Campaign Update: “Downshifting” - October 02, 2026 Windham Independent
The Democratic candidates and legislative leaders keep talking about downshifting, or “cost shifts and unfunded mandates from the state, which drive up local property taxes”. Facts do not support that narrative.
The clearest downshifting that happened in NH is the state reducing its share of retirement costs for certain local employees from the 35% that the state had paid for more than three decades to zero. The downshifting started in the 2009 budget, when the Democrats controlled the House, Senate and governor’s office. That same year, Democrats also “suspended” municipal revenue sharing (~$25M a year to cities and towns) - it was never restored.
“Downshifting” implies that state aid sent to cities and towns was cut and spending was picked up by local funds - not true. State aid keeps increasing, and it’s at its highest level ever: $2.69 Billion in 2024-2025 (the last completed state budget cycle).
Windham’s most recent tax rate numbers show how property-tax dollars are allocated: 17.5% to the Town, 4% to the County, 78.5% to the schools. The last (pre-revaluation) tax rate change was a $1.24 increase from 2023 to 2024. 1 cent went to the town, 1 cent to the county, 122 cents went to the schools.
The schools’ MS-25 reports show the total school expenditures increased from $52.7 million in 2021 to $67.1 million in 2025 - a 27.3% increase in just 4 years, significantly higher than inflation, despite the number of students staying flat.
In Windham, property taxes increase because local spending (decided by voters every March) grows faster than state aid and inflation.
Another false claim is that the funds spent for the Education Freedom Accounts drive up your property taxes. Funding from the EFAs comes from the state’s Education Trust Fund, and every cent of school property taxes stays in Windham. State aid to public schools increased. Not one penny of EFA funds comes from property taxes…
One last claim to be debunked is that cuts to business taxes led to your property tax increases. If that was true, we would have seen the percentage of revenue from business taxes decrease, forcing the state to rely on other revenue sources.
Over the last decade, NH wisely cut business taxes (the Business Profits Tax went from 8.5% to 7.5% and the Business Enterprise Tax from 0.75% to 0.55%).
As a result, business-tax revenue nearly doubled from 2013 to 2025, and the percentage of state revenue coming from business taxes grew from around 25% of the state’s General and Education Trust Fund tax receipts to around 35%. Businesses pay for a bigger slice of the state budget, not a smaller one.
In Windham, local budgets (especially school spending) are the major driver of property-tax increases, and there is not much the state can do to change that. But by electing a Republican Governor, state senators and state representatives, you can continue to keep state government spending under control.
Daniel Popovici-Muller
Vice Chairman, House Finance II Committee
Windham State Representative,
(603) 267-4142 (call/text)
P. S. A lot of information used in this letter is from https://truthaboutdownshifting.com - I would encourage you all to check how thoroughly they document every number used.