What's New

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City Council Approves Cultural Plan

March 20, 2024

Early in 2023 the Portsmouth Arts and Nonprofits Committee assembled a subcommittee tasked with creating a new Cultural Plan for the City. The last plan was adopted in 2002 and was included in the 2005 Master Plan. The goal was to complete a new plan as a foundational pillar for the 2035 Citywide Master Plan to help ensure that City leaders have a strategic roadmap to guide support and funding policies in the coming decade and serve as a blueprint for preservation and expansion of arts and cultural venues, activities, and initiatives for the foreseeable future.

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Trustees Announce Community Scholarships Application Process Now Open to All Qualified City Residents, Due March 15

February 28, 2024

Scholarship application season is now underway. The City of Portsmouth Trustees of the Trust Funds, administrator of the funding for many scholarships, remind residents the application deadline is March 15, 2024. While many of the scholarships are awarded only to graduating Portsmouth High School seniors, some (including the five Portsmouth Community Scholarships) are open to any Portsmouth resident who is a graduating senior.

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City Council Increases Income Limits for Elderly and Disabled Property Tax Exemptions. Deadline is April 15, 2024

February 27, 2024

The Portsmouth City Council recently voted to increase the income limits for both the elderly and disabled property tax exemptions. Income limits for both exemptions will increase from $50,137 to $54,000 for single taxpayers and from $68,598 to $70,793 for married couples. Total assets for both exemptions will remain at $500,000 whether single or married.

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City Council and Planning Board Hear Portsmouth Listens Community "Places to Live" Report

February 23, 2024

The City of Portsmouth has engaged Portsmouth Listens to facilitate a series of community participation events about Places to Live in the City. This effort is to listen to and inform the community about housing concerns. Events will be held in January and February 2024 to discuss existing places to live, challenges in accessing them, ways to create more, and the impacts of doing so.

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DPW Water Division Seeks Customer Assistance to Identify Material in Private Water Lines

February 6, 2024

In November 2023, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Lead and Copper Rule Improvement requirement that all water suppliers complete an inventory of the material in all water service lines – the pipes that deliver drinking water from the public water mains into abutting properties. The City of Portsmouth Water Division will visually inspect water service lines where they enter residential and commercial buildings to determine the material type.