Political Quotes

“Today, I also spoke to the mayor of Nashua, Jim Donchess. The mayor told me that he expects to lose 10 percent to 20 percent of the revenue base in Nashua. That is $7 million to $15 million. That means that services would be affected and workers would have to be laid off. In fact, as he told me, if he had to take all of the savings that he would need to achieve from the revenue losses from just one agency, it would result in laying off half of the entire police department in the city or laying off 150 to 200 teachers. Obviously, that is not tenable. I also heard from the mayor of Berlin, Paul Grenier, the mayor of New Hampshire's northernmost city. He told me because of the impacts of COVID-19, the State of New Hampshire is also facing revenue shortfalls. As I said, they are expecting about $540 million in revenue losses. As he said, if the Federal Government doesn't provide some help to State and local communities, his city of Berlin is expected to lose not just any potential funding at the Federal level but State funds it had budgeted for because it was anticipating that it would get State funding as it usually does. So losing help from Congress in any COVID-4 package would have a double impact on the city of Berlin and other cities and municipalities across New Hampshire. I heard from mayors, town administrators, from local leaders, and from our Republican Governor Kirsten Noonan.…”