City manager presents tax-cap–compliant FY2026 expenditure plan; flags health-insurance uncertainty

City Manager Kirk Biotti presented the administration’s preliminary FY2026 expenditure plan to the Laconia City Council on April 28, saying the proposal is compliant with the city’s tax-cap rules and lays out priorities for staffing, capital improvements and operating needs.

“What you have in front of you is a tax-cap compliant budget,” City Manager Kirk Biotti said during his presentation. He described the packet as a “30,000‑foot view” that the council and department heads will refine over the next two and a half months before a final vote expected in July (state fiscal timetable).

Biotti told councilors the allowable increase in tax revenue for FY2026 combines the consumer price index and net new construction. He reported a total allowable increase raised by taxes of $2,400,000 and an overall spending range of $661,540,000 (a 4.09% increase); the net amount to be raised by city taxes is described in the packet as a $660,000 net city increase and $988,000 net school increase. Biotti said those are estimates, and that the Department of Revenue Administration’s (DRA) final evaluation will affect the tax-rate calculation.

The manager outlined priorities that appear in the plan: recruitment and retention measures for staff; public safety and infrastructure investments; increased funding for city relief programs; information-technology capacity; and continued support for special events such as the Pumpkin Festival. He said capital requests for FY2026 include $1,800,000 in general-fund capital improvements and $600,000 from internal service funds to replace police cruisers and vehicles for public works.

Biotti also described a set of proposed new or partially funded positions across departments, including a half‑year crime analyst for the police department (to support a proposed real-time crime center), an IT network administrator, a planning project manager/land-use planner liaison for developers, a deputy of operations for public works and a part‑time scale operator for solid-waste operations. He said not all requested positions can be funded within the tax‑cap-limited plan and that some will be phased in as revenue allows.

A central uncertainty the manager flagged is health‑insurance costs. Biotti said the city was notified that the risk‑pool company used for the city’s health plan “was not solvent” and would no longer administer the pool. That triggered a reprice that initially showed a more-than‑doubling of the not‑to‑exceed rate; subsequent work with an alternate risk pool produced two price scenarios — one that would keep the current plan and show a large increase, and another that would switch plans and reduce the city’s insurance budget by about $200,000. The proposed expenditure plan includes the lower estimate while staff continues negotiations and benefit design work.

Biotti said the capital-improvement plan includes funding for a master‑plan update, a $1,000,000 roads allocation (down from last year), and continued design and pre‑work for a new public-works facility (no construction dollars in FY2026). He noted some one-time funds used in the prior year explain the reduced new-capital total this year. The manager also said the packet will be available in the city clerk’s office, the library and online the day after the meeting.

Biotti closed by thanking department heads, Superintendent Champlin and the finance director for producing the plan and said staff will return with line-item detail, capital requests and follow-up for council review.

The presentation generated no formal vote; councilors will review departmental presentations in coming weeks as the administration and school superintendent present detailed budgets.