New Hampshire
Concord School Board Member Seeks Input On New Middle School Gym Space, Other Features
CONCORD, NH — One of the new Concord school board members elected last year is asking residents for more feedback about some features of the new $200 million middle school proposed for the east side of the city.
Liz Boucher, who represents Zone B (Wards 5, 6, and 7), has created a G-doc form and requests comments about some of the school’s proposed features. She noted in the questionnaire that the data-gathering process was “created solely” by her and is “not representative of other members” of the board of education. Boucher also linked the latest presentation and video by Concord TV of the meeting on June 18.
Boucher focuses on several features that nibble around the edges of the project.
The questionnaire samples opinions about various auditorium sizes — 900 seats, 600 seats, 450 seats, a stage in a space like a gym, what the Rundlett Middle School currently has, or none at all. The proposed 900-seat performing arts center costs $6 million, while a 450-seat venue is around $4.2 million. Participants can choose a single answer.
While the city and school district are separate entities, the city does own the historic Concord City Auditorium, which is not used nearly as much as it should or could be, and seats close to 900. In the past, the district has utilized the Audi for functions.
Concord High School also has an auditorium named after Christa McAuliffe.
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Another question is about sports fields.
At RMS, there are four overlapping fields. The questionnaire offers eight answers, and participants can choose from any of them. The costs of field construction range from $1.1 million for a baseball-softball field to $1.4 million for a multi-use synthetic field. A track and lawn field is around $1.7 million.
The RMS gym, which has been renovated repeatedly during the past 45 years, is 7,800 square feet. The district is proposing a 9,000-square-foot gym, but $1.2 million could be saved by building a 6,000-square-foot gym.
Another question was about a 5,000-square-foot multipurpose room for wrestling and cheerleading. RMS currently has a second gym where wrestling matches are held, with bleachers and a performance stage for concerts. Reducing the size would save around $600,000.
Another multiple-choice question involves installing an $18.7 million geothermal heat pump or saving about a million dollars by installing air-source heat pumps with a supplemental boiler. Solar panels are also proposed for $1.5 million to $3.25 million.
An external ramp between the school’s first and second floors, costing $3.7 million, was also proposed and is being reconsidered.
Participants can offer additional comments or concerns and are asked to leave their name and voting ward, too.
Boucher said in the questionnaire that the “cost estimate ranges” from $136.2 million to $166.7 million, depending on adding some of the design features. These figures are actually the price, not the cost. The cost needs to include interest on the debt, which pushes even the low price of the building to the $200 million range.
View all the documents for the new Concord middle school project linked here. The latest financial estimates can be found here.
Business Administrator Jack Dunn clarified some of the financials while adding the numbers the district was toying with were very early estimates.
Patch has been performing back-of-the-envelope math on the varying pricing schemes with a proposed 4 percent interest rate. But Dunn said it will probably be closer to 4.5 percent — pushing the final cost even higher than previously thought.
The district has around $16.1 million in its facilities and purchase renovation expendable trust fund and more than $26.1 million in all its trusts. This is the amount of money property taxpayers have been overtaxed in recent years. In fiscal year 2025, nearly $1.6 million was transferred into the facilities trust—money that was supposed to go into taxpayers’ pockets as part of more money being pushed out by the state to schools.
One confusing part of the most recent financial figures shared with the public was a tax hike figure of $32 on a $350,000.
Circling back to the lowest price figure of $136.2 million, Dunn said the district was figuring state aid to be about $49 million. The district would then amortize the leftover $87.7 million at 4.5 percent. The first-year payment would be around $6.8 million. Dunn said by using $3.4 million in the first year, the tax rate could be brought down to about 9 cents per thousand or $32 for a $350,000 house assessment.
Using the $136.2 million figure and about $72.3 million in interest payments based on the $87.7 million financed ($136.2M minus $49M in state aid equals $87.7M), without using any of the trust funds or selling off any current land assets the district has, including the former Eastman School land or the current RMS parcel, the final cost of the new middle school, at its lowest level, is around $208.5 million.
Do you have a news tip? Please email it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella’s YouTube.com channel or Rumble.com channel. Follow the NH politics Twitter account @NHPatchPolitics for all our campaign coverage.
The federal Department of Homeland Security, which houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was in communication with at least one state agency in January about its plans to purchase and modify a vacant warehouse in Merrimack, according to documents obtained by the ACLU of New Hampshire through a public records request and released Tuesday.
The documents are the first known confirmation by the federal government of ICE’s plan to purchase and modify a facility in Merrimack, the draft plan of which was initially reported by the Washington Post in December. Since then, the Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly declined to confirm the report to local officials.
According to the documents released Tuesday, ICE representatives contacted the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Division of Historical Resources on Jan. 12, sharing a letter dated Jan. 9 that described plans “to purchase, occupy and rehabilitate a 43-acre warehouse property in support of ICE operations.”
