueren as the y worked so diligentJy to secu re more funding tor Dover . 1 wou ld not want to d o anyth ing to darnaqe any gains th ey have made .

We should also remember that NH IS 50th in the nation for post -secondary ecucanon funding . The money won't fall from the sky, state law maker s would take it from somewhere else In th eir budg et. Would any changes to public education push college expenses completely beyond the reac h of our graduates?

Amanda

On Sep 17, 2014, a~ 10:21 PM , "Weston , Karen " < K.Weston (Q)dover.nh.oov> wrote:

Amanda,

Please see the below e-mail. Does the schoo l board wa nt the coun cil to sign on 0 Looking for In put frorn th e

school boarc

Karen Weston Mayor City of Dover, NH 288 Central Avenue Dover, ~I H 03820-4169 e: k.weston@dover.nh.gov p: 603.743,6894

Dover: First in New Hampshire, First with you! htto:i!www.ci.dover.nh.us

Subject: Warrant Article Request Dear Select Board /City Council:

Every year at ann ual s:h081 distric t meetIngs or city council rneenncs across the State . oiscussons and votes Pit strugg ling taxpayers against child ren In need of an educanon . The reason for trus ISa fund ing formula th at does not mc lud e mean ingful contrlbunon s by the State of New Hampshire.

It IS time to corr ect tr ns, and for th e State to step UP and Increase its contribubonsso tha t local property taxpayers are not over ly burdened , and so th at all ch ild ren recerve a decent edu cation. If a town form of governmen t, would you please discuss puttJng the follOWing warr ant arucle on your ann ual town meeting warrant ; If a city form of government, would you please discuss puttJng th is tr ns forward to you r councilors for consder anon > j am domq just tha t rtght he re In Webster, New Hampshire. In aodmon, I have the supp ort of my peers, as well as from Selectmen fr om neighboring cornmunlces. and as well as fr om some of our state representatives.

"Resolved tha t the State of New Hampshire provide a com orehensve meaningful system of funding for State Educabon needs, T o see if the T own will vote to ask ou r govern o, and ou r state legislators to reform state fund ing to- education with tJhat reform to be d irected to SIgnifican t reductIon of property taxes. T he record of the vote app roving trus arncle shall be tr ansmitted by wr itten nonce fr om the Select Board to the governor and state leglslato; s in forming th em of th e Instructions fr om their constituents with in 30 days of the vote ,"

Imagine the Impact if all 221 town s and 13 cities presen t tn is to ou r representanves. Change may finally take place. Please feel free to con tact me witJh any questions, comments. or conc erns,

Bruce Johnson

W ebster Selectman

_ . _ _ ." ,, ••• _ , _. _ , _. _ . _._ . .~ ~, ~_~ _ _ •• •• ~_,_~~ ~ ~ _ _ A ' • ~. • _ _

Dlec se conside r cons erving ou r natural resou rce s before prin ting t rus e-ma il and/or an y at tacnrnents

Thrs electronic message and any att a cnme nt s may contain Info rmat ion that IS connoe nnat and/or leg ally pnvileged In accordance wi th NH RS A 9 1·A and ot her app licab le laws or

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7/29/2015 DHS-CTC Project

DHS-CTC Project Russell, Amanda Sent:Saturday, March 28, 2015 6:32 PM To: Weston, Karen Cc: Andrews Parker, Betsey; Carrier, Robert

Kar en)

I am writing to clarify a concern brought to my attention after today's presentation. I couldn't stay as I met briefly with Deb Thi bodeau x before I had to pick up daughter from her volunteer work at church . My hope is that the resident was simply confused as I'm sure you understand the process the city has followed for all such pr oj ect s .

I have been told that you suggested the re would be an upcoming warra nt article to approve the DHS-CTC pr oject. Surely this i s a miscommunication as this pr oj ect is and has been in the approved CIP and we 'v e acce pted funding from the state. To even imply that it would go to a warrant article could immediately halt all progress and also put our state funding in jeopardy. I cannot imagine anyone would support gi ving up 75% of an $18 million dollar project and the project cannot be done effectively without the entire facilit y being inc luded. This pr oj ect beyond overd ue and is necessary to the future of t he city of Dover.

Amanda

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7/29/2015 Re: DHS-CTC Project

Re: DHS-CTC Project Russell, Amanda 5ent:Saturday, March 28, 2015 7:25 PM To: Weston, Karen Cc: Andrews Parker, Betsey; Carrier, Robert

Who are "they?" Are they aware that the City Council is the body charged with the city's financial oversight? I believe people left today's presentation upset and confused. In the future, should such ideas come to light, it would be helpful if the School Board and/or the JBC could be immediately informed.

