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Portsmouth council provisionally approves $79.17 million FY27 budget and sets tax rate
Summary
The Portsmouth Town Council provisionally approved a $79,166,565 FY27 budget on April 29, setting a real‑estate tax rate of $9.837 per $1,000 and approving department budgets and enterprise fund rates while leaving several items subject to final adjustment before June adoption.
The Portsmouth Town Council provisionally approved the town’s fiscal year 2027 budget, $79,166,565, following the third night of budget hearings on April 29. Council members voted to set a levy of $67,218,115 and a real‑estate tax rate of $9.837 per $1,000 in assessed value, with final adoption scheduled after a public hearing in June.
Town finance staff presented line‑by‑line changes and follow‑up pages reflecting votes from the prior evening. Mr. Rener said staff moved $18,555 out of harbor‑master boat lines into a police boat reserve and added the same total across police budget lines, bringing the police bottom line to $8,530,224. The council provisionally approved department budgets across public safety, administration and public works after brief questions and motions on multiple line items.
The budget package includes $2,654,520 for town and school debt service — roughly a 6% decrease from the current year — and an FY27 capital improvement plan of $847,941 to address deferred DPW equipment, Glen Manor House repairs and recreation facility improvements. Councilors voted to provisionally encumber $162,000 in local funds specifically earmarked to match a pending congressional grant application to demolish the Kagashaw school and build a baseball field if the grant is approved.
On enterprise funds, the council provisionally approved a $798,436 transfer‑station budget and set the annual transfer‑station sticker at $325. The curbside collection enterprise fund was provisionally approved under the option that keeps the existing sticker model (no immediate pay‑as‑you‑throw bag requirement) with a sticker price set at $64.
Councilors repeatedly emphasized that the approvals are provisional and that several items — including civic‑support allocations, Prudence Island Foundation reporting and enterprise fund details — will be revisited during budget adoption hearings in June. The meeting concluded with directions to staff to supply additional documentation requested by councilors and a cancellation of the next scheduled meeting.
The council will hold a public hearing in June before the June adoption vote. Until then, line items discussed tonight remain subject to change as staff provides requested follow‑ups and councilors refine allocations.
