Multiple factors contributed to Peterborough residents receiving December tax bills that were higher than the ones they received in June.

“The most-common question we are getting from people is ‘Why is the December bill so much higher tax the June bill?’” Peterborough Town Administrator Nicole MacStay said. “What a lot of people may not realize is that the June bill is always based on an estimate of what the tax rate will be, because we will not have that actual tax rate until December. The June bill is actually based on last year’s taxes, while the December bill reflects the budgets that were passed at Town Meeting.” 

According to the town website, the June tax bill is an estimate based on 50% percent of the prior year's taxes, while the December bill is based on the annual tax rate set by the State of New Hampshire Department of Revenue, minus any prepayment received from the June billing. 

MacStay said that increases in the town budget and the ConVal budget, which were approved by voters in Peterborough’s May Town Meeting and on the ConVal ballot in March, account for the higher tax rate. The 2024 tax rate is $32.50 per $1,000 of assessed value, while last year's tax rate was $28.19, for an increase of $4.31. On a home valued at $300,000, the increase would be from $8,457 to $9,750. Of that amount, the town portion is $12.17 per $1,000, the ConVal portion is $17.41 per $1,000, the state portion is $1.70 per $1,000 and the county portion is $1.22 per $1,000.

A Nov. 19 notice to Peterborough residents states that when Town Meeting voted in May to build a new fire station, the first payment toward that bond is part of this year’s budget, and accounts for about a third of the increase in the municipal tax rate.

Additionally, the notice states that over the last five years, the town’s ambulance service has steadily required additional tax support to continue operating due in part to a reduction in reimbursements from insurance. The ambulance service also largely suspended the interfacility patient transfer service to Monadnock Community Hospital due to a shortage of paramedics in the region. 

“This is a shortage that has been experienced by many ambulance services and is not unique to Peterborough; however the sudden loss of that transfer revenue has put an additional burden on the taxpayers of all the communities that we provide with ambulance service,” the notice states.

Carl Mabbs-Zeno, chair of the Peterborough Budget Committee, says the town had “no good options” when it came to the ambulance service. 

“We could have shut down the ambulance service,” Mabbs-Zeno said Nov. 22. “It was a decision that had to be made, and we decided keeping the ambulance service running was the best option out of the choices we had. We were in a bad situation because of changes to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. The main alternative is that we don’t have an ambulance service, and no one wants to go that way. We can’t just stop service. That would be irresponsible. So, the town is putting money into the budget to keep the ambulance service to keep it going.” 

Fire Chief Ed Walker said Monday that Peterborough provides the only 24/7 ambulance service in the region, with two fully staffed ambulances providing EMT services.

“The other services in the region are all on an on-call basis. We are the only department that staffs our ambulances 24/7. If our ambulance can’t get out, there is no guarantee that someone else can get there,” Walker said. “On the fire side, every town has a fire department, so we can always get help with fires. But with EMT services, there is just not that same depth.” 

Peterborough provides ambulance service to Peterborough, Temple, Sharon, Francestown, Hancock and Dublin. Each town contributes to the cost of the service based on the same funding formula of 50% call volume and 50% population divided by day allocation, plus a small fee for administrative and legal expenses. 

“We have been using the same funding formula for 10 years. The big change is that Peterborough is now funding 100% of the cost upfront, so that we know we will be able to run the service,” Walker said. “It is very difficult to manage cost flow as we may go two or three days with no calls, and then we might get 20 calls in one day. The costs are reimbursed once we recover the funds through the billing process.” 

Walker confirmed that changes to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements have meant lower revenue for the ambulance service.

“Sixty-one percent of our patients fall under Medicaid and Medicare, and by law, we cannot bill them for the balance bill, which is the difference between our cost and what we get for their reimbursements,” Walker said. “If Medicare pays $380 and the service cost $1,000, we can’t bill them for that.” 

According to Mabbs-Zeno,  a new state law requiring that every ambulance transfer include a certified EMT is another factor in increased costs. 

“We had not budgeted for this, because it’s a new law,” Mabbs-Zeno said. “It used to be that when you did transfers, you didn’t need an EMT, but now you do, and all that adds expense. The voters say they want to have an ambulance service, so we kept the ambulance service. If we didn’t have a town ambulance service, we would have to find a private supplier, and we don’t know if any of the private services would be able to willing to come this way.”

MacStay encourages Peterborough residents to contact the town offices if they anticipate having problems paying their taxes.

“We really urge people to get in touch with us if they have any concerns. We are here to help and we will work with people,” MacStay said.  

Peterborough residents can reach the tax collector and town administration by calling 603-924-8000, visit in person at the Town House Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or send email to administration@peterboroughnh.gov or finance@peterboroughnh.gov.

Although Peterborough had scheduled a property revaluation for the summer of 2024, the revaluation was postponed to 2025 because of technology issues with the vendor providing the computer-assisted mass appraisal software needed to complete the reassessment.