Documents show radically lower increases in taxes and spending than Democrat proposal

Kantor

MANCHESTER, NH  May 28, 2026–Manchester Republican aldermen Crissy Kantor (Ward 6) and Ed Sapienza (Ward 8) have assembled a budget that dramatically reduces taxes and spending from the levels proposed by the city’s Democratic aldermen at the May 19 meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.  That budget, proposed by at-Large Alderman June Trisciani and Ward 9 Alderman Jim Burkush, raised more than triple the amount of new taxes allowed by the city’s popular Tax Cap and increased the tax rate by nearly 12%.  (Click here for details.)

Following the May 19 meeting, all nine of the city’s Democrat aldermen issued a statement complaining about the failure of the city’s five Republican aldermen to join them in their spending spree, ignoring the pleas of multiple citizens who blasted the board for considering such a massive increase in taxes.  (Click here for details.)

Documents sent to Girard at Large show that the Sapienza-Kantor proposal reduces the Democrats’ tax increase by almost $13.4 million (60%) and spending hike by over $12.7 million (94%).  While taxes go up in this proposal by $8,715,242, Sapienza and Kantor state the increase is $557,178 below the amount allowed by the tax cap.  They say the cap actually allows taxes to increase by just under $9.3 million because section D1 of the tax cap says they can use the net increase in taxable values from building permits from April 1 to March 31 prior to the budget’s adoption.  That added $58.2 million to the tax base and raised about $1.8 million in revenue.

Unlike the Democrats, Sapienza and Kantor didn’t adjust the tax base for the expected value increase caused by the revaluation, which is disallowed by the Tax Cap.  They added the new value from new construction, as allowed by the Tax Cap, so the tax rate hike wouldn’t be hidden in the revaluation, as was done by the Democrats.

Sapienza:

This budget starts with the budget proposed by Mayor Jay Ruais and makes the following changes:

  • Adds $1.5 million to Health Insurance
  • Adds $425,000 to Liability Insurance
  • Adds $400,000 to Overlay
  • Utilizes 2/3 of updated projected fund balance to reduce tax rate, 1/3 to Severance Reserve Account (10 votes required)
  • Transfers $545,000 from Transit Subsidy to Contingency to correct retirement omission error for police raises
  • Further reduces Transit Subsidy by $454,838 to $1 million
  • Eliminates salary and benefits for positions that will go from ARPA funding in the first half of the fiscal year to taxpayer funding in the second half (Police Community Coordinator, Homeless Initiatives Director), saving $107,932.

The Sapienza-Kantor budget projects a tax rate of $20.81, a 57 cent increase over the current 20.24, or 2.81%.  The budget proposed by Ruais increased taxes by 3%.  The Democrat backed budget increased taxes by 11.6% after reversing all of the reductions made by Ruais and adding more to those reductions.  Sapienza-Kantor raises spending by just $853,218 over the current budget.

Despite these dramatic reductions in spending and taxes, Kantor and Sapienza say that Section 6.15 E will have to be overridden to adopt this budget.  This is the section of the Tax Cap that limits expenditure increases to the increase in taxes added to the increase or decrease in non-tax revenues.  That is a negative number as the city’s losing over $12.5 million in non-tax revenues, while gaining $8.7 million in new taxes.  This expenditure limit requires a $3.8 million cut in overall spending, which was not made.

When asked about their budget proposal, Sapienza and Kantor said they wanted to bring an alternative forward that respected the tax cap and provided the city’s tax weary citizens with an alternative they could support, not just an option to oppose.  They said they worked hard to keep the amount of new taxes raised under the cap and are hopeful the mayor and the other Republican aldermen will stand with them to prevent the Democrats from ratcheting up spending and taxes to an extreme,

The Democrats insisted that a Tax Cap override was necessary to fund raises for the city’s police unions, which are still under negotiation, despite Ruais having added nearly $1.7 million to the budget to fund them.  Kantor said an additional $545,000 was needed for the raises because the police department’s cost estimates neglected to include an increase in state retirement payments caused by the proposed raises.  Sapienza, who wants to see the Manchester Transit Authority downsized because of soaring costs and plummeting ridership, suggested transferring money from its subsidy to cover the shortage.

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Democrats also complained about spending on public safety, roads, sidewalks, and schools as justification to hike taxes.  Ward 1 Alderman Bryce Kaw-uh doubled down on his complaint that the budget spent too little, but that he would support it as a compromise that made nobody happy, in a Facebook post, urging people to call the five Republican aldermen to tell them to support the massive increases in taxes and spending.  His constituents clearly wanted it, he claimed.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen will take up the budget at its meeting on June 2.  Public participation begins at 7 PM.  Those who wish to speak on the budget are encouraged to put their names on the speaker sign up sheet prior to the meeting starting.