Amanda

> On Mar 28, 2015, at 7:12 PM, Weston, Karen <K.Weston@dover.nh.gov > wrote: > > There was a suggestion made at our recent CC meeting that this was in the works. It was again reiterated 2 days ago. I talked to Mike Joyal about this and he believed that under our city manager /council form of government that it would not be binding but he was going to check. The process works 2 different ways. Someone could request of the council through a resolution to have it placed on the ballot or there could be a petition that would have to have a number of signatures on it. My guess is that they would more than likely go the signature route. Then the question is what would theses folks be asking? > > Amanda, we all agree that something has to be done to the school and the question is what and at what cost? The question of what) will have to wait until the feasibility study is complete. This will not be done before the budget is passed. > > I don't know what any of thee people are going to do. All I know is that it includes people from all walks of life. > > > If you want to discuss this further) lets get together and talk. Bob and Betsy included. > > > > Karen Weston > Mayor > City of Dover, NH > 288 Central Avenue > Dover, NH 03820-4169 > e: k.weston@dover.nh.gov > p: 663 .743.6894 > > Dover: First in New Hampshire, First with you! > http: / /www.ci.dover.nh.us > > From: Russell) Amanda > Sent: Saturday, March 28 , 2e15 6:32 PM > To: Weston) Karen > Cc: Andrews Parker , Betsey; Carrier) Robert > Subject: DHS-CTC Project > > Karen, > > I am writing to clarify a concern brought to my attention after today's presentation. I couldn't stay as I met briefly with Deb Thibodeaux before I had to pick up daughter from her volunteer work at church. My hope is that the resident was simply confused as I'm sure you understand the process the city has followed for all such projects . >

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7129/2015 Re: DHS-CT C Project

> I have been told that you suggested there would be an upcoming warrant article to approve the DHS-CTC project. Surely this is a miscommunication as this project is and has been in the approved CIP and we've accepted funding from the state. To even imply that it would go to a warrant article could immediately halt all progress and also put our state funding in jeopardy. I cannot imagine anyone would support giving up 75% of an $18 million dollar project and the project cannot be done effectively without the entire facility being included. This project beyond overdue and is necessary to the future of the city of Dover. > > Amanda > > > > Please cons i der conserving our natural resources before printing this e-mail and /or any attachments. > > > > This electronic message and any attachments ma y contain information that is confidential and/or legally privileged in accordance with NH RSA 91-A and other applicable laws or regulations. It is intended only for the use of the person and/or entity identified as recipient (s) in the message. If you are not an intended recipient of this message) please notify the sender immediately and delete the material. Do not print) deliver) distribute or copy this message) and do not disclose its contents or take any action in reliance on the information it contains unless authorized to do so. Thank you.

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t W: JBC Page 1 0f 3

FW: JBC Carrier! Robert sent: V\\? Qlesday, o ctober 22. 20144 :22 Fj\1

To: Russell , Amarda

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Reb ert Cam er CItv Co uncilor - Deoutvld:avor

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City ofDover, NH 288 Central Avenue Dover, NH 03820 -4] 69 e I' camer@dov er nh gOI.'

p 603 74237 19

Dover First in New Hampsmre, FlI'St with you: .- ;.:: :~ ' ', ': . ~, ~ ., .~ ' ':1-.. ..::... . r ;L ;..:,..

From Camel'. Robert Sent Wedn esday , Octob er 22, 20] 4 3 4 7 PM To Arb our , Elaine. D ons Gradv SubJeet F:E .THC .

I was always under th e impres sion that you w111ne gotia te the contract but has to also be passed by legal for a safety net and then presente d to JB C for acceptanc e PJ1d yes Dons you ha ve some correct poi nts Than ks p lease adv ise BC Robert Camel' City Counc llor - D eputy M ayor City of Do ver, NH 2SS C' entra l Avenue D0ver. H H 03820 ..4. ] 69 e r C3111el'@dov er nh gol' p 603 742 37] 9

Dover First m New Hampshire , FlI'Stw ith ycu ' ~::':" I __ ~=.~~_i ~ · ':..~ :;~=---=~~

From Arbo ur , Elaine Sent Wednesday , Octob er 22, 2014 2 52 PM To Dons Grady Ce Carner, Robert SubJect R.E JB C

BI Dom ,

Than ks for the 111 fo rmati on VIe have been gOIng bac k and forth about th is II ery Issue, so I 3111 contactmg our Sd10 0 ! attorn ey I w11 1als o be working WIth him on the actual contra ct terms for the Hl\'fFH contract

Elam e

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