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Mayor Ruais announces Ward 3 Town Hall Meeting on May 5th

Published: 04/28/2025

Mayor Ruais announces Ward 3 Town Hall Meeting on May 5th

MANCHESTER, NH – Mayor Jay Ruais today announced the following event:

WHAT:            Ward 3 Town Hall Meeting

WHEN:            Monday, May 5th from 6:00pm to 7:00pm

WHERE:         Bishop O'Neil Youth Center, 30 South Elm Street   

Note:               The Aldermen and Board of School Committee Members representing Ward 3 have been invited.

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Mayor Ruais: Tentative agreements reached with Ten City Unions

Published: 04/28/2025

Mayor Ruais: Tentative agreements reached with ten City Unions

Current contracts were set to expire in June  

MANCHESTER, NH - Mayor Jay Ruais announced today that the City has reached tentative agreements with all ten of the unions whose current collective bargaining agreements are set to expire at the end of the current fiscal year in June. The agreements were reached after several months of successful negotiations. 

“As of today, all the unions with contracts expiring in June have voted to ratify their tentative agreements with an effective date of July 1, 2025.  The next step in the process is for the agreements to be presented to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen at their meeting on May 6th,” said Ruais. “Given the City’s open enrollment period for healthcare coverage begins in early May, I am requesting that the Aldermen suspend their rules and vote on the tentative agreements at our May 6th meeting so that open enrollment can proceed in a timely manner with no disruptions.” 

Ruais added, “I want to thank our Director of Human Resources Lisa Drabik and the City negotiating team along with the union representatives from AFSCME, Teamsters, IAFF, MAFS, and PPSA. Their good faith bargaining regarding these new two-year contracts is the reason we were able to reach agreement months before the old ones expired. These City unions represent employees who keep Manchester running 24/7, including those at Police, Fire, Public Works (Highway, Facilities, Parks, and Environmental Protection), Central Fleet, Health, Airport, Library, and Welfare, the very backbone of our City. Additionally, I want to thank our Aldermen for their continued commitment to our city employees, and the taxpayers, over the course of the negotiation process.”

Background:

  • The City of Manchester currently employs some 1,300 full-time, part-time and seasonal employees.  Of those, approximately 860 are in union-covered positions which calculates to roughly 2/3 of current employees being in positions covered by union agreements.
  • Unions representing School District employees are separate.
  • When ratified, the new union contacts will run from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2027.
  • To read the tentative union agreements, please visit: https://www.manchesternh.gov/Departments/Human-Resources/Union-Contracts

Manchester Achieves Unprecedented Improvements in Preventing Overdoses

Published: 04/09/2025

Mayor Ruais: Manchester Achieves Unprecedented Improvements

 in Preventing Overdoses and Saving Lives

MANCHESTER, NH – Mayor Jay Ruais announced today that Manchester continues to be on track to measurably reduce overdoses and fatalities at a faster rate than local and national trends. Recent American Medical Response (AMR) and Manchester Police Department data is projecting a 49% overall decrease in suspected overdoses over last year and a 51% decrease in suspected overdose fatalities.

“If these results continue, Manchester is on pace to realize the lowest numbers in suspected overdoses and deaths since the beginning of the opioid epidemic more than ten years ago,” said Ruais. “This is an incredible accomplishment. We’re saving lives, and getting people in need help. I want to thank our Public Health Director Anna Thomas, our community partners and the state of New Hampshire for all our collaborative efforts.”

Director Thomas added, “All life is precious and every one saved is worth fighting for. I am grateful for the CDC’s expertise in putting the City on the right path toward this end. I also applaud the work of our many providers, our Director of Overdose Prevention, Andrew Warner, our Rapid Overdose Assessment and Response Team, the Manchester Police Department and American Medical Response for their tireless commitment and dedication to achieving such positive outcomes on a daily basis.”

