Cybersecurity Among Needs in Proposed New Hampshire Budget
Cybersecurity Among Needs in Proposed New Hampshire Budget
https://www.govtech.com/security/cybersecurity-among-needs-in-proposed-new-hampshire-budget
Publish Date: 2026-06-17 17:38:00
Source Domain: www.govtech.com
Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points.
(TNS) — Two new courthouses, replacing steam lines at the aging Concord men’s prison and beefing up the state’s cybersecurity defenses are on the wish list of projects proposed for New Hampshire’s capital budget for the next two years.As is always the case, there are more wants to shore up ailing infrastructure and add upgrades than there are available funds, Gov. Kelly Ayotte advised during the first of two days of public hearings to open the process.“We can’t control everything. We have one important thing we can control — our fiscal discipline,” Ayotte said in opening remarks.“Living within our means, strong credit ratings and building budgets that reflect the needs and priorities of the state will be my focus.”The current two-year public works budget (HB 25) that Ayotte signed in June 2025 spent nearly $138 million in bonds backed by state taxes and fees, another $10 million from highway funds and $23 million from “other” funds such as dedicated revenues.During Tuesday’s hearing, agency heads from the first six departments to make presentations asked for a total of $253 million in projects.Administrative Services Commissioner Charles Arlinghaus said he operates under no delusion that the $143 million he’s asked for to maintain state buildings and courthouses will win final approval.Over five of the past half dozen capital budgets, his agency received just over $25 million in projects, though in the current plan the number fell to $15.4 million.“I wanted to give you a sense of the scope of the need for the state to catch up on deferred maintenance work,” Arlinghaus said.Karen Rantamaki, state director of plant and property under Arlinghaus, said her staff wouldn’t be able to complete all 36 projects on her wish list even if lawmakers approved them all.Her division has 220 positions but 60 of them — or 27% — are vacant, she said.The top 10 on Rantamaki’s list started with $1.5 million to replenish the state’s emergency fund, which is used to pay for renovations or repairs that aren’t expected.These include last weekend’s fire that destroyed a state building on the grounds of the former Laconia State School and two floods in the Brown Building on the New Hampshire Hospital grounds in Concord.Ranked fifth was $32 million for a new courthouse for Sullivan County that would replace a superior court and two circuit courts in Claremont and Newport, all of which the state leases privately-owned space.JUDICIAL BRANCH SEEKS NEW COURTSCourt officials have also requested a new $23 million Salem Circuit Courthouse. though it didn’t make the top 10.Corrections Commissioner Bill Hart said tops on his $15.2 million request is $2 million to replace body alarms worn by corrections officers at the state’s medium security prison in Berlin.The existing alarms that 110 staff and volunteers use were installed in 2000, the year the prison opened.The manufacturer no longer makes the product and the agency can no longer find replacement parts and, as a result, many transmitters are out of service, he said.The $3 million replacement of sewer lines and traps is the second phase of repairs to decades-old pipes with leaks that cause the loss of up to 18,500 gallons of water per day, Hart said.Information Technology Commissioner Denis Goulet said cybersecurity has been his agency’s top capital need all 11 years that he’s been on the job.The growing use of artificial intelligence by bad actors is making the task even more challenging.Hackers are using AI to launch even more sophisticated attacks, often deploying multiple robots after an initial assault to “tweak things” which can render government defenses even more vulnerable, Goulet said.“The pace of change is increasing, and we all need to keep up with it,” Goulet added.David Wieters, chief operating officer for the Department of Health and Human Services, said its request for $47 million includes adding a kitchen onto the youth treatment center under construction on the grounds of the former Hampstead Hospital.The smaller 18-bed center will replace the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester.Wieters said the state originally intended to have a psychiatric hospital for juveniles on the property and the treatment center would save costs by sharing services such as cafeteria, laundry and pharmacy.But the state then approved a long-term lease for a nonprofit owned by Dartmouth Health to run the psychiatric hospital.Building a $3 million kitchen in the treatment complex would over time save money versus the $32,000 per month cost the state will pay to deliver meals to residents at the new facility, Wieters said.The governor elected by voters in November will have until the middle of next February to propose capital and operating budgets for the cycle that begins July 1, 2027.©2026 The New Hampshire Union Leader, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
