Todd Selig Town Manager

January 14, 2026 House Ways and Means Committee New Hampshire State House Concord, NH Re: Opposition to HB 1474 – Meals and Rooms Tax Distribution Change Dear Chairperson Janigian, Vice Chair Ulery, and Honorable Members of the Committee, On behalf of the Town of Durham, I am writing to express our opposition to HB 1474, which proposes changing the existing distribution formula for Meals and Rooms (M&R) tax revenue. Based on our review and the New Hampshire Municipal Association’s preliminary calculations, this change would result in a 54 percent reduction in M&R revenue for Durham. Durham is home to the University of New Hampshire, a major hub of educational, cultural, and economic activity for our state. Although roughly half of UNH students live in tax-exempt on-campus housing, they are fully engaged members of the broader Durham community and are included in our census population. These residents use local infrastructure, generate traffic, shop and dine locally, and require ongoing municipal services. Our police, fire, and emergency medical departments routinely provide assistance both on and off campus, adding substantial costs that are borne by local taxpayers. Under the proposed formula, removing student residents from Durham's population count would dramatically understate the true service demands placed on our community. The result would unfairly penalize Durham and other host communities such as Plymouth and Hanover that support large institutional populations. It is worth noting that these same individuals contribute directly to state revenues through local spending that generates Meals and Rooms taxes. Excluding them from the population calculation overlooks both their economic contribution and the municipal expenses they help create. The bill also raises practical concerns. Determining who qualifies as a resident under the proposed language would be extremely difficult to implement on an annual basis, and no clear methodology has been described. More importantly, we have not yet seen any official estimates from the State Treasurer or Department of Revenue Administration showing the likely impacts of these changes on each community. Moving forward without this essential information could create lasting inequities across the state. For these reasons, the Town of Durham respectfully urges the Committee to reject HB 1474. The existing formula, while not perfect, provides a fair and transparent basis for distributing state aid. Altering it in this way would undermine college communities that already shoulder an outsized share of service responsibility for tax-exempt institutions. Thank you for your time and consideration, and for your continued support of New Hampshire’s municipalities. All my best, Todd Todd I. Selig, Administrator Town of Durham, NH 8 Newmarket Rd., Durham, NH 03824 USA Office: 603.868.5571 | Mobile: 603.817.0720  www.ci.durham.nh.us | tselig@ci.durham.nh.us --