To view the 2024 City of Manchester Overdose Prevention Strategy, please visit https://www.manchesternh.gov/Departments/Health/Public-Health-Data

Additionally, city health officials and community providers urge those struggling with substance use disorder, anxiety or other mental health concerns to contact the Doorways by calling 2-1-1 or by visiting https://www.thedoorway.nh.gov

 

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Update on City’s Homeless Veterans: 40 Housed under Mayor’s Initiative

Published: 04/08/2025

Update on City’s Homeless Veterans: 40 Housed under Mayor’s Initiative

MANCHESTER, NH – Six months after launching an initiative to effectively end Veterans’ homelessness in Manchester by the end of his term in January of 2026, Mayor Jay Ruais announced today that 40 veterans have been housed. 

  “The level of success we’ve reached in finding sustainable housing for our homeless Veterans since our initiative kicked off last September has exceeded my highest hopes,” said Mayor Ruais. “This milestone has been reached with the support of dedicated partners including HarborCare, and the VA, as well as city landlords. We simply could not have gotten this far without them. We owe our Veterans everything and our progress to date means we’ve found a formula that works, but we know there’s still work to be done.”

Ruais noted that many homeless Veterans face barriers impeding their ability to gain housing. “This is where our new Sustainability Fund, managed by HarborCare, comes in to help. Just recently, we were able to cover the cost of a Veteran getting a copy of his birth certificate out of Boston. This enabled him to be placed on a housing list. It’s really gratifying when we can come in with a fix that completely changes the dynamic of a Veteran’s situation.”   

Background:

The federal government’s definition of when a city effectively ends Veterans’ homelessness (also known as functional zero) means a community must have fewer Veterans experiencing homelessness than it can routinely house in permanent housing in a single month. This measures whether communities have built systems that can achieve and sustain “functional zero”, even if new Veterans’ experience housing crises over time.

Note:

Landlords and non-profits groups interested in joining the mayor’s initiative to help house homeless Veterans and anyone looking to support the Sustainability Fund can email mayor@manchesternh.gov

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Mayor Ruais announces Ward 7 Town Hall Meeting on April 3

Published: 03/27/2025

Mayor Ruais announces Ward 7 Town Hall Meeting on April 3  

MANCHESTER, NH – Mayor Jay Ruais today announced the following event:

WHAT:            Ward 7 Town Hall Meeting

WHEN:            Thursday, April 3 from 6:00pm to 7:00pm

WHERE:         Fire Station 7, 679 Somerville Street

Note:               The Aldermen and Board of School Committee Members representing Ward 7

                       have been invited.

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Mayor Ruais unveils budget proposal for FY 2026

Published: 03/27/2025

Mayor Ruais unveils budget proposal for FY 2026

Comes in 2.33% under Tax Cap, and Delivers essential services in cost-effective manner

Saves taxpayers nearly $1.5 million, rejects $1 million in spending requests

MANCHESTER, NH – Mayor Jay Ruais unveiled his budget for FY2026 on Thursday during an address to a special meeting of the Board of Mayor and Alderman. His proposed budget comes 2.33% under the Tax Cap that has been set at 4.27% for Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26). 

Commenting on his spending plan overall, Ruais said, “I am proud to report that FY26 marks the second budget in a row where we have come further under the Tax Cap than any other previous Tax Cap budget. It meets the needs of our city, while also protecting taxpayers. Our singular focus is on the delivery of essential services in the most cost-effective manner. Budgets are about making choices, reaching compromise and finding balance. In doing so, we identified nearly $1.5 million in savings and rejected over $1 million in spending requests.”  

Ruais described his fiscal plan for FY26 as reality-based, saying, “I concentrated on the things we could manage, and the things that were under our control.” He added, “The conversation at City hall is squarely focused on how few dollars we spend, without crossing that red line into cutting the essential services our citizens depend on every day.”

The mayor credited the city’s department heads for, “working tirelessly to provide the information needed to produce a plan that delivers for the city, and making the budget effort possible.”