The letter was authored by Gabrielle M Fernandez, an environmental protection specialist at the Department of Homeland Security. Federal and state law require projects in certain areas to receive review for potential impacts on historic and protected land.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte has repeatedly denied any knowledge of the plan, as recently as Jan. 28, when she told reporters that she had reached out to the federal government directly for more information.
In a statement released shortly after documents were announced on Tuesday, she sharply criticized the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
“It is entirely unacceptable that the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources failed to share this information with the Governor’s office,” she said.
In a statement hours later, Sarah Stewart, director of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, took “full responsibility” for failing to alert the governor.
“Division Directors are supposed to notify me of any Right-to-Know Requests or Section 106 Requests for Review of any matters potentially significant to the State,” she said. “I have reminded my team to notify me of requests of this nature, so I am positioned to review them and alert the Governor’s Office on all sensitive matters.”
The Division of Historical Resources is a relatively small agency, with only nine employees, according to its website.
NHPR reached out to Ayotte for more information about when agencies are supposed to alert the governor about such projects, and whether any other state agencies have been in communication with federal immigration officials, and did not receive a response by publication time.
Ayotte previously told reporters that she requested federal officials to communicate any plans with the town of Merrimack, which has long said it’s in the dark about any ICE proposal.
Town manager Paul Micali told NHPR he initially learned about the plan from the Post’s reporting. On Jan. 23, the Merrimack town council sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other federal and state officials stating its opposition to an ICE facility in the town because of potential adverse financial impacts.
Following the documents release, Micali said the town is still seeking more clarity.
“We’re still looking to get a straight answer from the Department of Homeland Security, one way or the other, whether they plan to put a facility in Merrimack or not,” he said.
Though the Department of Homeland Security was already communicating with the state Division of Historical Resources, federal Homeland Security officials declined to provide the town with more information — despite numerous requests from town officials, Gov. Ayotte and the state’s Congressional delegation.
Last week, the town of Merrimack received a message from Homeland Security via Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s office, which Merrimack posted to its website.
“ICE at this time is unable to share details about the upcoming expansion in New Hampshire or elsewhere. ICE has no new detention centers to announce at this time,” the letter said, citing a “heightened threat environment” due to opposition to its activities.
Space for “tentage and a guard shack”
The proposed property is 50 Robert Milligan Parkway, which is currently a vacant commercial warehouse.
In a letter, which refers to the site as a “Processing Center,” the Department of Homeland Security outlined potential modifications to the building’s interior, including the “construction of holding and processing spaces, office space, public-facing visitor spaces, and installation of amenities, such as cafeterias, bathrooms, and health care spaces.”
“This is a warehouse that is clearly intended for merchandise, and they’re trying to turn it into a place to house human beings,” said Devon Chaffee, executive director of the ACLU of New Hampshire.
The letter also outlines bolstering security on site, through measures like installing fencing, cameras and exterior personnel access control, as well as “tentage and a guard shack.”
The Post’s initial reporting showed leaked internal ICE documents that called for constructing a new nationwide network of facilities that could hold up to 80,000 migrants at once. It identified Merrimack as a site that could potentially hold up to 1,500 detainees.
“You can actually see the building from the F.E. Everett Turnpike,” said Merrimack town manager Paul Micali.
The maps included in the proposal show neighboring businesses and transportation infrastructure, like defense contractor BAE systems and the Nashua Airport.
In its assessment, the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer Nadine Miller said on Jan. 21 that the department found ICE’s proposal would not impact historical resources and thus no further consultation between agencies was required.
ICE has taken similar steps in other communities across the country, including in Oklahoma and Virginia. In Oklahoma, plans for the facility have stalled, after the property owner stopped negotiating with federal authorities.
Chaffee with the ACLU called on elected officials to make their opposition clear.
“It matters if our governor says that she doesn’t want this facility,” she said.
Chaffee said the documents still leave a lot of questions unanswered, like how many people exactly ICE plans on detaining at the site and when the agency is planning on having the facility operational.
She said her group is “exploring all potential legal options for resisting this facility.”
This story is a production of the New England News Collaborative. It was originally published by New Hampshire Public Radio.
NEW HAMPSHIRE — Tax season is underway, but some Granite Staters could face delays in receiving federal tax refunds under changes announced by the Internal Revenue Service.
An executive order signed last year by President Donald Trump aims to phase out paper checks and money orders for federal payments, including tax refunds, in favor of direct deposit. The policy applies to refunds issued by the IRS, as well as payments from Social Security and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Beginning in 2026, the IRS said it will continue to process individual income tax returns filed without bank account information, but refunds will be temporarily frozen until the taxpayer provides direct deposit details or requests a paper check.
Taxpayers can update or submit banking information through an IRS Online Account. Those without direct deposit can also request a waiver to receive a paper check. The IRS advises filers to verify routing and account numbers before submitting returns and to set up an online account to respond quickly if a refund is held.
The IRS said most refunds rejected by banks will also be frozen and will not be automatically reissued as paper checks. Taxpayers whose refunds are frozen will receive a CP53E notice outlining the next steps.
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