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Council reviews budget addendum; debate centers on funding a chaplain and staffing changes
Summary
City Manager Kirk Biotti presented a budget addendum with no bottom-line tax change; the council discussed adding funding for a fire department chaplain ($45,000), a project manager position and the fate of a police crime-analyst position that was removed from this year’s budget.
City Manager Kirk Biotti presented an addendum to the fiscal year 2025-26 budget at the June 23 meeting and told the Laconia City Council the document makes internal reallocations without increasing the tax amount to be raised.
Biotti said the addendum corrects several internal-service and maintenance shortfalls and keeps the overall tax impact unchanged. He described two half‑year positions that had been budgeted: a project manager for the planning department and a crime analyst for the police department. “We did remove the crime analyst in this year's budget, leaving in the project manager position, as potential funding,” Biotti said.
Councilors asked for estimates for full-year costs. Biotti said a full year for either of the two positions would be roughly $120,000 each and the chaplain position requested by the fire department would be approximately $45,000. Several councilors and public commenters, including a firefighter who spoke during public comment, urged the council to fund the chaplain. The firefighter said the department’s chaplain “has done amazing things” and asked for support to make the role a paid position.
Council discussion included timing and implementation questions for the project manager post tied to the state‑school project; staff said a hire would take months and that much of the planning‑manager work will continue into next year. The council asked that department heads—specifically the fire chief—appear at the July 14 meeting to answer questions if additional department funding is proposed.
No final budget vote was taken; Biotti said the packet would be updated and the council would consider the budget at the July 14 meeting. He reaffirmed the addendum did not change the bottom-line tax amount.
