Councilors agree to $169,000 in budget cuts
AUBURN – City councilors settled on a 94-cent tax increase Tuesday, agreeing to cut their share of a national marketing campaign and not increasing the library’s budget.
“I think this is the start of some terrible times ahead,” Councilor Marcel Bilodeau said. “I hope this year will become a transition year for us. I hope this will be the start of some real changes.”
Councilors are scheduled to vote on first reading of the $58 million budget at their next meeting June 16 and again on June 23.
The budget called for a $1.49 tax increase in May when councilors first began reviewing it. They pared the tax increase down to $1.08 in time for their first public hearing on the budget last week. Those cuts included changes to spring cleanup and ending weekly trash collections to apartments of more than three units. Councilors also agreed to trim their annual bond issue by $2 million and enact $355,000 in personnel changes. Those changes included cutting a 2-percent group performance raise for a $100,000 savings and changing health insurance coverage for $55,000 in changes. It also calls for a $200,000 staff restructuring.
Monday, councilors agreed to another $169,000 in cuts, which would bring the city’s tax rate up to $29.38 per $1,000 of value – a tax bill of about $2,350 for an $80,000 home.
City Manager Pat Finnigan said cutting the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council’s Image Campaign made the most sense. The city is still paying the growth council $78,000 in Community Development Block Grant money and $92,270 out of its general fund. The $25,000 for the growth council’s “L-A – It’s Happening Here!” fell to the budget ax.
“We still feel it was important,” Finnigan said. “But, given some of the other choices, it did not rise to the top.”
Finnigan also favored cutting $45,000 from the library’s proposed budget.
“That flat-funds them this year,” Finnigan said.
The cuts include buying one less vehicle for the police department and delaying an $11,218 payment to the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society. The cuts also include bonding $70,000 in public works projects instead of paying for them out of the general fund and $1,915 in cuts to the Auburn-Lewiston Airport, $900 in information services cuts and $2,500 in cell phone communications cuts.
Most councilors agreed that the cuts were adequate this year. Councilor Belinda Gerry said she didn’t favor changes to the trash collections for Auburn apartments.
“We’re trying to clean up Auburn’s image, and I don’t think more trash and dumpsters does that.”
Taxes for AVCOG
Councilor Bob Mennealy’s proposal to tax the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments will get a full review by the city, but not in time to affect this year’s budget, according to Mayor Norm Guay.
“Even if we as a board decided to tax them tonight, I believe our decision would be appealed,” Guay said. “That appeal wouldn’t be settled in time to affect this budget.”
AVCOG provides economic development and environmental and transportation planning services for its members, who are dozens of municipalities in western Maine, including Auburn.
The city assesses $24,536 in property taxes on the group’s 125 Manley Road office, but doesn’t collect those taxes. Mennealy said he wants the group to start paying those taxes.
Guay said the plan would get a full review from the council. He directed staff to get two legal opinions about whether or not AVCOG is a nonprofit organization and exempt from property taxes. Maine law exempts regional planning groups like AVCOG from sales and income taxes but doesn’t specifically exempt them from property taxes.
“But we haven’t heard their side of this issue yet,” Guay said. “As a council, we need as much good information as we can get.”
Councilor Bilodeau said he wouldn’t favor taxing AVCOG even if the city can.
“My concern is that they’d start charging us for some of the services they provide right now,” Bilodeau said. “I guarantee just the work they do for the airport and for transportation planning is worth it. I think we gain far more from them than we pay.”
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