Press Releases/What’s New

As is their annual holiday tradition, the City’s Welfare Office is collecting gift cards for families who have older kids who are not typically served by other Christmas programs in town.

Applications for the seasonal boat slips at the Prescott Park docks will be accepted at the City of Portsmouth City Clerk’s Office starting December 1, 2020, through 4:30pm on Thursday January 7, 2021. To download the application click here. .

Portsmouth Citywide Neighborhood Committee Organizes
Mayor’s Holiday Lights Contest

Portsmouth, New Hampshire – At the November 16 City Council meeting, Mayor Rick Becksted announced the return of the Neighborhood Holiday Lights Contest for 2020, to give residents a way to celebrate together this holiday season. Now the Portsmouth Citywide Neighborhood Committee is announcing the details.

When the Citizen Response Task Force (CRTF) was formed in early June, its members from all aspects of the Portsmouth economy was to help Portsmouth find its way through the pandemic. Keeping the public informed was, and remains, key to that mission.

The New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration has approved the City’s 2020 tax rate for Fiscal Year 2021 of $14.70 per $1,000 of valuation.

City Manager Karen Conard noted the 2020 tax rate dropped by 16 cents or 1.1% from the prior year’s tax rate of $14.86. 

The City of Portsmouth has received two awards for exceptional financial reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for the publication of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) and the Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR). The GFOA is a professional organization of public officials united to enhance and promote the professional management of governmental financial resources by identifying, developing and advancing fiscal strategies, policies and practices for the public benefit.

Pictured above, left to right: Matt Billings Project Manager, Martini Northern LLC, City Manager Karen Conard, 

The Prescott Park Master Plan Implementation Committee and the project consultant Weston and Sampson Engineers will host a public information meeting via Zoom on Thursday, October 29 at 6:30 pm. To register for the Zoom meeting, click here.

On Friday, October 23, 2020, the City of Portsmouth celebrated the completion and opening of the $4 million conversion of a former Army Reserve center at 125 Cottage Street into the City’s Senior Activity Center. Participating in the ribbon-cutting were City Manager Karen Conard, Mayor Rick Becksted, Recreation Board Chair Carl Diemer and Martini Northern LLC Project Manager Matthew Billings.

The City of Portsmouth is working to complete a project to add pedestrian and bicycle improvements along Elwyn Road between Lafayette Road and Harding Road under the New Hampshire Department of Transportation’s (NHDOT) Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ).  Based on Elwyn Road’s lack of pedestrian and bicycle facilities, the City was awarded a grant for this project and is working with CMA Engineers, Inc to complete the project design, which is propo