LEWISTON — The differences between Lewiston’s and Auburn’s municipal operations might jump off the pages of a newly released report, but it’s the similarities that tell the real story, according to the author.
“I’d take it to a higher level, above the numbers,” Joe Stefko, president of CGR Consultants, said. “One of the things that occurs to us is the extent of service and cost similarities between the two cities. There are differences in organizational frameworks, how the cities staff different functions and the respective spending levels. But by and large, the two cities are providing the same basic menu of essential services.”
The Lewiston-Auburn Charter Commission released CGR’s baseline report on the current operations and financial overview comparing Lewiston and Auburn Wednesday night.
“When you look at the current year budgets, and you hold the two cities up against each other, more than 90 percent of their spending is spent in the same cost centers,” Stefko said.
The 118-page report is a detailed look at financial and staffing conditions in both cities. It looks at:
• The current costs and revenues associated with services provided by both cities, including the schools.
• Debt from both cities: how much is due and when it’s due.
• Current levels of service in both cities and staffing comparisons between them.
• The values of everything the two cities own: properties, facilities, vehicles and equipment.
The report is available via download at http://newlacharter.ning.com, the Charter Commission’s website.
The Lewiston-Auburn Charter commission released the draft of the charter as well as a document comparing it with the current Lewiston and Auburn charters in January and hired consultants CGR to help determine how combined city operations would work.
The baseline report is the first step toward that study, Stefko said. The commission and Stefko will host a public review of the report at 7 p.m. Monday, June 13, at the Auburn Public Library.
According to the report, Lewiston’s government is bigger than Auburn’s — both for city and school operations. Out of $185.7 million in budgets, Lewiston city and schools account for $108.1 million — about 58 percent: Auburn city and schools account for $77.5 million, about 42 percent.
Lewiston’s schools spend about $25.6 million more than Auburn’s, and city operations — including police, fire and public works — cost about $11.4 million more.
But Lewiston is a bigger city with about 13,387 more residents, and looking at the budgets on a per capita basis changes how the numbers look.
Lewiston spends $1,560 per resident for municipal services, compared to Auburn’s $1,680. Lewiston schools spend $1,783 per capita, compared to $1,705 in Auburn.
“One of the real objectives of the baseline review is that it gives everybody in the community the opportunity, really for the first time, to see the city operations alongside each other,” Stefko said.
Stefko said the report goes beyond numbers, comparing functions and how services are handled. Both cities are similar in most respects, he said.
“As we think about the next phase of this, the options for how this would be done and this could be done differently if the two cities combine, those similarities become focal points for that next set of discussions,” Stefko said.
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