Excerpts from the Mayor’s Address:

Protecting Taxpayer Dollars:

“This budget protects and provides for our taxpayers in the following ways: We do not spend a single city dollar on hiring new employees. Outside of statutory requirements, and contract increases, every department, accept Police, is level-funded. MPD received an additional $1.175 million. On the city side, we identified nearly $1.5 million in savings, and rejected over $1 million in spending requests that would have increased the tax rate.” 

Limiting New Spending:

“The vast majority of new spending in this budget is from areas we have either reached consensus on as a city, or are required to by contract or law. There was a consensus on the Board of Mayor and Aldermen that we needed to bring our city employees to market rate, which, when adding in all total costs beyond salary, amounted to approximately $7 million. We are faced with increased healthcare payments for our city employees, which is estimated to cost $400,000. For perspective, that number was five times higher in last year’s budget. Additionally, we’re required by state law to cover increased costs for the Welfare Department which totaled an extra $300,000. Contracts held by our various departments increased by $79,000, and we’re allocating $1.175 million in additional dollars to the Manchester Police Department. That’s it. That’s all the new spending on the city side.”

Being Responsible Stewards of Taxpayer Dollars:

“As a city, we must live within our means. We must also continue to supply critical city services. We can accomplish both of these directives because they are not mutually exclusive. Expectations are high here. We must continue to deliver these services with consistency, pride and professionalism.”

“Another important piece to responsible budgeting is about getting creative in finding ways to provide services without balancing that on the back of taxpayers.  Which is why we are:

Using the Opioid Abatement Fund to fund Hope for NH Recovery services. Utilizing this same fund to offset costs for Squad One, an essential, lifesaving unit, within the Manchester Fire Department. Tapping the Affordable House Trust Fund to expand transitional housing in the City of Manchester. Auctioning off 15 vacant city lots raising $1.13 million for the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund. A second auction will be coming this spring. Using a new grant coordinator to find state and federal dollars the city may be missing out on.”

“We also realized savings in our utilities, and salt, eliminating funded vacancies, and gave DPW the ability to haul containers in house, instead of paying for an outside vendor.”

Focusing on Safety and Essential Services:

Ruais noted that of the 18 city departments, three make up roughly 80% of city spending: Police, Fire and DPW. “When putting the budget together, I have a few foundational components that I think we can all agree on: If someone calls the Police, they should have the resources to answer that call. If there is a fire emergency, the Fire Department should be able to respond swiftly and Manchester residents want their trash picked up, potholes filled and road paved.”

 Police

“On top of the current 3% Cost of Living Adjustment, this budget allocates an additional $1.175 million to the Department to assist in their efforts to further reduce crime and take care of our officers.”

“The Manchester Police Department recently released their Annual Report which showed a 15% reduction in crime. They reported 4,753 arrests, 854 City Ordinance Violations, and 2,086 traffic summonses all while maintaining a citizen positive satisfaction score of 85% of those they had direct contact with. A tremendous testament to the leadership of Chief Marr, AC Loui and all the men and women of this extraordinary Department.

Fire

“For the first time in our City’s history, we were awarded the SAFER Grant, totaling $3.7 million to fund the hiring of 12 firefighters which will dramatically increase our ability to respond to calls. As our city continues to grow, we are committed to protecting our residents, visitors and businesses from any and all threats. This grant will only last for three years, and then we as a city will have to pay for these new firefighters. To address that, and set Manchester up for fiscal success, our budget begins building in the dollars we will need in year four by allocating $200,000 this year to responsibly plan for when these federal dollars go away. Safeguarding those who defend us is a priority, and for that reason we are also including $100,000 for lifesaving protection equipment for the Department.”

“In 2024, the Manchester Fire Department responded to 28,794 calls for service and 55,712 units were deployed. This equates to receiving a call every 18 minutes of every day for 365 days a year, a truly remarkable statistic speaking to their own heroism on our behalf.”

DPW

“This budget makes filing potholes and polishing up our parks a priority. Last year, the Department of Public Works completed 1,798 requests regarding potholes, almost 5 per day. This does not include the ones they fill on their own, without a request. Long story short, they’ve been busy. DPW also completed over 43 miles of roadway improvement including preservation, maintenance and rehabbing. That was with $5.3 million worth of funding. This year, pulling from four different areas in the budget, we will allocate over $7 million to our roads throughout the city.”

