City Council adopts $206.8 million budget for Fiscal Year 2026
The City Council unanimously adopted the Fiscal Year 2026 budget during a special meeting on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, following a final budget workshop session.
The adopted budget totals $206,791,012 across all funds, an increase of approximately 4.2% from the previous year's budget. Of this total, the General Fund accounts for $168,238,167, which includes $60,963,620 for city operations, $83,120,024 for school department operations, $12,460,486 for debt service, and $11,694,037 for county tax.
After several weeks of budget workshops and adjustments to the proposed budget, the final budget is $2,482 below the city's tax cap limitation. The initial proposed budget in February exceeded the tax cap by approximately $2.3 million due to the School Department's portion of the budget. In March, the School Board revised its budget, recommending approximately $2.3 million in adjustments through both spending reductions and revenue increases that reduced the total proposal under the tax cap.
The adopted budget is projected to result in a property tax rate of $18.93 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, an increase of 76 cents over the current rate of $18.17. A homeowner in Dover with a property valued at the city’s average of $524,638 would see a property tax increase of about $399. The official tax rate will be certified by the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration later this year.
Several adjustments were made during the final budget workshop, including restoring funding for the COAST Commute Smart Service, rejecting proposed fee increases at the Dover Community Senior Center, increasing emergency shelter funding, maintaining a recreation program supervisor position, and adjusting street paving allocations to ensure the budget stayed under the tax cap.
During the workshop, City Manager J. Michael Joyal Jr. guided the council through a series of line-item adjustments, with the final budget reflecting a $766,277 reduction in expenses and a $1,510,429 increase in revenues compared to earlier proposals.
The new fiscal year begins July 1, 2025, and runs through June 30, 2026.
Dover City Manager J. Michael Joyal, Jr. first presented the proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget to the City Council on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025.
The proposed budget can be viewed here, and is available at the Dover Public Library and City Hall.
The proposed budget's accompanying FY2026 Proposed Schedule of Fees can be viewed here.
The City Manager's initial presentation can be viewed below, along with all budget workshops, meetings, related documents.
In the Feb. 18, 2025 edition of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with City Manager J. Michael Joyal, Jr. about Dover's FY2026 budget process and presentation.