J. Mark Ryan

Political platform statement

Why I am running for this office: I want to use what I have learned to help the town continue to deal with its challenges and keep the Portsmouth we all love a vibrant community. In order to do that, we need a town council that will properly balance keeping taxes low against the need to support Portsmouth’s public schools, protect its natural resources, maintain its infrastructure and properties, and adequately fund essential services. Portsmouth has changed over the years, but I will work to preserve the best things about it and keep our town a place where all residents have the opportunity to live and thrive.

Although COVID-19 has made everything extraordinarily more difficult, great staff and fiscally prudent policies instituted since I was elected have allowed us to meet these challenges and keep taxes in the bottom 1/3 of municipalities with school districts. We have instituted zero-based budgeting and more importantly, we have finally created a rolling five-year capital plan based on our facilities assessment that will ensure properly prioritized short and long-term expenditures. These initiatives have made the budgeting process more transparent, focused and stopped ad hoc unjustified expenditures.

Despite COVID-19, Portsmouth has kept on schedule, reduced our budget with surpluses, and created an emergency COVID-19 contingency fund. Going forward, the next Town Council must continue to deal with COVID-19 and pre-pandemic challenges.