What's New

The City Council recently voted to increase the income limits for both the elderly and disabled property tax exemptions. Income limits will increase from $54,000 to $55,534 for single taxpayers and from $70,793 to $72,804 for married couples. 

The City’s Public Art Review Committee (PARC) has issued a new guide, “Public Art in Portsmouth, NH,” that inventories the City’s public art installations. To view the guide and for more information about other PARC initiatives, visit: portsnh.co/parc.

The guide is organized by neighborhood and also highlights a selection of artworks in the City’s collection which are displayed at City Hall and the Portsmouth Public Library.

The City of Portsmouth Department of Public Works will hold its semiannual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day on Saturday, April 12, 2025 at the Public Works facility at 680 Peverly Hill Road. Residents of Portsmouth, Greenland, and Newington are encouraged to bring household chemicals for safe disposal between 8 am and 12 noon. 

Portsmouth, New Hampshire – The City of Portsmouth will implement a pilot program to provide its customer-facing staff dedicated time for administrative tasks, training, and staff meetings, the goal of which is to enhance the quality of service provided to residents.

This program will result in delayed openings for the Clerk, Tax Collector, and Assessing Departments on Wednesday, March 12, 19, and 26, 2025. For these three Wednesdays, the offices will open at 10:00 am instead of the usual 8:00 am.

Portsmouth-based and internationally-renowned photographer Carl Austin Hyatt has donated a large format black-and-white photograph from his “Portsmouth Salt Piles Series” to the City for public display. The Portsmouth City Council will accept the photograph, “S-1” in a ceremony with the artist and the Public Art Review Committee (PARC) on March 3, 2025 at 7 pm at City Hall as part of their regular City Council meeting. The public is invited to attend the ceremony.

The Department of Public Works has announced that the demolition and removal of the boiler house chimney at City Hall will begin after 6 pm on March 3, 2025. The process will take approximately seven working days to complete. The unused, 95-foot tall chimney has deteriorated significantly, with cracking and structural displacement leading to falling bricks and mortar. As a safety measure, the area underneath the chimney was cordoned off earlier this year. For this project, the City has hired Reneau Industries, a local contractor with experience in demolition.

The League of American Bicyclists has honored the efforts of the City of Portsmouth to build better places for people to bike by renewing its status as a Bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC). The award recognizes Portsmouth’s commitment to improving conditions for all people who bike through investments in bike education programs, regular bike events that promote and encourage people to choose biking, pro-bike policies, and bike infrastructure.

The City of Portsmouth and The Kane Company announced today that they have reached a groundbreaking agreement that resolves the longstanding McIntyre lawsuits, representing a mutually beneficial outcome. In addition to resolving the lawsuits with no monetary damages for either party, the agreement demonstrates a shared commitment to addressing the housing crisis in Portsmouth, one of the City’s most pressing needs.

The Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire (CPCNH) has advised its member municipalities, including Portsmouth Community Power, that the electricity supply rates they had announced for the rate period February 1, 2025 through July 31, 2025 will increase on March 3, 2025. The new Granite Basic default rate for residential and small commercial customers will increase from 8.9 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to 9.7 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and remain in effect through July 31, 2025.