It was very upsetting to read about Mayor Donchess being bullish on Nashua’s future. In reality, the Mayor is shoveling bull to the Nashua taxpayers.
Mayor Donchess’ attack on the Executive Council for halting plans to expand passenger rail to the Gate City was typical for a man who shoulders no responsibility. I, for one, thank Mr. Dave Wheeler for putting the brakes on this project. Mayor Donchess simply cannot understand that at $792 million to construct and another $17.27 million as operating and maintenance costs for the rail project are something that Nashua taxpayers cannot afford.
This Mayor is “project happy,” supporting every expensive project that rolls in.
It is even harder to understand that Mayor Donchess does not understand NH laws because if he did, he would stop blaming the “state-mandated, state-regulated and state-supervised” revaluation. If citizens check the City minutes, the Mayor, through his legal counsel, requested the DRA conduct the full measure and List in 2022. Now that he is running for re-election, it is time to play the blame game. If the city did as the law required, this full revaluation would have been done years ago. The City of Nashua last did its last full revaluation back in the 1990s.
Mayor Donchess, put on your big boy pants, broaden your shoulders, and act like an adult. The position of Mayor requires leadership skills; try to develop some, please.
For Mayor Donchess to say, “Unfortunately, this revaluation pushed up property taxes for our homeowners,” and then say the revaluation does not collect more taxes. Instead, it reallocates taxes among property owners.” Well, Mr. Mayor, the budget increased by over 5%, so more taxes were needed. When you have lied your whole life, it is challenging to speak the truth. It does not come naturally, does it? It seems that the Mayor has forgotten that he keeps increasing the budget, and therefore the taxpayers need to pay more every year. The city had the following tax bills generated:
2020 – $231,355,273.
2021 – $236,156,163
2022 – $248,421,992
Maybe Mayor Donchess does not think an extra $12,265,829 in taxes is significant. However, that is not how the Nashua taxpayers feel. I did not see Mayor Donchess telling Nashua residents that the State of New Hampshire rates the 3 rd highest property taxes paid within the United States. However, the City of Nashua is #1 with the highest property taxes collected within the State of New Hampshire. Residents know how the Mayor likes the City to be #1. Nashua property owners, buckle your wallets because Mayor Donchess will be going for the #1 spot as the highest property taxes in the United States.
I really appreciate the fact that Mayor Donchess keeps reminding residents that “Nashua is the 4th Best Run City In America”. WalletHub states, “compared the operating efficiency of 150 of the largest U.S. cities.” Please explain to me how Nashua, NH, with our 90,000 residents, compares to Los Angeles, CA, with 3,849,297 residents. Under the Safety tab, WalletHub states, “Our data set ranges from the percentage of residents who are fully vaccinated and assaults per capita to the unemployment rate and road quality. Does Nashua belong in this group? We all know the Mayor can buy his way into any survey.
The mayor finished up his speech by saying a lot of projects were finishing up. In fact, there are a lot of projects the Mayor is starting. Mayor Donchess forgot to tell the taxpayers how many more millions and millions of dollars these projects will cost the taxpayers and how much more the taxes are going up.
Hope you all love surprises as much as the Mayor does.
