City of Concord v. State

Summary

The New Hampshire Supreme Court considers whether a 2009 amendment changing the State and local subdivisions’ respective funding shares for New Hampshire Retirement System employer contributions violated Part I, Article 28-a of the New Hampshire Constitution as an unfunded mandate. The court holds that Article 28-a requires a state-mandated substantive change to an underlying local governmental function, duty, or activity, in addition to necessitating additional local expenditures. Because the amendment changed only the allocation of existing retirement funding obligations and did not alter the scope of required retirement benefits, the court affirms summary judgment for the State.

Holdings

1. A violation of Part I, Article 28-a requires the State to mandate or assign to a local subdivision a program or responsibility that is new, expanded, or modified from what existed before the state action and that necessitates additional expenditures by the local subdivision.
2. A new, expanded, or modified responsibility under Article 28-a must involve a substantive change to an underlying function, duty, or activity performed or to be performed by local government; a merely increased financial obligation is not enough.
3. Section 52 did not violate Article 28-a because it shifted part of the financial obligation for funding NHRS from the State to local subdivisions without changing any underlying local activity, function, employee category, or retirement-benefit obligation.

Questions Presented

1. Whether section 52 of Laws 2009, chapter 144, violated Part I, Article 28-a of the New Hampshire Constitution as an unfunded mandate by increasing local subdivisions' share of NHRS employer contributions.
2. What elements must be shown to establish a violation of Part I, Article 28-a.
3. Whether an increased financial obligation, without a substantive change to an underlying local governmental function, duty, or activity, constitutes a new, expanded, or modified responsibility under Article 28-a.

Disposition

affirmed