“Additionally, through our bonding budget, we are allocating $300,000 to retrofit our playgrounds, $300,000 toward paving our parks, $250,000 in deferred maintenance for our parks and $150,000 in lighting. I also want to highlight Alderman Barry’s leadership on behalf of the Wolfe Park Recreation Complex, and thank Aldermen Vincent and Thomas as well for their efforts. In this budget, between bonding and CDBG, we have included $500,000 to begin the work of making this dream a reality.”

Lighting up our Downtown

“One of my priorities is lighting up our Downtown. When you look at other downtowns, many of them are lit up like the 4th of July.  They’re warm and inviting. A well-lit downtown says come enjoy a show, have dinner, take in a concert or baseball game…in the process, you create beautiful memories. In Manchester that means, The Palace Theatre, The Rex, SNHU Arena and Delta Dental Stadium along with great restaurants. To that end, we will invest $100,000 in lighting up our downtown from our Cash CIP.”

Paying City Workers at the Market Rate:

“This budget also accounts for the generational opportunity we have to bring our city employees to market competitive pay. This will go a long way toward filling our current vacancies across the city as well as retaining our workforce in today’s competitive world. There was a consensus on the Board of Mayor and Aldermen that we needed to bring our city employees to market rate, which, when adding in all total costs beyond salary, amounted to $7 million. This means, among other things, that our city will be run more efficiently, it will be safer and our potholes will be filled more quickly. We will also ultimately realize savings as our spending on overtime will decrease as we attract and retain our employees.”

Making Progress on Affordable Housing:

“[We] are the number one hottest housing market in the United States which is clearly a sign that people want to live here, and we’re making positive improvements, it also puts upward pressure on housing prices.”

“Focusing on bringing in more housing, and more specifically affordable housing is incredibly important. Which is why we are allocating $1.16 million in federal HOME funds to Neighborworks Southern New Hampshire in order to finish the Pearl Street Lot project. This will allow us to increase our supply of decent, safe and affordable housing units in the city.  This is slated to bring 125 affordable units into the city in the near future.”

Helping Seniors, Children and our most Vulnerable

“The budget I’m presenting tonight is also dedicated to helping our seniors, children, and the most vulnerable among us. Money from the FY26 Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) has been allocated to support a variety of critical programs: $42,600 to Meals & Wheels of Hillsborough County to provide meals and support to 200 homebound elderly individuals. $63,000 to Amoskeag Health and Helping Hands Outreach to provide health care to 300 uninsured individuals and licensed alcohol and drug counseling to 55 individuals.

$15,000 to CASA and $9,000 to the Child Advocacy Center of Hillsborough County for support services to 276 children that have suffered the effects of abuse and neglect. And, $9,000 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire.”

“These funds will go a long way toward giving a hand up to the most vulnerable in our community, while also lifting up our community partners. I will be the first one to say we have more work to do, but we should be deeply proud of the progress we continue to make in this city.”

Making Progress on Substance Misuse:

“One area that has kept our first responders busy over the last decade is the scourge of addiction, and overdoses. We are blessed to have Director Thomas, the ROAR Team and our entire Health Department who have been doing God’s work to tackle this challenging issue.

I recently celebrated 15 years of sobriety, and I am so proud of our city, community partners and our partnerships with the State of New Hampshire because we can report that overdoses in Manchester fell last year by 21%, and overdose fatalities fell by 24%.”

“While this is cause for celebration, we must double down on our effort to further address and reduce overdoses. It also means we have to keep our staff in place to continue the advances we are making across the city in public health. In our budget, we are transferring two Community Health Nurses and a Public Health Specialist off of ARPA funding, and onto our Health Services Reserve Account. These individuals play a vital role within our community and are essential components to our healthcare continuum.”

