AUBURN – City and school officials both see room for improvement as far as the budget process is concerned.
Councilors adopted a $58.7 million budget Monday night that leaves the city’s tax rate level but which requires school and city staff cuts and $30,000 in new fees.
The final budget allocates $29.7 million for the schools and $29 million for the city. It calls for $37.1 million in property taxes and sets the city’s property tax rate at $29.38 for each $1,000 of property value. That amounts to about $2,497 in property taxes on an $85,000 home.
Mayor Normand Guay blamed economic conditions for the layoffs.
“We held back last year, as far as cutting staff,” Guay said. “A lot of the other cities in Maine cut their staff last year, but we tried to work with budgets the way they were. But this year, we had no other choice unless we were willing to go up on taxes.”
And staff cuts mean service cuts, said City Manager Pat Finnigan.
“It’s not our first choice, but our job is to balance the budget,” Finnigan said.
In all, the city will cut 12 jobs, from maintenance workers, janitors and receptionists to tax assessors, fire officers and police information assistants. Those cuts included firing four current staff members.
For its part, the Auburn School Committee eliminated 16 teachers and another nine positions. School Committee Chair Kathy Constantine called the budget process too vague to be really useful.
“We met with the council in February, but those meetings were very general,” Constantine said. “I don’t think it was clear what the council expected. There was a sense among the council that they gave clear directions to us.”
School board member David Das said he felt the city was getting a disproportionate share of the city’s property tax revenues. Property tax revenues increased $550,000 based on increases in property values, but the school’s budget remained level.
Councilor Kelly Matzen countered that other city revenues – especially state aid and interest – had decreased almost $600,000.
“So our revenues overall came down,” Matzen said. “It’s not a question of splitting up the increase in city revenues fairly – we had a loss. City revenues went down, and the city ate that loss.”
Councilors also voted to raise trash collection fees, digging and filling fees, and parking fees and fines, adding about $30,000 to the city coffers. Trash collections at apartments of four units or more will increase by 12 cents to $1.66 per unit per week. Monthly parking permits will increase from $30 per month to $35. Most parking fines will double. For example, the fine for exceeding the time limit rises from $5 to $10. Parking near a fire hydrant goes from $25 to $50.
The new fees were too much for Councilor Bob Mennealy. Although he voted to support all the changes, he couldn’t pass up commenting.
“We’ve raised fee after fee because we need the revenue,” Mennealy said. “I’d just point out that the schools need the revenue, too. To expect them to do less is to harm our children, I think.”
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