Selectmen set sights on budget cuts East Millinocket trying to reduce high tax rate

EAST MILLINOCKET – In an effort to reduce one of the highest tax rates in 15 years, town officials are looking at a variety of ways to cut the upcoming municipal budget, but they admit it won’t be easy.

Selectmen, who met Tuesday to discuss ways to trim costs, agreed it would be impossible to lower the current tax rate to last year’s level without cutting about $1.25 million, or about half of the amount raised from local taxes for municipal operations.

This year’s tax rate of $23.49 per $1,000 of assessed property value, represents an increase of $4.80 or 25 percent compared with last year’s rate of $18.69. The major reason for the large increase was a $32 million drop in value for Great Northern Paper Inc., the town’s largest taxpayer.

Officials said to reduce the tax rate by $1 would require a $218,000 budget cut. “If we cut the entire fire department, it would only save about 75 cents on the tax rate,” said Chairman Clint Linscott. He said he was not proposing the department be wiped out, but was illustrating the effect of such a cut.

Selectmen said they want taxpayers to know they will be making every effort to cut costs during the upcoming budget deliberations, which begin in December.

Some selectmen suggested that all residential properties in the town be revalued because many homes were selling for far less than the town is assessing them.

Officials discussed the possibility of closing the aging municipal building, which is becoming more costly to operate and repair. Selectmen said closing the building and constructing a new single-story facility to house the town offices may be cheaper. Rather than using $116,000 the town has for building repairs, officials said, it might be wiser to use the money toward the cost of a new building.

Selectmen said they will scrutinize every expense, including health care and pay raises, and they may consider implementing user fees for some town services, such as a bag fee for trash disposal to encourage more recycling to lower disposal costs.

While officials discussed a number of budget issues, Linscott and other selectmen said their ideas were just that, and no decisions had been made.

Selectmen agreed to change the way departments develop their budgets. Officials said the town could save money by requiring departments to use the “zero-based budgeting” method, which means building a budget from scratch based on need rather than taking last year’s numbers and adding a percentage.

Officials said the town could save money by establishing a multiyear capital improvement program for equipment replacement, where funds would be designated for specific future purchases rather than allowing departments to continue building big reserves without specific plans for future equipment replacement.

Selectmen said many departments end the year with balances, which are put in department reserve accounts and now total between $600,000 and $800,000.