The City Council adopted the City of Dover’s fiscal year 2024 budget by a 6-3 vote during a special meeting on Wednesday, April 5, 2023. The final adopted budget is $183,275,839 across all funds, a $3,579,013, or a 2% increase, above the current fiscal year budget.
The General Fund portion of the budget, funded primarily through property taxes, is $146,159,594. It is a $6,384,695, or 4.6%, increase above the current fiscal year budget. It is $126,562 under the total amount allowed by the tax cap, which required only a simple majority of the City Council to adopt the budget. The city portion was $249,462 under the tax cap; the school portion was $122,900 over.
General Fund appropriations include $51,052,194 for city operations, $71,650,446 for School Department operations, $13,033,094 for debt service and $10,423,860 for county tax. These General Fund appropriations represent a $1,568,084 increase or 3.2% increase for city operations, $3,784,188 or 5.6% for School Department operations, $456,996 or 3.6% for debt service obligations and $575,427, or 5.8% increase for the county tax payment.
The City Council reduced the City Manager's proposed General Fund appropriations by $546,076. These General Fund reductions include $156,076 from the city portion of the budget and $390,000 from the school portion.
Councilors Robert Hinkel, Deborah Thibodeaux and Debra Hackett voted against the budget resolution.
For the average residential property assessment of $418,706, the estimated tax impact is a $442 increase or 5.3%. The estimated tax rate resulting from the adopted budget is $20.90, a $1.06, or 5.3%, increase above the current tax rate. The New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration will certify the official tax rate later this year.
The budget adoption also included the FY2024 Schedule of Fees that goes into effect on July 1, 2023. The schedule of fees consists of a water rate of $6.59, an 18-cent increase, or 2.8%, and a sewer rate of $10.26, a 45-cent increase, or 4.6% above the current FY2023 Schedule of Fees.
The FY2024 budget adoption at the April 5 special meeting followed several weeks of budget meetings and workshops, including a budget workshop immediately preceding the special meeting. Wednesday's budget workshop, special meeting, and documents can be viewed on the city's
FY2024 Budget Revealed online resource.
City Manager J. Michael Joyal, Jr. presented his proposed budget on Feb. 15, 2023. Following the presentation, each department head presented their proposed budget to the City Council at subsequent budget workshops.
The Council held a public hearing on the education portion of the budget on March 15, 2023, followed by a public hearing on the city portion on March 22, 2023.
Recordings of all budget-related workshops and meetings and all budget-related documents are available on the
FY2024 Budget Revealed page.
