Council could adopt fiscal year 2026 budget Monday night

LACONIA — Councilors could pass the city budget at their meeting on Monday night. 

The city council will meet at 7 p.m. Monday, July 14, at City Hall downtown. 

Councilors have to pass a budget by July 27 each year, according to the city charter. Monday night is their last scheduled meeting before July 27, though they could set another meeting before July 27 if the budget isn’t passed on Monday night. 

The city’s fiscal year begins July 1 and runs through the end of June, according to the charter. If councilors are unable to pass, the budget submitted by City Manager Kirk Beattie would be deemed adopted.

The agenda for Monday night includes items which make minor changes to Beattie’s initial budget submission for fiscal year 2026. Namely, $95,467 in anticipated revenues and expenditures for Laconia Pumpkinfest, a $110,000 decrease in the amount in appropriations and non-tax revenues to the internal service fund, and a $50,000 decrease in appropriations to the Lakeport Tax Increment Financing District.

The proposed fiscal year 2026 budget was presented to councilors on April 28. A first reading of the budget occurred on June 9. Then on June 23, councilors held a public hearing. 

During review and discussion between councilors, several amendments to the budget were proposed. Those amendments are on the table Monday night. 

Total appropriations would increase from $99.23 million to $99.49 million, a difference of $260,000. Non-tax revenues would increase by $260,000, from $36.73 million to $36.99 million. Of the roughly $99.5 million in total appropriations to the general fund, $61.54 million is to be raised by taxes. Those changes would have no impact on the amount to be raised by taxes, according to a city staff report. 

At the beginning of each quarter of the fiscal year, the city manager is to submit to the council data showing the relationship between the estimated and actual expenses to date. If income is less than anticipated, councilors could approve the manager to reduce the appropriation to any items. Amounts for debt or interest are the exception.

In total, the city has over $3 million in principal and interest payments on bonded projects over 18 bonds, including monies for the Weirs Boardwalk, a ladder truck for the fire department, road improvement bonds, and other projects. The largest bonded debt held by the city, in the original amount of $6.7 million, is for the Colonial Theatre renovation. They’ll pay $268,202 on that bond in fiscal year 2026. 

The upcoming budget includes a 20.37% increase in debt expense, attributable to three items: the initial payment for a 2025 airport bond, the initial payment for the library and technology portions of the 2025 library, technology upgrade and dock repair bond, and initial principal and interest payment on the 2025 ladder truck bond for the fire department. 

In other news, the Lebanon City Council is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, July 16. Though their agenda makes no mention of either the city manager position generally nor of Andrew Hosmer specifically, they have a non-public session scheduled to discuss "the hiring of any person as a public employee."

Mayor Andrew Hosmer, in an announcement made July 2, told The Laconia Daily Sun he intended to resign his position in late summer or early fall, at some point following the city's budget process. A news alert from the City of Lebanon stated he was the sole finalist for their city manager position on July 3.