Bret Carmichael

When we talk about new housing, the most important question we can ask is: “How does this impact the long-term tax bill for our current residents?” To keep Dover affordable, we have to focus on Value Per Acre (VPA). Think of our city’s infrastructure — our roads, pipes, and emergency services — as a shared utility. If we plow a mile of road in the winter for just one household, that single household carries a massive infrastructure cost. If 1,000 people live along that same mile, the cost is spread out, making the service more efficient and the tax burden per person lower. By growing our tax base through smart, high-value development, we can provide the services Dover expects without placing the entire financial weight on the shoulders of a few.

To make the best decisions for our neighborhoods, we also need to be clear about what we are actually building. I believe in using a shared set of definitions so we can have honest conversations about our goals. Most of us live in Market Rate Housing, where property values and taxes are determined by what the market will bear. Beyond that, I am a strong advocate for Attainable Housing. These are units created through Public-Private Partnerships that are deed-restricted and priced for people who live and work in Dover. Because the value is capped, these homes can’t be “flipped” for a windfall profit, ensuring they remain a resource for our local workforce. Finally, there is Affordable Housing, which is a legal designation for housing priced below market rate for qualified applicants. The Dover Housing Authority is a leader in this category.

My priority is ensuring Dover remains a community where our seniors can downsize, our young professionals can get a start, and our workforce can afford to stay. We do this by negotiating for a healthy mix of all three housing types. By prioritizing high-value, efficient development, we aren’t just adding buildings; we are strengthening our tax base and ensuring that the people who make Dover a great place to live can actually afford to call it home.

I believe public education is the “great equalizer,” the lever that allows any child to lift themselves up and compete on merit. It is Dover’s moral duty to provide a high-quality education, not just an “adequate” one. We wouldn’t settle for an “adequate” heart surgeon or an “adequate” home builder, and we should never settle for “adequate” schools for our children. However, delivering excellence in education has become a significant weight on our community. Education now accounts for approximately 55% of a Dover homeowner’s tax bill; statewide, that figure is over 60%.

The problem is that New Hampshire’s funding system relies almost exclusively on local property taxes, a burden shared by homeowners and renters alike. This is particularly regressive because property taxes are not tied to a person’s capacity to generate income. They remain the same whether you are at the peak of your career or a senior living on a fixed income. It is both true that Dover’s schools are expensive and that we make efficient use of the dollars we spend on education. Dover spends nearly $3,000 less per pupil than the state average. The problem is that local taxpayers are still forced to fill a massive gap left by the state.

This burden is only this high because the State of New Hampshire is failing to meet its constitutional obligation. For too long, the state has shifted its responsibility onto the shoulders of local municipalities. My highest-impact priority is advocating for the state to honor its legal oath and increase “adequacy” payments to reflect the real cost of teaching a child today. We cannot continue to fund Dover’s excellence solely through the resilience of our local property owners while the state remains on the sidelines.

Resolving this funding gap is the single most effective way to provide long-term tax relief. Every dollar we successfully secure from Concord is a dollar that comes directly off your local property tax bill. By fighting for a fair state funding model, we can protect our seniors from being priced out of their homes while ensuring Dover remains a place where high-quality education is a right, not a luxury funded by an unsustainable local tax hike. This also ensures that our schools remain an asset to our property values rather than a threat to our financial stability.

True fiscal health isn’t just about the current year’s budget. It’s about the long-term cost of owning a city. I believe in prioritizing for the long-term by making smart, proactive investments. A useful analogy is a mortgage. A homeowner assumes debt today in exchange for a valuable asset tomorrow. Just as a homeowner knows that a small roof repair now prevents a catastrophic bill later, we must look at our city’s infrastructure with that same mindset.

Dover is already a well-managed city. I am committed to building on that foundation by leaning further into the practice of lifecycle management. The goal is to stay ahead of the curve and prevent the accumulation of maintenance debt. While it can be tempting for any municipality to defer a road repair or a pipe replacement to keep the immediate tax rate low, doing so is essentially taking out a high-interest loan against our future.

We have a strategic choice. We can consistently dedicate a portion of our resources to proactive upkeep, or we will eventually be forced to spend far more just to react to emergency failures. As many have said in various ways: spend 20% of your time and money paying down maintenance debt, or spend 100% of your time and money servicing maintenance debt. Fiscal responsibility means being honest about the true cost of ownership today, ensuring that we pass down a vibrant, functional city — rather than a massive repair bill — to the next generation of Dover residents. Besides, many of us may still live in Dover when that bill comes due.

Economic resilience is about more than just growth. It’s about making sure that Dover can withstand the shifts in the regional and global economies. I believe a healthy city is one supported by a thriving ecosystem of small and mid-sized businesses, rather than one that relies on a few “giant” taxpayers. This is a strategy of risk mitigation. When we depend too heavily on a single large enterprise, we expose every Dover resident to the consequences of that company’s private business decisions.

The recent departure of Liberty Mutual is a prime example. As the single largest taxpayer in Dover, its absence caused its property valuation to plummet, leading to a significant tax abatement that the rest of Dover’s taxpayers had to cover. To fill that valuation gap, we must be intentional about how we rebuild our tax base. We want to do it in a way that makes us fault tolerant, so that the departure or decline of any one business doesn’t produce a sudden rate increase in our property taxes.

This is where our housing and business goals intersect. By prioritizing high-value-per-acre (VPA) mixed-use development, we create a built-in customer base for local entrepreneurs. When we have a dense, vibrant network of smaller shops, restaurants, and professional services, our economy becomes more stable. If one small business closes, the impact on the city’s overall tax revenue is negligible. If one hundred thrive, the benefit to our community is immense. Aspirationally, my goal is to replace the lost value of a single giant like Liberty Mutual with the same or greater tax value through a diverse mix of uses, whether through Public-Private Partnerships or other strategic policy tools.

I am not “anti-enterprise” or against big businesses — I am pro-taxpayer. Through a diverse commercial portfolio, we ensure that Dover’s financial health is rooted in the shared success of many, rather than the precarious reliance on a few. This interconnected approach allows us to grow sustainably while protecting ourselves from the volatility of a top-heavy economy — it is, in a way, insurance.