Making strides with Homelessness:

“Homelessness, as we know, has been a chronic issue in Manchester, which is why since being sworn in, we have undertaken 18 different initiatives to address it. I’d like to take one minute and read you into my thinking regarding a recent action taken by the Executive Council.

Yesterday, the Council voted to unanimously approve $500,000 in state funding for the Beech Street Engagement Center and Shelter. As I’ve previously discussed with this Board, these dollars will take the shelter through the end of the summer.”

“All of this brings me to today’s message: The state funding we’ve received is a vital bridge. Because the need remains urgent, I’ll be asking this Board on Tuesday to approve contracts that will allow us to allocate those dollars swiftly and responsibly. We can see an end to this emergency need, but we are not there yet.”

Budgeting for Education:

“The budget I am proposing for the Manchester School District is $236.4 million, this includes an extra $2 million. We are reducing the district’s budget request by $9.5 million, while still providing a record level of funding for the coming fiscal year.”

“Funding for public schools has been an important topic of conversation across the state.

When I was sworn in, MSD’s baseline number was approximately $227 million. Over the last two fiscal years, the School District has requested roughly $16.7 million more. Last year, through the budget process we appropriated $1 million. This year I am proposing we allocate an additional $2 million. That represents a reduction in their request of city dollars of $13.7 million. Last fall, the Manchester School District received $6.5 million in State Adequacy Aid. These additional dollars did not increase the tax rate.”

“In summary, if these numbers tonight are the final allocations from the BMA, the School District will have received $9.5 million more dollars than they had prior to this Board being seated, but have seen their requested amount reduced by $13.7 million. This is a balanced approach. $9.5 million more dollars received, $13.7 million less than requested.”

FY 2026 Budget Highlights

4.27% Allowable Tax Cap:

  • Mayor’s Budget is 1.94%
  • 2.33% under the allowable tax cap

Municipal Spending:

  • Total City spending is $200,606,398
  • Includes nearly $1.5million in savings
  • Rejects $1.1million in spending requests
  • Level funds city departments, except for an extra $1.175million to the Police Department
  • Not one city dollar towards hiring any new employees
  • Covers $400,000 in increased Healthcare costs
  • Covers $300,00 in increased costs per law for Welfare Department
  • Includes $79,000 in additional Contract costs from various departments
  • Includes $7 million to bring city employee salaries to market competitive rates

School District:

  • Budget increased by $2 million; Total appropriation is $236,499,925
  • A record level of funding from the city for the new fiscal year

Capital Improvements: Roads, Sidewalks and Parks:

  • $7 million in road infrastructure and improvements
  • $750K in park renovations, upgrades and maintenance
  • $500K to begin the Wolfe Park Recreation Complex

Affordable Housing:

  • Allocates $1.16 million of federal funds to finish construction of 125 units of affordable housing on the Pearl Street parking lot.

CDBG/ESG/Home:

  • Funding to Families in Transition and Waypoint to address homelessness for families and youths: $149,800
  • Funding to Fun in the Sun summer camp for students in grades 1 to 7: $50,000
  • Funding to Office of Youth Services Summer programming benefitting 75 youths: $10,000
  • Funding to demolition projects to take down unhealthy structures: $100,000   

Community Improvement Program (CIP):

  • Funding to Meals on Wheels to help 200 homebound seniors: $42,600
  • Funding to Amoskeag Health and Helping Hands Outreach: $63,000
  • Funding to CSA $15,000 and the Child Advocacy Center $9,000
  • Funding to Big Brothers and Sisters $9,000 and Girls, Inc. $10,000
  • Funding to MEDO for increased downtown lighting: $100,000 

First Responders:

  • Funding for lifesaving protective gear for MFD: $100,000
  • Allocates $200,000 to start salary fund for 12 firefighters hired with federal grant that will expire

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Mayor Ruais applauds Bail Reform legislation (HB592) being signed into law

