It reminded me of the classic game of dare called “Chicken,” but in a most harmless way. Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess challenged Ward 5 Alderwoman Paula Johnson to go ahead, make cuts to the city spending plan for fiscal year 2027 — but if you’re going to complain about wanting to reduce budget items here and there, you’ve gotta go big or go home!
Johnson, who serves on the aldermanic Budget Review Committee, doesn’t believe in wasteful spending. The longtime public servant and proud grandmother of three watches every penny, arguing that the Nashua taxpayer cannot afford a 6.4% increase with the general fund sitting at $384,288,315.
She says that citizens approach her at stores or wherever she is out and about and tell her they cannot afford living in the Gate City any longer and to please do something as an alderwoman. Johnson also scolded the mayor about the tax rate, which could soar to 8%, and she also admonished Donchess for directing all city departments to no more than a 3% increase, yet presenting the Board of Aldermen with a more-than-doubled increase in the budget plan.
She peppered the mayor with a round of questions about the value of a $50,000 position, the strategic communications manager. Johnson believes that City Hall overlaps positions and wastes money, calling this job similar to the role of Nashua’s economic development director.
“I don’t see jobs or businesses coming to Nashua,” Johnson said. I’m struggling to support this $50,000-a-year position, and then you have to offer them health care and other things.”
The mayor wasn’t having any of it and fired back, but gently: “I agree that an 8% tax rate is very high,” he told Johnson. “But cutting $50,000 won’t reduce the tax rate. You’d have to cut $10 to $20 million from the city’s budget for FY 2027, and that would mean mass layoffs. The Board of Aldermen here believe in maintaining the city’s current service level.
“You have to propose something significant,” Donchess added. “Lay off cops. Close a fire station. Lay off a hundred teachers.”
Johnson countered, saying that she wouldn’t cut $12 million from the proposed city spending plan, which would get down to the mayor’s initial 3% increase, but “I will make reductions. And I’m sure it’s not gonna pass anyway.”
Meantime, Nashua has always been a welcoming city and continues to maintain an environment of inclusivity. Mayor Donchess looks forward to Nashua’s PRIDE Parade on Saturday, June 20, and invites residents and friends from all over. The parade will begin at the top of Library Hill at the famous Soldiers and Sailors Monument at 1:30 p.m.
There is also a Summer Music Festival at the beautiful new downtown Riverwalk Park with Vices, Inc., an Alternative/Pop Punk band based in Portland, Maine, set for 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. on that Saturday. These events are free and open to the public; register for tickets at https://downtownnashua.org/nashua-pride.
Not everyone is celebrating Nashua’s downtown PRIDE events and the LGBTQ community. Resident Stephen Scaer, who’s no stranger to aldermanic public comment sessions, called the ideology incoherent. “Yet, it has become the sacred dogma of the Democratic Party, the city of Nashua and our public schools … a child-mutilating cult protected by institutional power and celebrated at our PRIDE festivals.”
Aldermanic Vice President Ben Clemons sees it differently: “I love PRIDE month and am proud to live in a city where we can celebrate inclusivity.”
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