March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Millinocket hopes to pare $350,000> Council sees amount as reasonable goal

MILLINOCKET — A $350,000 budget cut is one of the goals Millinocket officials will aim for as they prepare town and school budgets.

Members of the Town Council indicated the cut was a reasonable target during its work session last week. But officials aren’t so sure the reduction should be shared equally with the school department.

Pointing to a recent study of school spending, officials said Millinocket’s school expenses represented a smaller percentage of the total budget than in some other communities where education funding represented a larger percentage of overall costs.

Council members said past municipal budgets were reduced by using up the community’s surplus funds, while the school department actually made budget cuts.

“The school [department] made real budget cuts and stuck with them. We didn’t early on,” said Town Council Chairman Gail Fanjoy. She agreed the school needed to make budget cuts, but not necessarily half of the $350,000 target.

Councilors suggested Town Manager Gene Conlogue and Superintendent Brent Colbry prepare proposals for sharing the budget cuts.

A budget cut goal was one of several issues brought by Conlogue, who was seeking direction from the council before starting to prepare Millinocket’s fiscal 2001 budget.

The $350,000 budget cut is based on a proposal the town made to Great Northern Paper, its largest taxpayer, in an attempt to resolve the pending 1998 tax dispute.

“We have offered GNP a reduction in value that would translate into a tax reduction of about $350,000,” said Conlogue. If the company accepts the offer, its tax bill would drop by $350,000. Should the company reject it, Conlogue said, the cut would be spread across the board benefiting all taxpayers including GNP, which then would gain only the benefit of 48 percent of the budget cut. The company pays 48 percent of the town’s total tax bill.

The town manager recommended the municipal budget include funds for 2.5 percent pay increases for nonunion employees, who have not received wage increases for a few years.

Some officials supported the idea of employee pay increases. Fanjoy said the town should give pay increases if it wants to retain good employees, but the cost of those increases could mean other budget cuts. “I would rather have fewer well-paid employees,” she said.

Conlogue recommended no further employee contribution above the current 10 percent they pay for health insurance costs, unless there was a substantial salary adjustment to cover the cost of the increase. The manager recommended the council consider having retired employees pay 10 percent of those costs.

Council members voiced mixed views on retirees contributing 10 percent toward their health insurance costs. Some rejected the idea, saying the time to make changes was not when former employees had retired and were living on fixed incomes. Others, concerned about the huge costs the town will face in the future years to fund the benefit, suggested the town try to meet with retirees and perhaps negotiate changes in the current policy to save the town money.

Fanjoy said officials must look at budgeting in two ways, the needs for the coming fiscal year as well as future needs. She favored attaining reductions in staff through attrition rather than laying people off.

The council chairman said she would like department heads to ensure services are not being duplicated in town departments and to look for opportunities to share services, possibly even with other communities in the future.


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