AUBURN — Councilors had to trim another $350,000 from a borrowing package before they could reach agreement Monday night.
Councilors voted 5-2 to approve a $7.2 million bond package aimed at road reconstructions, sidewalk maintenance, bridge work and new equipment.
But first they had to try to adopt a $7.55 million package that fully funded a few more projects. Councilors needed a five-vote majority and with councilors Tizz Crowley and Belinda Gerry arguing for steeper cuts, they could only muster five positive votes.
Walker proposed cutting the budget for replacement of Festival Plaza canopies from $60,000 to $35,000, reducing the renovations at Ingersoll Arena from $490,000 to $250,000, cutting $100,000 from the School Department’s bond issue and reducing the contingency fund by $10,000.
It passed, but Gerry and Crowley argued against it.
“I can’t support the amount of bonding,” Gerry said. “I know we need to do some work to maintain our infrastructure but I cannot support this $7.2 million. I just can’t do it.”
Councilor Adam Lee said all councilors face the same problems.
“That’s the contradiction we find ourselves in,” Lee said. “We want to support every project and pay for them but we are unwilling to pay for them and to set numbers we can agree to. I don’t think it is perfect. I think we need a great many of the projects in here.”
The bond includes up to $3 million for road work, $150,000 for sidewalks and $75,000 for bridge maintenance. It also replaces a $236,000 street sweeper, two plow trucks — one for $236,000 and one costing $180,000 — and $150,000 for building demolitions.
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