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Strafford County commissioners add four capital projects to proposed budget to pursue federal grants
Summary
The board voted unanimously to amend its proposed budget to add four shovel-ready capital projects — a warming center and three repairs at Riverside Rest Home — and authorized applying for federal grants that would offset costs without raising property taxes.
Strafford County commissioners voted unanimously March 31 to amend the county’s proposed budget to add four capital projects and to seek federal funding to pay for them.
Commissioner Lovett moved to add construction of a warming center and three projects at Riverside Rest Home — window replacement, a reroofing project and new boilers for the C building — and said the county would pursue offsetting revenue so the changes would not increase the tax rate. "The amount is not going to affect the tax rate and will remain the same," Lovett said during the meeting.
County staff described the projects with the following amounts as stated in the meeting: $3,157,296 for the warming center; $663,550 for window replacement; about $1,700,000 for reroofing; and $131,912 for boilers in the C building. The motion directs staff to pursue congressional-directed and other federal funding opportunities to cover costs.
Asked to explain the county’s strategy, Mr. Barr said the county plans to apply for both congressional-directed funding and a share of state-distributed federal funds. "Over the next five years, there's going to be a billion dollars in federal funding distributed to New Hampshire at the rate of 200 million a year," Barr said, and the county intends to apply for all four projects as "shovel-ready" candidates.
The chair conducted a roll call for the amendment; Commissioners Feliciano and Lawton and the chair recorded "yes," and the chair stated the vote was unanimous. Commissioners also noted the projects are intended to provide direct property tax relief to Strafford County residents through municipal offsets if funding is awarded.
Commissioners said they will attend the Association of Counties meeting on May 1 to further pursue grant applications and will keep the county’s executive committee informed of developments.
The board moved into other agenda items after the vote; the county later went into nonpublic session to discuss personnel and contract negotiations.
