BERLIN — At its Oct. 2 meeting, the City Council interviewed five residents applying for interim appointment to the council to serve the unexpired term of Lucie Remillard. The council
BERLIN — The city council Monday night had its first reading of the fiscal 2022 budget and tabled it for a public hearing and passage at the June 21 council
City Manager James Wheeler estimated the average residential customer would pay about $10 more per year.
Wheeler had recommended a rate of $9.07 for an increase of 4.7 percent from the current rate of $8.66. To achieve that rate, he recommended using $1.15 million from the sewer user fund balance, leaving $3.8 million in that account. Wheeler said the average sewer bill is still below the state average. He said small increases avoid draining the fund balance, allowing the city to be able to keep the rate down.
The council split on the sewer rate.
Councilor Russell Otis argued for following Wheelerâs recommendation, pointing out it would cost the average residential customer about $20 for the year.
BERLIN â The city is asking residents to continue wearing masks voluntarily to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The city council Monday night chose not to renew the cityâs mask mandate, which expired last Friday with the statewide mandate. Berlin will still require masks to be wore inside municipal buildings.
Mayor Paul Grenier said only one city in the state, Portsmouth, now has a mask ordinance. Grenier said the mayors of Claremont, Concord, Dover, Franklin, Keene, Laconia, Lebanon, Manchester, Nashua, Rochester and Somersworth as well as Berlin have followed the stateâs example and let the mandates expire.
He said the mayors have issued a joint letter, explaining Gov. Chris Sununu let the mask mandate expire following a reduction in the stateâs seven-day average of daily deaths to 0.6, the lowest since October 2020, as hospitalizations remain at a manageable level, and as over 70 percent of residents 65 and over have been vaccinated.
BERLIN â The city continues to comply with the N.H. Board of Tax and Land Appeals order and expects the case will soon be closed.
At the April 12 city council meeting, City Manager James Wheeler reviewed the city attorneyâs update to the state board. The letter reports that the three members of the Berlin Board of Assessors agreed to step down after Mayor Paul Grenier requested their resignations.
Per the Board of Tax and Land Appeals order, the city has billed the three assessors for the property assessment abatements they granted each other and a family member for tax years 2018 and 2019 as well as interest. The totals are Mark Eastman, $2,074, Robert Goddard, $2,421, and Kem Rozek, $4,011. Thomas Rozek, the son of Kim Rozek, was billed $2,403.