On March 30, the Hanover Selectboard voted unanimously to approve the town’s budget for fiscal year 2027, which will begin in July 2026. Residents will vote on the budget at the annual town meeting on May 12.
The Selectboard also voted unanimously to approve three warrant articles — budgetary or policy proposals — proposing social districts for outdoor alcohol consumption, a new cell tower and the re-establishment of a private loan system for clean energy and infrastructure. The Selectboard’s vote represents their endorsement of the articles, which will face votes at the May 12 town meeting in order to become law.
The annual town meeting, usually held in the Hanover High gymnasium, is the legislative body of the town. The town will vote on any zoning ordinances, in a secret ballot, available for a day, and “discuss, modify and vote” on others during the town meeting.
The proposed budget contains $40.8 million in total allocations, up 2.9% from last year’s $39.5 million, including a 3.1% base property tax increase from the previous year. The increase will fund numerous upcoming projects, including renovations to West Wheelock Street and South Main Street.
The town used $300,000 from the undesignated fund balance left over from fiscal year 2026 to “dampen” the property tax increase from a predicted 5.5% to 2.9%, keeping it “in line” with the inflation rate, Selectboard chair Carey Callaghan said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
“We have to dig up the road, redo the water, redo the sewer,” Callaghan said. “Those surplus funds will help to offset some of the tax increase to pay for that project.”
One of the most expensive items in the budget is the purchase of a $2.4 million tower truck — a fire truck able to rescue citizens from high buildings. Tower trucks are especially valuable for Hanover because the town has buildings that are up to 45 feet tall, including some student dorms, according to town manager Robert Houseman.
There have been two Hanover Fire tower truck rescues in the Upper Valley in the last three years, according to Houseman. The current truck is “nearing the end of its usable life,” Houseman said at the meeting.
The town also passed articles of warrant for the upcoming annual Town Meeting. Last year, Hanover residents voted in support of a petition advising the Selectboard to prohibit Hanover Police from entering into agreements with immigration enforcement officers. In January, the petition was overturned by the New Hampshire sanctuary city ban.
Residents passed all 21 other articles at last year’s meeting, which included items allowing virtual participation in Selectboard meetings and amending town documents with gender-neutral language.
If passed, one article would allow for the establishment of social districts where licensed establishments can sell alcohol in outdoor zones. Currently, alcohol sales are only permitted indoors.
At the Monday meeting, Houseman said the town would “convene a group” this summer to assess police and fire risks and determine the location and size of the district where outdoor alcohol consumption is permitted. He said the town will likely only authorize a single district.
According to Selectboard secretary Jarett Burke, in a town survey sent to 60 residents, five out of 12 respondents were “strongly in favor” of creating a social district and raised “no major objections.”
Another article would appropriate funds for “the placement, operation and maintenance” of a new cellphone tower at 221 Lebanon Street, five miles from the center of town. The new tower site would be located behind a recycling compound leased by Dartmouth from the town.
Houseman said at the Selectboard meeting that the new tower’s height and proximity to Hanover would allow residents to reliably use 5G data. The nearest towers are currently at the Church of Christ at Dartmouth College, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and Moose Mountain.
The final article would reestablish a Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy and Resiliency district, where properties may fund “qualifying improvements,” such as renewable energy projects, through a discounted loan program.
“C-PACER makes it possible for private owners of commercial properties (including non-profits) to obtain affordable, long-term financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, by electing to repay their loan through a special assessment tax from the Town,” the C-PACER website writes.
Hanover was the first municipality in the state to approve a C-PACER district covering all of town in 2016. In 2025, the state law that authorized C-PACER was reworked to be easier for towns to adopt, requiring Hanover to re-approve the district, according to Houseman.
The Selectboard meets every other Monday at 7 p.m. in the town offices at 41 South Main St. Meetings are open to the public.
