NASHUA, N.H. — The Nashua Board of Aldermen voted 9-5 Tuesday to pass a resolution supporting the neighboring town of Merrimack in its opposition to a proposed Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.

The resolution, R-26-015, had been tabled since Feb. 24, according to city records. Aldermen voted 11-3 to take it off the table, then rejected a motion to indefinitely postpone it 4-10 before giving it final passage.

ICE had planned to convert an industrial site in Merrimack into a detention center that could hold up to 1,500 detainees, New Hampshire Public Radio reported in January. WMUR later reported that Gov. Kelly Ayotte said the plan had been scrapped.

Debate over killing the measure

Alderman John Sullivan argued for indefinite postponement, saying the resolution had sat for months without movement and that the state of New Hampshire had said the facility is "not going to happen."

"I just think it's appropriate to uh remove this legislation and just and be done with it," Sullivan said.

One alderman who opposed postponement said that doing so would "kill the bill," leaving the board unable to bring the issue back if the detention center resurfaced.

Alderman Ben Clemons said he had opposed tabling the resolution in the first place because he thought the board should have passed it then. "I think it does send a message whether or not it's uh after the fact or not," Clemons said.

Another alderman said the governor had changed her position on such facilities and that the board needed to "speak as a body."

Asked whether the resolution was only a statement of support, Mayor Jim Donchess said it was, but that it carries more weight than a letter from him alone. If the facility were to move forward, he said, a resolution "gives it ... significantly more force that the Board of Alderman speaks for the entire city."

During public comment, a resident said eight members of the board and the mayor had signed on to the resolution, and urged the city to stop banking with Citizens Bank over what the resident described as its ties to private prison companies.

Tax rate higher than expected

At the start of the meeting, Donchess told aldermen that tax bills will go out next week with a rate of $18.43, up about 9.5%. Last year's rate was $16.83 per $1,000 of valuation, The Nashua Telegraph reported.

He said the rate is higher than expected because the city had planned for a $2 million reduction in its state adequacy grant, but the school department was later told the figure would be $4.5 million.

"Our residents are gonna have a lot of trouble paying this rate," Donchess said, adding that the city needs to start on next year's budget as early as possible. He said medical benefit costs are projected to rise 13% to 15%, an increase of $6 million on that line alone.