FY21 City budget deliberations begin tonight

As you may have seen in Dover Download, City Council and other quasi-legislative bodies are continuing to meet to ensure that essential operations continue. For City Council that includes beginning our review of the proposed budget this Wednesday (March 25 at 7pm) so that we can work to come to agreement on a municipal budget in time for the start of the fiscal year.

Front and center on my mind is the public health and economic impact of COVID-19. I know this is a difficult time for so many in our community and concerns about the potential impact of our budget decisions are weighing heavily.

We also know that members of the community who might want to speak at Council meetings are impacted by the current limitations. We are always happy to receive input via email and a new line has been set up for public meeting input given the current restrictions (603-516-MEET). Meetings will continue to be broadcast on channel 22 and online (www.dover.nh.gov/dntv). Budget materials including presentations will be posted on the Fiscal Year 2021 budget website as well (https://www.dover.nh.gov/government/open-government/budget-revealed/fy2021-budget/index.html).

While these are trying times, I also see so much that I'm encouraged by. We are seeing what's possible when we all come together to develop new partnerships, new ways of operating, new adaptations. With our budget decisions we need to acknowledge the current hardships and we also need to lay the groundwork for how our community will recover from this in the months and years ahead. We all need to think of each other and our community together and not focus solely on what's best for one person.

We're all in this together and that means the immediate situation, the after effects, and the long term changes this will bring. I'm confident Dover has what it takes to come together and grow stronger even in the face of these challenging times.