Commission amends Strafford County budget to add warming center, seeks federal directed funds
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Summary
The Strafford County Commission voted unanimously to amend its proposed budget to add four capital projects — including a warming center and multiple repairs at Riverside Rest Home — and said it will apply for congressional-directed and multi-year federal funding to pay for the work; commissioners said the changes will not change the county tax rate.
The Strafford County Commission voted unanimously March 31 to amend its proposed budget to add four capital projects, including construction of a warming center and multiple repair projects at the Riverside Rest Home, and to authorize pursuing federal directed funding on the county’s behalf.
The change, introduced by the chair as an amendment to the commission’s proposed budget, lists the warming center and three Riverside Rest Home projects as capital additions; the chair said the amendment will be covered by offsetting revenue and "is not gonna affect the tax rate." The commission then adopted the amendment by voice affirmation.
Commissioners said the county will apply for congressional-directed funding and for a multi‑year federal funding program the commissioners described as $1 billion allocated to New Hampshire over five years (about $200 million per year). A commissioner summarized the approach: "They're looking for shovel ready projects. We're shovel ready on all 4 projects." That official said two grant applications will be submitted simultaneously and that information developed for one application will help the others.
The amendment listed dollar amounts in the motion as read at the meeting; some figures in the public transcript were inconsistent or garbled. The warming center amount was presented in the motion as $3,000,005.05 and the boilers for Building C at Riverside Rest Home were listed as $131,009.12; other line-item amounts for windows and reroofing at Riverside were unclear in the transcript and are therefore not stated here as definitive.
Commissioners emphasized the county advantage in applying because the projects would "benefit the whole county," not only a single town, and said that the commission will notify the executive committee with updates after the Association of Counties meeting May 1, where grant application details are expected to be available.
An attendee raised a question about the city of Rochester’s financial contribution and asked whether Rochester would be repaid with interest. The chair and a commissioner responded that repayment terms and any interest would be decisions for the Rochester city council and not something the county was unilaterally imposing; the exchange became heated when the questioner said several commissioners did not attend an earlier Rochester public hearing and challenged the commission’s authority. The chair said the city asked the county for help and the county responded by applying for grants to support the municipal project.
The commission also noted a previously signed subagreement for $141,000 in CBDC funds with Community Action and said that funding window had been extended through Dec. 1; in related remarks commissioners confirmed the warming center contract is winding down in mid‑April and that a nonprofit seminar will be held to transition services.
The commission’s vote on the budget amendment was unanimous. The commission also scheduled follow-up at the executive committee after May 1 and will report back if applications are successful.