Published: 03/25/2025

Mayor Ruais applauds Bail Reform legislation (HB592) being signed into law

MANCHESTER, NH – Mayor Jay Ruais attended the bill signing ceremony for HB592 (Bail Reform) in Concord today and issued the following statement:

    “Now that HB 52 has been signed into law, we are returning to a strong Bail System, where public safety comes first and the revolving door for violent and repeat offenders has been slammed shut. Our previous bail system was seriously flawed, putting our citizens, businesses, visitors and law enforcement in danger. Repeat and violent offenders gaining pre-trial release on our streets has been a serious issue for every municipality across our state, and today, thanks to Governor Ayotte’s leadership, we’re hitting the reset button. I also want to thank Speaker Packard, and Senate President Carson for making this legislation a priority from the start of the legislative session, and all who voted for HB592, pushing it over the goal line.”

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Mayor Ruais announces the return of the City’s Senior Luncheon on May 7th

Published: 03/24/2025

Mayor Ruais announces the return of the City’s Senior Luncheon on May 7th
 

MANCHESTER, NH – Mayor Jay Ruais announced the following information today:

After a five-year hiatus, the City of Manchester Mayor’s Senior Luncheon is returning on May 7, 2025.  This annual event, begun in 2007, recognizes and celebrates Greater Manchester’s 55+ population who play a significant role in the City’s past, present and future. 

This year’s Luncheon will be held on May 7th from 12:00-3:30 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown, 700 Elm Street, and will include a Mayor’s welcome, a military color guard, a multi-course meal, music, and dancing. Free parking and bus passes are available for all ticket holders. This year’s theme: A Night at the Movies!

If you are 55 or older and would like to attend, tickets will be on sale from March 31st to April 11th for $25 each – or $15 each for William B. Cashin Senior Activity Center members. Membership to the Cashin Senior Center is free for Manchester residents, and $30/individual or $50/couple for non-Manchester residents. To enroll to become a Cashin Senior Center member, just visit the Center at 151 Douglas Street, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and sign up!

Beginning on March 31st, Luncheon tickets can be purchased in-person during business hours at the Cashin Senior Center, 151 Douglas Street, and the Manchester Health Department at 1528 Elm Street.

The Mayor looks forward to hosting up to 450 of Greater Manchester’s older adults at this event!  Get your tickets and get ready for a great time!

The Mayor extends his sincere thanks to the following Event and Gold Sponsors, along with all other Luncheon sponsors, who continue to support our community and our older adults!

$10,000 EVENT SPONSOR
Brady Sullivan Properties

$1,500 GOLD SPONSORS
Catholic Medical Center
Dartmouth Health
Easter Seals Senior Services
Elliot Health System
Henry J. Sweeney Post #2 – American Legion

 

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Mayor Ruais to deliver Budget Address for FY 2026 on March 27th

Published: 03/24/2025

 

Mayor Ruais to deliver Budget Address for FY 2026 on March 27th

 

MANCHESTER, NH – Mayor Jay Ruais released the following information today:

WHAT:           Budget Address for FY 2026

WHEN:            Thursday, March 27 at 6:00pm

WHERE:         City Hall, Aldermanic Chambers

Note:

   This is a special meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. The public is welcome to join Mayor Ruais in the aldermanic chamber or watch the address live on Manchester Public TV, PEG Channel 22: https://www.manchestertv.org/22

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Mayor Ruais statement on Senate passage of Bail Reform Bill (HB592)

Published: 03/20/2025

Mayor Ruais statement on Senate passage of Bail Reform Bill (HB592)

MANCHESTER, NH – Mayor Jay Ruais issued the following statement today on the Senate passing HB592:

   “My thanks to Senate President Sharon Carson and Senate Judiciary Chairman Bill Gannon for getting HB592 to the floor so quickly, allowing it to pass on a consent vote this morning. This is the next step in strengthening our failed Bail Reform system which will create safer neighborhoods and public spaces in Manchester. Thank you also to Governor Ayotte for her leadership in this effort, it is deeply appreciated. Going forward, repeat and violent offenders will be staying behind bars and off our streets.”

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