CARIBOU – It has been a tough financial year for Maine towns and cities in 2002, and the outlook for the new year does not seem to be much better.

Education seems to be the biggest question, according to Caribou City Manager Stephen Buck. That’s what he told the City Council last Thursday night at its first meeting of 2003.

“The picture continues not to look pleasant for the coming year,” Buck said Friday. “Everything is still tentative, with year-end figures still unknown for a few days.

“Our biggest question for the finances in the new year is schools, and what the state will do with general purpose aid to education,” he said. “It’s difficult to project any of our budgets until we know what the state will do.”

Historically, that can be several weeks off yet. The Legislature is going into session next week, and the budget is among some 1,800 bills filed to date.

In Caribou, preliminary figures presented to city councilors last week showed only the ambulance department as an area of concern.

Buck said the department is over its budget, but the amount can be paid from reserves. The reserve account would be refunded when ambulance accounts receivable are paid.

The city’s budget is scheduled to be completed by mid-February, Buck said.

In other business, Mayor Lucinda Hebert was re-elected to her post for one more year. She has been mayor since July 2001.

Deputy Mayor Christopher Bell was also re-elected, and Municipal Clerk Judy Corrow was appointed secretary of the council.

The city council voted to meet on the second and fourth Monday of the month in 2003. That is the same schedule as in 2002.

Appointments for municipal department heads were also made. Buck said there were no changes from last year.

The City Council approved continuance of a property tax club for 2003. Members of the tax club pay their property taxes over a 12-month period. As long as monthly payments are made, members are exempt from interest on unpaid taxes during the last three months of the year.

For the city, the tax club is favorable because it provides money to operate year-round. It allows the city to borrow less money to operate.