By GARRY RAYNO, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD — Municipal and county officials see tens of millions if not a hundred million dollars of costs associated with the COVID-19 epidemic, a legislative advisory committee was told Friday.
The officials expect the combination of increased costs for overtime, equipment, training and other expenses coupled with a reduction in local and state revenue to create financial troubles now and into the future once the epidemic slows.
“The financial impact of COVID-19 is a grave concern to towns and cities,” said New Hampshire Municipal Association Executive Director Margaret Byrnes. “As concerning, if not more concerning, is the long term for towns and cities.”
The Legislative Advisory Board of the Governor’s Office for Relief and Recovery (GOFERR) heard from the mayors of Manchester and Nashua, the town manager of Auburn and county officials outlining the challenges they face from the coronavirus and its aftermath.
Among their future concerns are increased public assistance, more testing and tracking for the disease, tax rebate requests, lowered property values, and additional education costs.
They were also concerned the state may decide to address its anticipated budget shortfall by reducing state aid to communities through revenue sharing and highway grants, as well as lower rooms and meals revenue, reducing their portion.
Manchester is particularly concerned about rooms and meals revenue, said Mayor Joyce Craig, because the city uses that money to pay off the bonds for the SNHU Arena.
Local revenue generators are also returning less money like auto registrations, and parking and recreation fees for cities and towns.
Property tax rebate requests from large commercial buildings like the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua and other commercial retail properties could have significant impact, said Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess. He noted his city collects $200 million in property taxes and if rebates average about 10 percent, that is $20 million in revenue.
Some communities may need to use tax anticipation notes (TAN) to cover municipal expenses, but if property tax delinquencies increase as expected, the loans may have to be longer than a month or two, said Barbara Reed of the municipal association.
Communities who have not used TANs for many years are exploring that avenue, she said, but others may have difficulty if their bank does not issue the notes.
Schools are also experiencing unanticipated costs mostly from remote learning which required additional equipment, officials said, but cannot access TANs.
Money is available from the CARES Act, which provides $1.25 billion in federal money for the state’s COVID-19 related expenses, said advisory committee member state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, D-Manchester. The state is waiting federal guidance, expected next week, on how the money may be spent.
A municipal association survey answered by 53 percent of the communities in the state indicates increased expenses of $7.6 million during the last six weeks and an estimated $27.2 million for the remainder of the year, Byrnes said, with police, fire and emergency services seeing significant increases in costs for overtime, supplies and training.
Welfare expenses have increased for many communities, she said, and they anticipate greater expenses when the prohibition on mortgage foreclosures expires and for utilities and food costs.
Some communities do not have their own homeless shelters and have pays hotels for rooms, Byrnes said.
Both Manchester and Nashua set up alternative treatment sites if in an infection surge outstrips the bed-capacity of local hospitals at considerable expense, which they hope to recoup form FEMA or other federal funding.
A regional approach is needed, Donchess stressed and suggested some state money would help.
“We are thinking how to address COVID and how to try to box it in in the months ahead,” he said. While the number of infected individuals is not high now in Nashua and Manchester, he noted, just over the border in Lowell and Lawrence, the hospitals are on the edge of being overwhelmed.
To prevent that from happening, much more testing needs to be done and tracking to identify others who have been in contact with those who tested positive, he said, before the state’s borders are opened.
Others were concerned about the 25 percent match FEMA requires from the state or communities, and whether towns would be liable, Byrnes said.
“The bottom line, a portion of the $1.25 billion coming to the state must go to help support municipalities,” she said. “It’s a fragile eco-system and those impacts are across the board.”
The Counties
County officials told of a personal protection equipment shortage. The equipment is especially needed at nursing homes particularly, but also at county jails.
David Ross of the Hillsborough County Nursing Home said the facilities have had to use outside vendor supplies like gowns and are competing with each other, FEMA and every other health-care agency.
“We’re seeing price gouging of 300 to 500 percent more than we would normally pay,” Ross said, and “the minimum order has gone way up.”
He said to follow CDC guidelines, his facility would need 60,000 gowns a month, noting he requested 10,000 from the state’s emergency supplies, and received 100.
“No one is comfortable with the current inventory,” he said.
Ross said staffing was a problem and has grown more so as the crisis has continued, and he praised Gov. Chris Sununu for a new program to provide a $300 stipend to workers in long-term care facilities or home settings serving Medicaid patients.
He said quicker test results have also helped as workers are screened when they enter the facility for every shift but have to go through their own primary care physician to have a test.
The workers are quarantined until the results are known, and that was taking seven to 14 days, but now, Ross said, the results come back in two or three days, reducing the time staff are on quarantine.
Jason Henry, Carroll County Superintendent of Corrections, said while the number of new inmates has slowed during the crisis, they are new inmates.
He suggested a similar stipend for corrections’ first responders to help maintain the officers they have now.
Next Week
The advisory committee meets Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m. next week.
Monday’s meeting will focus on health care.
Four of the members of the advisory committee, Senate President Donna Soucy, D-Manchester, House Speaker Stephen Shurtleff, D-Concord, Rep. Mary Jane Wallner, D-Concord, and D’Allesandro sued Sununu Monday to compel him to seek approval of the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee before expending non-appropriated federal or state funds.
They seek an emergency injunction claiming his plan to expend the more than $1.25 billion in federal funds from the CARES Act violates the separation of powers provision in the state constitution and is prohibited by law.
“The legislative branch’s exclusive power to make appropriations is a non-delegable duty,” legislative leaders claim in the suit.
Sununu says a 2002 state law passed after the September 11 terrorist attacks gives governors authority to spend and accept federal funds without Fiscal Committee approval, but legislative leaders say the same law requires a governor to seek the “advice and consent” of the Fiscal Committee.
A hearing will be held at 8 a.m. Monday in Hillsborough County Superior Court North in Manchester.
Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com
