AUBURN — City councilors Monday were cautioned by two former councilors and a few other residents to be careful with budget cuts.
“Keep in mind the levels of service you provide right now,” former Councilor Ron Potvin told councilors during a public hearing on the city’s proposed budget. “In these cuts being suggested, if you are doing something a different way and trying to get to that same point, then I say it’s worth a try. But there is a lot there that you are taking a chance of reducing that eventually this council or a subsequent council want to put back. Be careful not to slice the bone.”
Councilors begin reviews of City Manager Howard Kroll’s proposed $39.2 million spending plan that would:
• combine five departments into two;
• eliminate six positions; and
• cut back or eliminate some shared programs with Lewiston.
They’re scheduled to hear a report at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 26, in Auburn Hall from Police Chief Phil Crowell on combining the police and fire departments into a new Public Safety Department.
Kroll’s proposed municipal budget would increase property taxes by $157,096 — a 0.66 percent increase. Combined with a $966,974 increase in property taxes for the Auburn School Department and a $25,443 assessment for Androscoggin County, property taxes would still increase $1.15 million — a 2.71 percent increase compared to the current year.
It would set the tax rate at $21.88 per $1,000 of value, up from the current $21.25 tax rate — a $94.50 increase on taxes for a $150,000 home. Councilors would still need a five-vote majority to approve a tax increase like that.
Potvin took issue with a proposed $45,900 cut to the Auburn Public Library.
“During all my time, I spent half of it up in the library getting all the information I like to get,” Potvin said. “What I see up there is not just a library. What I see is a community center, and it’s a community center the city does not have in any form throughout the city.”
Former Councilor Adam Lee took a different approach, challenging the assumed need for the cuts. Councilors learned in March that the fund balance is about $3.5 million short of where city policy says it should be and councilors have said they want to dedicate at least $825,000 annually for the next two years to build that balance.
But Lee said it’s an arbitrary number created by city politicians, not economic experts.
“It’s a number that you all have the ability to change, by changing the policy,” Lee said. “There’s another number you can change if you change policy and that is the number of years it takes for you to walk back to a meaningful fund balance. It says three in the policy, but you can change that to five. You can change it to six. You can change it to seven. You are not bound.”
Pat Gautier of 136 Pride Road urged councilors to fund city services.
“Stop using retired people as excuses to not fund our city,” she said. “In June, I will be a retired person, along with my husband, and I don’t want taxes to go up. But sometimes you just have to. Our city has continued to cut budgets and we are now paying dearly for that.”
Councilors continue their budget work with Tuesday’s workshop and a May 2 public hearing on the capital spending plan.
They are scheduled to vote on the school budget May 16 and to potentially adopt their budget by June 6.
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