Cheshire County officials have renewed their concerns about the ongoing trend of state cost shifting, warning that this practice is placing an increasing financial burden on local governments and property taxpayers in New Hampshire. The county government says the issue has intensified over the past five years, particularly affecting rural areas like Cheshire County.
Officials argue that as the state seeks to balance its budget, it has reduced aid, changed funding formulas, and withdrawn from long-standing financial commitments to local governments. While these actions may help stabilize state finances on paper, they result in higher costs for communities with no alternative revenue sources. This has led to a greater reliance on property taxes.
Cheshire County has historically maintained one of the lowest county tax rates in New Hampshire through disciplined budgeting and conservative spending. However, officials say that even with these efforts, rising costs driven by state policy decisions are unavoidable.
The county points out that state downshifting has increased obligations for Medicaid-funded long-term care and human services. These programs are legally required and cannot be eliminated locally. When the state reduces its share or fails to meet previous commitments, counties must absorb those costs.
Over the past decade, it is estimated that New Hampshire has shifted about three billion dollars in costs to local governments statewide; counties account for roughly three hundred million dollars of this total. Most of this comes from Medicaid nursing home reimbursement shortfalls and expanded responsibilities for human services. Officials say that without such downshifting, today’s statewide property tax burden would be significantly lower than it was ten years ago.
In Cheshire County specifically, keeping tax increases modest requires close scrutiny of departmental requests and careful planning for capital projects across multiple budget cycles. Workforce needs must also be balanced against efforts to minimize property taxes.
Many of these challenges stem from longstanding fiscal commitments by the State of New Hampshire that were never fully realized. Revenue sharing related to meals and rooms taxes as well as business profits tax has not met original projections. Highway block grants and bridge aid have not kept up with inflation, leaving infrastructure needs unmet at the local level. State contributions to the New Hampshire Retirement System have been eliminated entirely—significantly raising costs for counties, municipalities, and schools—while Medicaid long-term care expenses have shifted more heavily onto county taxpayers.
“These financial challenges are not partisan; they are structural,” said Chris Coates, Cheshire County Administrator. “Multiple administrations and legislative bodies have contributed to the current funding framework.”
Coates noted recent decisions at the state level—including elimination of certain business-related taxes—have removed hundreds of millions in revenue while other sources such as tourism have declined and federal funding remains uncertain: “The state needs to see that the Perfect Storm is upon us and that we are taking on water faster than we can pump.”
Cheshire County continues to call for responsible state funding practices that fulfill statutory obligations without shifting additional costs onto local taxpayers: “Keeping county taxes low should not require sacrificing essential programs such as public safety or human services,” Coates said.
He concluded by warning: “Without meaningful change at the state level, the pressure on local governments and taxpayers will only continue to grow.”
For more information about Cheshire County’s operations or specific departments within the county government, residents can view resources available on the official website.
