LEWISTON — Twin Cities staff hope to meet today to continue negotiations for funding the Lewiston-Auburn 911 dispatch service.
“I know Auburn really wants to get this settled, so they can adopt their budget,” Lewiston City Administrator Ed Barrett said, “so there might be something on Monday at Auburn or Tuesday at our meeting.”
The Auburn City Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday for a workshop.
The Lewiston City Council’s workshop will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Last week, both councils directed their staff to meet to discuss what to do with L-A 911’s fund balance and how to fund capital projects — such as paying to replace aging radios — in the future.
Auburn councilors favored liquidating the agency’s fund balance, estimated to be about $219,000. That could be divided in half and given to each city to reduce property taxes.
Future fund balances could be used to pay for equipment.
Lewiston councilors said they wanted a more formal proposal that had been reviewed by staff.
Barrett said the cities’ representatives had been unable to meet face to face, but they communicated via email.
“I sent some thoughts in writing, but I have not heard anything back yet,” Barrett said.
Barrett wouldn’t share what he wrote until he’d talked with Auburn staff, but he said he sees three issues: What the L-A 911 budget should be for the coming fiscal year, what the cities should do with fund balance and how to pay for new equipment.
“I do want to talk to them to make sure everyone is lined up before we say anything publicly,” Barrett said.
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