Budget & Taxes
Building and passing the annual City Budget, which determines the tax rate and thus the amount of property tax each residential and business property owner must contribute to running our City, is among the most important of the Council's responsibilities. In 2007, Portsmouth is an extremely well-run City with a good school system, many amenities, a much-improved infrastructure, and many government services - that is, services provided to or at least available to all, paid for by all. Everything costs money. It is certainly the Council's job to see that - under the management of our excellent City Manager - public resources are used efficiently and effectively. During the past two terms we’ve made strong progress toward a transition to "outcome-based budgeting," focusing our analysis and discussion during the annual budget-building process on the performance and results achieved by each City department - and allocating limited resources among those most important to residents.
